A 404 Error Means the Page Could Not Be Found

Oops, you got an “HTTP 404 Not Found error”. That means the page you are looking for cannot be found (unless you were specifically looking for this page, then congratulations).

What is a 404 Error?

A 404 error is a status code that indicates the page you are looking for could not be found on a website’s server. Either the link you have is wrong, or the website didn’t use a 301 redirect to redirect an old URL to a new one.

A video from TED about the history 404 errors, not to be confused with 808’s (which are much cooler).

Sometimes people make clever 404 pages, or sometimes you’ll get a generic blank screen with code like:

• “404 Error.”
• “404 Not Found.”
• “The requested URL [URL] was not found on this server.”
• “HTTP 404 Not Found.”
• “404 Page Not Found.”

FACT: A 404 error is one of the few mistakes that front-end users see. It is, therefore, one of the most well-known errors on the web.

What Should I Do If I Get a 404 Error?

Don’t panic. Typically the content you are looking for wasn’t removed; rather a link was changed. You can use the site navigation or search bar to find the page. It’s polite to contact the site and let them know which URL is broken so they can also redirect the page.

What Other Error Codes are There?

404 errors are just one of many HTML error codes. Check out the list of common HTML error codes below.

List of Common HTML Error Codes From webmaster.iu.edu

Code	Description	Comment
100	Continue
101	Switching Protocols
200	OK	Action completed successfully
201	Created	Success following a POST command
202	Accepted	The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed.
203	Partial Information	Response to a GET command, indicates that the returned meta information is from a private overlaid web.
204	No Content	Server has received the request, but there is no information to send back.
205	Reset Content
206	Partial Content	The requested file was partially sent.   Usually caused by stopping or refreshing a web page.
300	Multiple Choices
301	Moved Permanently	Requested a directory instead of a specific file.   The web server added the filename index.html, index.htm, home.html, or home.htm to the URL.
302	Moved Temporarily
303	See Other
304	Not Modified	The cached version of the requested file is the same as the file to be sent.
305	Use Proxy
400	Bad Request	The request had bad syntax or was impossible to be satisfied.
401	Unauthorized	User failed to provide a valid user name / password required for access to file / directory.
402	Payment Required
403	Forbidden	The request does not specify the file name. Or the directory or the file does not have the permission that allows the pages to be viewed on the web.
404	Not Found	The requested file was not found.
405	Method Not Allowed
406	Not Acceptable
407	Proxy Authentication Required
408	Request Time-Out
409	Conflict
410	Gone
411	Length Required
412	Precondition Failed
413	Request Entity Too Large
414	Request-URL Too Large
415	Unsupported Media Type
500	Server Error	In most cases, this error is a result of a problem with the code or program you are calling rather than with the web server itself.
501	Not Implemented	The server does not support the facility required.
502	Bad Gateway
503	Out of Resources	The server cannot process the request due to a system overload.  This should be a temporary condition.
504	Gateway Time-Out	The service did not respond within the time frame that the gateway was willing to wait.
505	HTTP Version not supported