Redirecting every broken page (404) to your homepage hurts your website’s SEO and frustrates users. A 404 is a very clear signal that this link is wrong and broken, or this URL no longer exists because maybe the product doesn’t exist, or something has changed in what you do on your website.
Imagine clicking on a link promising information about a specific product or a detailed answer to your query, only to be unceremoniously dumped back onto the homepage. Your immediate reaction? Confusion. Where is the content you were looking for? Was the link wrong? Has the information simply vanished?
It’s like asking for directions to a specific store and being dropped off at the mall entrance instead – frustrating and unhelpful.
For Search Engines:
404s provide crucial signals to crawlers:
- They indicate dead ends in your site architecture
- They help search engines optimize their crawl budget
- They clearly communicate content removal
When you redirect every 404 to your homepage:
- Crawlers waste time following pointless redirect loops
- Your site appears to have structural issues
- You lose valuable data about broken links that should be fixed
The Right Approach:
✔️ Preserve legitimate 404s for permanently removed content
✔️ Use 301 redirects only when content has moved to a new page
✔️ Create helpful 404 pages that guide users to relevant alternatives
✔️ Regularly audit 404 errors to fix broken links