Does that look familiar? If you've ever accidentally tried to access a page that doesn't exist, possibly by following an outdated link or by misspelling the name of the page, you've probably seen something like the above appear on your screen. You might have attempted to correct the error by checking the URL for mistakes, but it is even more likely that you just clicked "Back" and returned where you came from, never visiting the site again.

For a surfer, encountering a "404 page" is a nuisance. For a webmaster, they can be far more problematic, causing a reduction in traffic which in turn means losing a part of the precious advertising revenues or sales the site's life depends on. You can minimize the amount of 404 errors by periodically checking your pages for broken links, but it is impossible to get completely rid of them. So, what can you do?

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