# Set up the 404 page

What visitors see at a wrong address, and how to make it useful.

For: Everyone editing a site

## The page for wrong addresses

When someone asks for an address that does not exist, for example an old link or a typo, they are shown the 404 page. Every site gets a plain one on day one; you can edit it like any other page, or choose an existing page to serve the role.

A good 404 page does two things: says plainly that the page is not here, and offers the way on, usually the menu, a search or links to the most useful pages. It is also a small signal of reliability; a broken-looking 404 undermines an otherwise tidy site.

Walkthrough: Finding the 404 page (The Pages tab)

1. **One button, one page**: Edit the 404 page opens it like any other page. Every site gets a plain one on day one.
2. **A real page**: The 404 is a page with its own badge, taken out of the menu and search for you.

1. Open the 404 page from the Pages tab, or create it if missing.
2. Make sure the header and footer are doing their usual work.
3. Add one clear route onward.

## Using an existing page

On any page except the home page, Page details has a switch: Use as the 404 page. Switching it makes that page the one visitors see at a wrong address, wherever they were trying to go, and takes it out of the menu and search.

Only one page holds the role at a time, so setting a new one releases the old page back to being an ordinary page.

Walkthrough: Using an existing page as the 404 (Page settings in the inspector)

1. **The switch**: Use as the 404 page makes this page the one served at wrong addresses, and releases the old one.
2. **Check what you are repurposing**: Make sure the page is not also linked from the menu before you give it the role.

Warning: Check the page is not also linked from the menu before you repurpose it, or you will lose a page you meant to keep.

## What search engines do

A 404 page is not offered to search engines, and pages served as 404 are hidden from search automatically. If an address that once existed should now lead somewhere, a redirect is the right tool instead, so nobody sees the 404 at all.

Note: The 404 page does not affect the site health otherwise. Occasional 404s are normal, links age and typos happen.

## Can different languages have their own 404?

The site has one 404 page per language, offered automatically to the matching visitor where it exists.

## Related guides

- [Redirects and sitemaps](/help/seo/redirects-and-sitemaps)
- [Create and organise pages](/help/pages-and-menu/create-and-organise-pages)
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