Online Marketing Gurus
Expand Marketing is a specialist online marketing company.
We deliver cost-effective, targeted website visitors that convert into sales.
Contact Us | +27 (0)12 341 2223 | info@expandsa.com
Google's New 404 Error Page Widget
Google has once again developed a tool that will help your website's usability. Found in Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/) (a set of free tools that Google developed for webmasters), this new "Enhance 404 Pages" allows you to embed a widget into your error page which will provide your user with suggestions and search functionality. That way your website visitor is less likely to leave your website, and more likely to continue browsing your website to find what they are looking for.
For those of you running seo campaigns for various clients this is a must!!!!
A 404 error page is found when a visitor finds a page that does not exist. Website visitors will often try and edit the url or hit the back button to try and get back to the website. The page before its customised looks like this:
Google Webmaster Tools includes the following motivation for their new feature "Because a generic messages can be frustrating to the user, we recommend creating a custom 404 page to provide more useful information about your site."
The 404 widget comes with the following helpful messages and features:
It adds a search box for your site with appropriate search suggestions.
It tries to provide alternatives to incorrect URLs.
An example of a local website that has implemented this new feature is www.wantitall.co.za
This feature is experimental at this stage and will most evolve and develop as Google gets suggestions and comments. Get more information about the tool on Google Webmaster Blog
