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404 Not Found Page

For a 404 Not Found Page, the appropriate meta robots tag ensures it doesn’t get indexed by search engines. Here’s the recommendation:


Meta Robots Tag for 404 Pages

  • Meta Robots Tag: noindex, nofollow
  • Reason:
    • Noindex: Prevents the page from being indexed, ensuring it doesn’t appear in search results.
    • Nofollow: Prevents search engines from following links on the page, which might lead to irrelevant or broken pages.

Why Use noindex, nofollow?

  1. No SEO Value:
    • A 404 page offers no meaningful content for search engines or users to rank.
  2. Avoid User Confusion:
    • If indexed, users may land on a page that doesn’t provide useful information.
  3. Crawl Budget Optimization:
    • Preventing crawlers from indexing and following links on 404 pages helps allocate your crawl budget to valuable pages.

Additional Best Practices

  1. HTTP Status Code:
    • Ensure the server returns the correct 404 HTTP status code. This tells search engines the page does not exist.
    • Example: Use tools like Google Search Console to verify how 404 pages are handled.
  2. Provide Helpful Navigation:
    • Include links to important sections of your site (e.g., home, categories) for better user experience, but these links don’t need to be followed by crawlers.
  3. Custom Error Page:
    • Design an engaging custom 404 page with a message like “Oops! Page not found” and include a search bar or navigation links to help users.

Example Meta Tag for a 404 Page

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

Conclusion

For 404 pages, the combination of a proper HTTP status code, a noindex, nofollow meta tag, and a user-friendly design ensures both search engines and users are handled appropriately without impacting your SEO negatively.

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