The website is a set of pages intended to display a particular content. The fact is, each page has its name and its function. For example, the about us page contains information about the business owner; the contact us page contains information about how to get in touch with the business owner and the working staff, and so forth. These pages share the property of displaying all the time. But there are some pages that are intended to display in a particular situation. The error page, for example, is the page that displays when something goes wrong and that the web code does not generate the intended content. But, is it really important to design an error page?
The error page anatomy:
The error page is the page that displays when the browser can’t access the specified URL. Usually, it contains a code for the error and the copy of the targeted URL. The common error code is “404”. The error page can be set with default values if there is no particular design. Actually, some default designs are minimal and may affect the website rating.
The error page triggers:
There are many causes that may trigger the error page. The main causes are:
- The requested URL is not valid.
- The requested page is no longer at that location.
The usual case, the server is configured to provide the user with the 404 error code with no further information. In other words, the users will not see the requested pages without knowing the exact cause of the error.
The impacts of the error page:
The error page can easily drive away the traffic that the website can generate. In fact, facing a page that says that the requested page was not found, with no further information, is likely to alter the reputation of the website; users would rather browse elsewhere than spending time over the website that has tons of “errors”. To avoid this, you may engage a freelance web designer singapore.
Besides, the error page has a great impact on the SEO score and therefore the visibility of the website. Indeed, Google bots are likely to dismiss websites with generic error pages.
The construction of the proper error page:
The server has a default error page, but it is better to design your own. This practice can save you Google flags and the traffic loss.
This been said, the proper error page should contain the following elements:
- Status message: The error page could display a message that describes the current situation of the user. Actually, the user knows already that he can’t access the desired URL, but the message is there to tell him that you are aware and that you are sorry for the inconvenient. This creates a mutual respect!
- Make an offer: it is possible to design a Search form to help the user to find what he is looking for. One of the best alternatives is prompting the user to click on another link which will lead him elsewhere.
Conclusion:
Including a funny illustration within the error page is a good option which may ease the user frustration when he meets the “not found” page. The decision of not coming back again is likely not to be made in this situation. However, the default error page may cause a huge damage to the traffic generated through lots of efforts.