Description
This plugin allows you to take full control over how your WordPress site handles 404 (Not Found) errors. Instead of the default theme’s 404 page, you can:
- Display a Custom 404 Page: Choose any published page on your site to serve as your 404 error page.
- Log 404 Errors: Keep track of which URLs are causing 404 errors, including the referring URL, IP address, and user agent. This helps identify broken links or malicious activity.
- Analyze Logs: View statistics like the most frequent 404 URLs and top referrers directly in your WordPress admin.
- Create Automatic Redirects: Easily set up 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) redirects for specific 404 URLs to send visitors to the correct content. Track redirect hits.
- Export Logs: Download your 404 error logs as a CSV file for external analysis.
- Optionally Redirect All 404s to Homepage: A simple option to redirect all 404 errors directly to your site’s homepage.
- Add
noindexTag: Automatically add anoindex, followmeta tag to your 404 pages (custom or default) to prevent search engines from indexing them.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
custom-404-handlerfolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Go to the ‘404 Handler’ -> ‘Settings’ menu in your WordPress admin to configure the plugin.
- Choose a custom 404 page (optional).
- Enable/disable logging and set log limits.
- Configure homepage redirect and
noindexoptions.
- Visit ‘404 Handler’ -> ‘404 Logs’ to view logged errors and statistics.
- Visit ‘404 Handler’ -> ‘Redirects’ to manage your 404 redirects.
FAQ
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Does this plugin create the 404 page content for me?
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No, you need to create a standard WordPress page first. Then, in the plugin’s settings, you select that page to be displayed when a 404 error occurs.
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Will this slow down my site?
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The plugin is designed to be lightweight. Logging occurs only on actual 404 errors, and redirects are checked efficiently. Performance impact should be minimal.
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Where is the log data stored?
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Log data and redirect information are stored in custom tables (
wp_404_logsandwp_404_redirects) within your WordPress database. -
What happens if I don’t select a custom 404 page?
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If no custom page is selected in the settings (and the homepage redirect option is off), your theme’s default
404.phptemplate will be used, but logging and redirects (if configured) will still function. Thenoindextag will also be applied if enabled.
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Contributors & Developers
“Custom 404 Handler” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release.