If your website has links that do not work correctly, you may frequently see the 404 page or “WordPress site permalinks not working” issue. But occasionally, when your website links work right, a 404 error page will be displayed to visitors.
If you get a “page not found” or a “404” error, Do not panic! We are here to help you with that.
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What is a 404 Error?
“Error 404 page not found” refers to broken links. When the server cannot locate the file or page a user has requested, a 404 error occurs. As a result, the web hosting server automatically sends the user an error message: “404 Not Found” which is an HTTP response code
The WordPress 404 error happens when:
- When moving a website to a new host without adjusting links
- If there are URL permalink structure changes without applying 301 redirects from the old link to a related topic
- You don’t have permission to access that file.
- When trying to open an incorrect URL.
- Plugin or theme poor coding.
WordPress themes provide 404 error pages in a variety of creative layouts & content options.
How to Fix the 404 Error on WordPress websites?
There are troubleshooting solutions to fix the 404 Not Found status code:
1. Clear History & Cookies
The first step is to Try to check your website in incognito browser mode, if links work right you should try clearing the cookies, cache, and browsing data
2- Setup Permalink
If other pages on the WordPress website give you a 404 page not found error, you can update your permalink settings by following the steps below:
- Open your WordPress admin Dashboard and log in.
- Select Permalinks under Settings.
- Choose the default options.
- Select “Save Changes” from the menu. ( Do it twice )
- Set the controls to their previous position (the one you selected before Default). If you had a custom structure, put it back.
- Save Settings.
This can fix the WordPress 404 not found error or the “WordPress permalinks not working” error.
In case it doesn’t work, you may need to edit the .htaccess file in the public_html directory of the WordPress installation. The 404 errors are often due to misconfiguration, .htaccess files, or file permission-related issues.
3. Restore Your .httaccess File
The .htaccess is a hidden file, So you must show hidden files in the file manager or FTP agent.
Note: We strongly recommend backing up your website before editing files like the .Htaccess.
Follow the following steps:
- Sign in to the hosting server using Cpanel or an FTP client.
- Download the .htaccess file that you can find under public_html
- You can either edit the file by code editor if you are using Cpanel or Open the downloaded file in Notepad or any text editor.
- You can copy/paste the code from the WordPress .htaccess support page.
- Save the file and re-upload it to the live server.
For instance, in The Basic WP, use the code below:
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p># BEGIN WordPress</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteEngine On</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteBase /</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>RewriteRule . /index.php [L]</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p># END WordPress</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->4. Use a 301 Redirect
If you change any URL on your website without redirecting, that will cause a 404 error, So you must redirect the old URL to the new URL. there are 301 redirect URLs
- Add 301 redirections to the .htaccess file
- Install the redirection WordPress plugin
We do recommend using redirection plugins because of ease of use and the .htaccess file is too sensitive and may harm the entire site, so do not use it unless you are familiar with coding.
5- Deactivate Plugins/Theme
Any badly coded or outdated plugin may be a reason for the WordPress 404 website error. To prevent this, you will deactivate all plugins or change the currently active theme.
Note: All themes have 404.php files, but some don’t have a custom 404 error template file. WordPress automatically activates the 404.php page if the 404 error happens.
- You can access WordPress files using File manager in Cpanel or an FTP client like FileZilla.
- Go to public_html > wp-content and rename the plugins folder name to myplugins.
- Go back to the internet browser and check if the website is working. If the error is fixed, then one of the plugins could be the culprit.
Note: If the problem still, Rename the “myplugins” folder to plugins and proceed to the next troubleshooting technique.
If it is resolved, modify the” myplugins” folder name to plugins and then use the next steps to identify the plugin(s) that makes the error:
- Go to the WordPress admin dashboard. yourwebsite.com/wp-admin
- On the left-hand menu, open Plugins > Installed Plugins.
- Activate plugins one by one and check if the website is working.
- When you face the 404 error, you can identify which plugin caused it.
- Remove the plugin, update it, or replace it with another plugin.
6- Update or Change the WordPress URL in the Database
You might experience an error message on a WordPress website saying:
“The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually, please check your spelling and try again”
Use these steps to Fix the error:
- Login to Cpanel or Hosting panel
- Go to PHPMyAdmin.
- Navigate to the database name, and select wp-option.
- Change the URL, for example, from https://yourdomain.com/blog/ to HTTP: //www. yourdomain.com/blog.
Conclusion
In this article, we explored how to fix the Error 404 page not found on live WordPress Websites. Fixing this error may save your website from some drops in your SEO tactics, and you can easily locate the 404 errors using google search console, or other SEO tools. source
