WordPress 404 Page Setup – Do You Have A Few Minutes?

Most WordPress themes include a 404.php file.

If your does not it’s likely that adding a custom 404.php file will simply work out-of-the-box.

Below is my recommended coding for your 404.php file.

First, duplicate your index.php file, then rename as: 404.php

Note where the body text section is located within the file and simply replace with this example below. Change the descriptive text and styling as needed:

<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">

<h2>My_Domain<br />Our goal is to help…

<p>Call us anytime, yada yada</p><br />

<?php

$s = preg_replace(“/(.*)-(html|htm|php|asp|aspx)$/”,”$1″,$wp_query->query_vars[‘name’]);

$posts = query_posts(‘post_type=any&name=’.$s);

$s = str_replace(“-“,” “,$s);

if (count($posts) == 0) {

$posts = query_posts(‘post_type=any&s=’.$s);

}

if (count($posts) > 0) {

echo “<ol><li>”;

echo “<p>Were you looking for one of the following articles?</p>”;

echo “<ul>”;

foreach ($posts as $post) {

echo ‘<li><a href=”‘.get_permalink($post->ID).'”>’.$post->post_title.'</a></li>’;

}

echo “</ul>”;

echo “<p></p></li>”;

} else {

echo “<p></p>”;

echo “</ol><ol>”;

}

?>

<li>

<label for=”s”><strong>Search</strong> for it:

<form style=”display:inline;” action=”<?php bloginfo(‘siteurl’);?>”>

<input type=”text” value=”<?php echo esc_attr($s); ?/>” id=”s” name=”s”/> <input type=”submit” value=”Search”/>

</form>

</li>

</ol>

</div>

Grab the text above from Dropbox for a quick copy/paste:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2698469/404.txt

Then test your 404 page by going to http://your+domain/junktext

Suffice it to say, having a poorly coded or broken 404 page can cause a great deal of hurt SEO-wise if you don’t do this right…

Enjoy!