Introduction
When shopping for a product, let’s say for example that you are shopping around to purchase a new dishwasher for example, you may click on a link and you may be shown a “404 page error”.
Now, you may not know what a 404 page error is, but you do know that you are not presented with a dishwasher, which is what you wanted to purchase.
This can mean that sometimes the business will then incur a large bounce rate. For example, you may know the model dishwasher that you want, and now you are simply comparing businesses on price.
Therefore, if one website shows a 404 page error, then you may just skip that website, and go to another company’s website to purchase a dishwasher.
This may therefore increase the businesses bounce rate, that’s if it has a 404 page error.
What are 404 page errors, and why should my digital marketing agency here in Bristol be helping to reduce these 404 page errors?
Therefore, a lot of SEO agencys here in the city of Bristol, will be working with their clients in order to spot 404 pages, and then advising how they can reduce these 404 pages.
For example, sometimes they might recommend that your business uses a “301 redirect”, yet if the product is permanently out of stock, that’s because it is no longer made by the manufacturer then the business might recommend other products on the page.
For example, that dishwasher might not be stocked by the business any longer, but they might stock other dishwashers, made by the same manufacturer, so the display these on the page instead in order to help reduce the businesses “bounce rate”.
How can a 404 page error sometimes increase a business’s bounce rate?
Let’s say that you are in a rush to purchase a brand-new dishwasher, if you are looking at say four different company websites that sell dishwashers, and one has a 404 page error, then you are likely to skip that website and to go on to another website that sells dishwashers, and does not have a 404 page error.
This is when a business, with 404 page errors, could incur a higher bounce rate, this means that the businesses organic SEO could be negatively affected. We say that because a lot of digital marketing agencies believe a business that has a really high bounce rate, will have its organic SEO negatively affected sometimes, that’s because the bounce rate is high.
Why some SEO agencies here in the city of Bristol, and also in Bath, South West England, will advise not to delete pages on the website, that’s before advising the SEO company.
Sometimes a page on a website can accrue a lot of good quality “backlinks”, as any good marketing agency will tell you, if you have a lot of good quality backlinks, then this can improve your businesses local and organic SEO.
Therefore, if a page has a lot of good-quality backlinks, then this can help to improve that pages organic SEO, so the marketing agency may recommend that the page is not deleted, and instead your agency may recommend that 301 redirects are sometimes used.
Why we would advise sometimes that a company instead suggests other products, when a product is no longer stocked, or out of stock.
Let’s say that you sell dishwashers, but one dishwasher goes out of stock and is no longer made, instead of deleting a page the web designers may recommend 10 other dishwashers, that are made by the same manufacturer, so that they can help to reduce that pages bounce rate.
Why some businesses often occur a lot of 404 page errors
Businesses that sell thousands of products often incur a lot of 404 page errors, that is often because the product will go out of stock or a product will no longer be made.
However, what is important is that the web designers work with the SEO agency so that instead of deleting pages, they use different methods such as “301 redirects” in the correct white hat manner, or instead they recommend other products to reduce the pages bounce rate.
Why it can sometimes mean that your business loses backlinks
If a web designer or your business was to delete pages, that’s without using 301 redirects or keeping the page live and suggesting other similar products, then your business could potentially lose a lot of good quality backlinks.
What are backlinks?
As any good SEO company will tell you, it’s important to have good quality backlinks leading to your website, this can help to improve your businesses organic SEO.
Why are backlinks important to SEO?
Out of all the ranking factors, there are thought to be over 200 different ranking factors, most digital marketing agencies will agree that backlinks are one of the most important, that’s if they are built in a “white hat” way and are good-quality backlinks.
Why your marketing agency should be aiming to reduce 404 page errors
Your marketing agency here in Bristol, should therefore work to reduce 404 page errors
How our agency can help:
We run a white hat SEO business in Bristol, we can offer your business WordPress web design, content marketing, link building, organic SEO and also local SEO.
We work with many businesses, in the South-West of England, including in Bath and also in the city of Bristol as well.
We work with many businesses that are based in Bristol, this can range from manufacturing businesses, right through to solicitors and then right through to construction companies for example.
Our marketing agency also works businesses that are in Bath England, so if you are looking for an SEO agency in Bath, why not give us a ring? We offer competitive prices on organic SEO and also local SEO as well.