As mentioned in the previous post "Custom 404 Pages Help Search Engine Optimization", your visitors may end up on your 404 Not Found page for a variety of reasons:

• Mis-typed URL
• Broken or truncated links
• Moved or removed content

Users' behaviour varies when confronted with a default 404 page, some may try to correct the URL while others may click on the back button or navigate away from your site. There are manual methods to create a custom 404 page which is user and search engine friendly, however Google Webmaster Central has recently released a new feature "Enhance 404 Pages" which allows the webmasters to embed a widget onto their custom 404 page that helps the visitors find what they're looking for by providing suggestions based on the incorrect URL.

With the 404 widget added, your visitors should see a page similar to the following when confronted with a 404 Not Found page:

The most effective custom 404 page is by integrating it into your overall site design which helps to create a seamless navigation path even when confronted with a 404 Not Found Error.

How do you add the widget onto your custom 404 page? Simply visit the "Enhance 404 Pages" section in Google Webmaster Tools which allows you to generate a Javascript snippet. Once done, copy and paste this code onto your custom 404 page's code.

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