404 page errors happen for a number of reasons, even when you haven’t done anything particularly structurally challenging on your site. Just correcting a URL after it’s been published incorrectly can be enough to cause an error.
For those errors not handled by WordPress and fixed by the CMS itself, you need another solution. You also need to try and find the problems, so you know what needs fixing in the first place!
Finding 404 Page Errors
Yoast SEO Plugin
The free version of Yoast SEO does have 404 monitoring within it (it’s pulling data from Search Console once they’re connected).
Google Search Console
Again a free option, search console will tell you all the 404 pages Google’s robots find. This is your hit list.
Redirection Plugin
This plugin both monitors 404’s and offers a tool for fixing them. Once again, FREE!
https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/
Fixing 404 Page Errors in WordPress
Yes there are plenty of ways you can tackle this;
- At your website host
- In your .htaccess file
- In your CPanel
- With a plugin
- Etc etc.
Elegant Themes recently wrote about 2 plugins used for fixing or finding and fixing 404 errors.
The 2 plugins are;
Redirection
Mentioned above as a find and fix 404 solution
Here’s the link to the Plugin page on WordPress.org again
https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/
And;
Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin
This one doesn’t seem to have been updated in a while, but all the same Elegant Themes do recommend it.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/quick-pagepost-redirect-plugin/
Other Ways To Fix 404’s – Elegant Themes Blog
If you want to check out the original article that provided the tips on the above two plugins, check out the link below:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-create-redirects-with-wordpress