404 Audit, Redirect, and Custom 404 Page
Fix broken links, collapse redirect chains, and ship a branded 404 page in one clean sweep. Ideal after site migrations or SEO audits.
Service Overview
Sites with a history of URL changes or migrations get a full audit across 8 HTTP error code categories, proper 301 redirects in place, and a branded custom 404 page for the edge cases. Applicable on Starter, Standard, and Grow maintenance plans.
Broken links and stale 404s quietly erode SEO rankings, leak link equity, and frustrate visitors who land on missing pages. After a migration, a redesign, or years of accumulated content churn, most sites carry a long tail of dead URLs, redirect chains, and mixed error codes that never get cleaned up. This addon fixes that in one pass.
The audit covers 8 HTTP error code categories across the redirect, client-error, and server-error families, so you get a clear picture of what is broken, what is redirected correctly, and what is quietly wasting crawl budget. We pull broken internal links from a full site crawl, map redirect chains that exceed one hop, and identify missing pages that used to rank or still attract traffic.
Every high-value dead URL receives a 301 redirect to the closest live equivalent, so link equity flows forward instead of evaporating. Redirect chains are collapsed to single-hop jumps, which reduces latency and stops crawlers from giving up on your pages. Low-value or genuinely retired URLs are handled appropriately, and everything else falls through to a branded custom 404 page that matches your site design.
The custom 404 page ships with working navigation, a search box, and a short recovery message, so accidental arrivals still have a path back into the site instead of bouncing to Google. You get a delivered audit report, a spreadsheet of the full redirect map for your records, and the custom 404 page live on your site. This is a one-time cleanup (not an ongoing service), so it fits sites that have just migrated, recently restructured URLs, or received an SEO audit flagging error code issues.
Full 8-Category Audit
A complete sweep across redirect, client-error, and server-error families so nothing slips through.
Equity-Preserving 301s
Dead URLs route to their closest live equivalents so SEO value flows forward instead of evaporating.
Branded 404 Recovery
Custom 404 page with navigation and search keeps accidental arrivals on your site.
What Is Included
Checklist
How It Works
Order confirmed
You receive a confirmation email within 15 minutes of purchase.
Access and scope
You share admin and hosting access so our engineer can run the crawl and agree the redirect map with you.
Audit and fix
We run the 8 error code audit, build the redirect map, apply 301s, and deploy the custom 404 page.
Handover
You receive the audit report, the redirect map spreadsheet, and a summary of all changes made.
Typical delivery is 5 to 7 working days from kickoff, depending on site size and how quickly admin access is shared. Larger sites are flagged at scoping and quoted before any crawl runs.
Admin login, hosting or server credentials where redirects need server-side rules, and any URLs you want skipped during the crawl. Search Console access is helpful but not required.
No. This is a one-time cleanup. If you migrate the site again or restructure URLs in future, a fresh audit can be purchased separately.
Starter, Standard, and Grow. Purchases tied to other plans are reviewed case by case before work begins.
External broken links are flagged in the audit report so you can see them, but fixing third-party content is out of scope. We can still route incoming links to live equivalents on your side.
Genuinely retired URLs fall through to the custom 404 page, which carries site navigation, a search box, and a recovery message. Low-value URLs are not force-redirected because that hurts SEO more than it helps.
Yes. The 404 page is built to match your current branding, fonts, and colour palette. Bespoke illustration or extended copywriting beyond the recovery message is not part of this scope.
Sites above 10,000 URLs are quoted separately before any crawl runs. The standard fee covers up to 10,000 URLs per site.
- This addon is a one-time service and does not renew automatically, so a new purchase is required for any follow-up audit.
- Refunds are available only before work commences, so once the site crawl has been initiated the purchase is non-refundable.
- Scope is limited to one site per purchase, up to 10,000 URLs. Sites larger than this threshold are quoted separately before any work starts.
- The client is responsible for providing timely admin access, hosting or server credentials where needed, and approval on the redirect map before deployment.
- External broken links are included in the audit report so they can be flagged, but fixing third-party content is out of scope.
- The custom 404 page design follows the existing visual style of the site, so bespoke illustration or extended copywriting beyond a standard recovery message is not included.
- We retain access logs and crawl data for 90 days after delivery, after which records are removed in line with our data retention policy.
- This addon is applicable on Starter, Standard, and Grow maintenance plans. Purchases tied to any other plan are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
- Any breach of site integrity caused by factors outside our implemented changes, such as theme updates overwriting .htaccess rules or plugin conflicts after handover, is not covered under this addon and would be addressed under the underlying maintenance plan.
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