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Google wants to help webmasters optimize their 404 Pages and help visitors get a better experience by browsing around your site rather than leaving it. Try the Google 404 widget and enhance your 404 pages.

Google 404 widget

As I was navigating my Google Webmasters tools, I found a new experimental feature under Tools called Enhance 404 pages. Usually when a user clicks a link to a page that’s no longer available, your server returns a 404 (Page Not Found) error. Site owners and webmasters create custom 404 pages to help visitors find related content on your site. Wordpress bloggers can easily create a custom 404 page.

Now webmasters can add the Google 404 widget to the custom 404 page. The 404 widget automatically provides helpful suggestions instead of error messages such as a search box for your site with appropriate search suggestions and tries to provide alternatives to incorrect URLs. Now visitors can easily find the information they need and will stay on your site longer generating more pageviews for you. See the widget at work below.