We run an ecommerce site that was setup by a third party ecommerce software provider, basic shop with product pages, basket and checkout.The third party vendor set up the htaccess file so that if a non-existent URL is enetered it redirects to the homepage instead of a 404 error being generated.This results in google webmaster reporting duplicate titles and descriptions for pages that no longer exist.I think that it would be better for a dedicated 404 error page to be displayed rather than redirecting back to the homepageSo is it better to have a website redirect a 404 to the homepage than have a dedicated 404 page instead?
Is it better to have an ErrorDocument 404 redirect back to the homepage or a standard 404 error page?
redirects;htaccess;google search console;404
Strong vote for a dedicated 404 page.Less confusing for the userAllows you to see more easily if something is wrong (through web server error log, your own logging script and/or Google Analytics)You can tailor the page towards the situation (for example display a list of product categories)Allows search engines to clean up their indexes. No longer existing pages in a search engine's index may prevent new pages from being added.On the last point: Make sure to actually return a 404 error. From what you're saying it sounds like it's currently a 301/302 redirect. To do so includeErrorDocument 404 /notfound.htmin your htaccess file.Also seehttp://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/08/make-your-404-pages-more-useful.html