404 error Traffic Theft in Internet Explorer

Surprised? ...you shouldn't be. Slowly but surely the hidden agenda behind Microsoft's IE browser is being revealed -- to funnel as much OPT into the clutches of Microsoft's Network (MSN) as possible.

What's OPT? ...Other People's Traffic, of course. True to form, the latest IE browser is configured to skim away your average site's 404 traffic.

In case you're wondering, 404 traffic occurs whenever...

	your site visitor misspells a URL, or
	follows a broken link to your site, or
	comes looking for a page that's been moved, deleted or replaced.

...and whenever any of these happen the browser hijacks the visitor away in hopes they'll click a link that takes them to Microsoft's page. It happens in all Microsoft IE browsers Version 5.0 or better -- which, of course, is what 70-80% of all Internet users are using!

Here's how they do it...

Unless your site's 404 error page is configured just right, the Microsoft IE browser delivers it's own 404 error page complete with a Search link that goes to Microsoft's MSN Search - does the page below look familiar?

Thoughtful? ...we think NOT!

Here's what should be happening with your 404 traffic

Your site visitor is supposed to see your 404 Page with a choice of your links. Smart sites redirect their 404 traffic to the home page or site map. Another smart strategy is to offer an on-site search option. I'm sure you'll agree, all of these are better choices when compared to giving MSN a shot at your visitors on your dime!

These days, some web hosting companies are taking full advantage of "lost" 404 traffic -- perhaps even your 404 traffic -- by creating 404 error pages that also include ads for their own products and services.

In the adult industry 404 traffic has been sold at a premium since the beginning of Internet-time. Just for fun try doing a search for 404 traffic. What you'll find is several companies offering to buy and sell 404 traffic as shown in the example below...

Here's what you should be doing...

At the very least you should customize your own 404 error pages. The following two links will open new browser windows showing you how a couple of very well known companies have solved the 404 problem by customizing their own pages...

Earthlink -- http://www.earthlink.com/404 - This one shows how 404's can be used to include advertising. Notice how they've put a search engine on the page in the upper right corner. As expected, they've set their own site as the default search category.

AltaVista -- http://www.altavista.com/404. In addition to advertising, this 404 page also shows how a visitor can be redirected to a more appropriate page via a time delay. After two minutes you're whisked away to the site's main page.

It's Easy to Build Your Own 404 Error Pages - Here's How...

The good news is that's it's easy to do an end-run around Microsoft by creating you own custom 404 error pages.

Here's how in two simple steps...

Step One		Using your HTML editor, create a page with your company logo and information. Include relevant links to locations within your site. If practical, include a site search engine, advertising, and/or an appropriate redirect. The two examples given above are good ones to emulate -- use them as a template if necessary but (of course) don't copy them exactly -- in other words, make the page your custom 404 error page.
Step Two		To make your 404 page work, you'll need an appropriate .htaccess file in your root directory. You can either create one from scratch or else add a single line of text to an already existing one. By the way. we're assuming that your site is hosted on the more common Unix or Linux based system -- not NT.

How to create your .htaccess file..

1. Use a plain text editor like Notepad and place the following line of text into the file...

   ErrorDocument 404 /404error.htm

   Important: This example assumes you'll name your custom error page 404error.htm. Another common name for the 404 page is missing.html -- a common default configuration on Apache web servers.

2. Save the file as .htaccess

3. Upload .htaccess to your root directory in ASCII (text) format.

4. Upload your custom error page(s) to your root directory.

5. Test it by going to your site and typing in a non existent URL like http://www.yourdomain.com/lostpages.html

By the way, if you happen to be hosted on an NT system you may have to send your custom 404 page to your web host and ask them to set it as your default error handler page. We've noticed that several NT web hosting companies actually charge for this service -- as much as $5 per month.

Frankly, we don't feel that it's something you should have to pay for but we mention it so you won't be shocked if you find there is a charge.

Ideas and Tips for building your own 404 pages

		When building your 404 error page, use absolute (complete) hypertext links to images and pages. Example of an absolute (complete) link is: http://www.yourdomain.com/page.html
		DO NOT USE a relative (incomplete) link such as: /page.html ...because, if the page you're linking happens to be in a sub-directory, the link may appear broken (i.e., 404 not found). This problem occurs if you use relative (aka, partial or incomplete) links.
		Check your log files for commonly misspelled files and create redirect pages to the correctly spelled pages. Sample redirect code: <span class="note"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="5; URL=correct.htm"> </head> </span>