Thread: Error 404

Hi guys
I must insert in a html site a htaccess file that create a redirect 301 to
the site home page for every page that gives error 404 (Page not found), but
without affecting the single redirect 301 already present in the file
htaccess regarding other subpage moved and renamed in the past.

The purpose of all of this is not losing the google page rank that can be
passed trough every bad written back link .

What do I write in the htaccess file to do this? Do I have to write it
before or after the existing rules?

Usually I have only one or two error 404 for months to redirect: I wouldn't have to have a penalty for duplicate pages, isn't it?

Thank you

Your best leaving the status as 404 so search engines know that page doesn't exist any more. If yo redirect to the home page you will just loose any seo rank for keywords that used to be on the page anyway.

You can then put a meta refresh on a custom 404 page to redirect humans to the home page after a few seconds.

mattfawcett is on the money, IMO that's the best way to handle it in this instance.