Addressing 404s: The Single Best SEO Strategy to Website Recovery

I thought 404s or no page found are normal in a website. It’s not.

This is the single biggest lesson I’ve learned on website maintenance: addressing the 404s (requested page is not found) reported in Google Search Console.

Here’s my story.

[Note: I assure you that this is not an AI-generated or assisted content but a personal story with an original solution after a rigorous study. I tried looking for answers using browsers with different algorithms as well as AI chatbots but those answers partly solved my problem. However, this one really worked; backed up by evidence.]

Gradual But Sustained Reduction of Website Traffic

Google made a series of substantial changes on its algorithm from 2022 to 2024. This includes the Panda, HCU, EEAT things that I keep on following to keep my website relevant and conforming with the rules. Then on October 2024, web traffic in my website plummeted, from more than 2,000 views per day to roughly a hundred views or less at the end of that year.

I got frustrated after making so many changes in the website in the hope of regaining the high authority of the website on matters about education, research, environment, among others. It once ranked quite high in education, belonging to the top 500 sites worldwide. I could see many of my articles ranked 1st when I use Google’s Search Console.