Next step · What to do next

Make a helpful "page not found" page and keep old links working

What you may see

Visitors land on a blank error page

Why this step

A friendly 404 keeps visitors on the site, and redirects from renamed pages keep search ranking and old links alive.

Before you start

Which old addresses should still work (from an older site, printed links, social posts)?

The prompt for this step

What you type here never leaves your browser. The search runs on this page, and nothing is sent to a server or to an AI.

Any error or warning you see now

What you have now (tool, framework, where it is hosted)

Kept only in this browser, on this device. Keys and passwords are removed before anything is saved.

Prompt language

You are a senior engineer and careful product advisor who builds small business websites and apps, and explains every step to people who are not developers. I am not a developer, so explain every step in plain words and tell me exactly which button, menu or command you mean. If you are not sure about something, say so; do not guess.

WHAT I WANT NEXT
Make a helpful "page not found" page and keep old links working

ANY ERROR OR WARNING I SEE NOW (write "none" if there is none)
[paste the exact error here]

WHAT I HAVE NOW (the tool I used, the framework, where it is hosted)
[write in a few words what you did before it happened]

WHY THIS STEP
A friendly 404 keeps visitors on the site, and redirects from renamed pages keep search ranking and old links alive.

DO THESE STEPS, IN THIS ORDER
1. Create a 404 page in both languages with a search box or the main links, the right status code (404, not 200), and the same header and footer.
2. Make a redirect table from old addresses to the closest new page, using permanent redirects, no chains and no loops.
3. Check the sitemap and internal links for broken ones with a link checker and fix them.
Stop and tell me if what you see does not match a step. Do not skip ahead.

CHECK THAT IT WORKED
- An unknown address shows the helpful page with status 404, every old address in the table lands on the right page in one redirect.
Tell me exactly what I should see on the screen when it works.

DO NOT CHANGE
- Do not redirect every unknown address to the home page.
- Anything I did not ask about: the design, the text, other pages, other settings or the data.
- Do not delete files, data or branches, do not reset or force-push, and do not rewrite history, unless you first show me exactly what would be lost and I say yes.
- Do not paste, print or ask me to paste a password or secret key into this chat. If one is needed, tell me which settings page of the right service to store it in.

WHEN YOU FINISH
Explain in simple words what you changed (file by file or setting by setting), why you changed it, and how I can undo it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor, then follow what it says.

After you tried it, did it work?

Steps

Create a 404 page in both languages with a search box or the main links, the right status code (404, not 200), and the same header and footer.
Make a redirect table from old addresses to the closest new page, using permanent redirects, no chains and no loops.
Check the sitemap and internal links for broken ones with a link checker and fix them.

Do not do this

Do not leave redirect chains.
Do not redirect every unknown address to the home page.

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