Best way to use a 404

[ak]

Do you redirect to main page or create a custom 404 page ?

What's the best way to go about that?

[pokeraussie]

Better to create a custom 404 page. Both from a SEO/user experience perspective.

[parttimepoker]

Custom 404 that includes a search box and a few links to your most popular pages should do the trick.

[pokeraussie]

Custom 404 that includes a search box and a few links to your most popular pages should do the trick.

You can just +1 the pissed dude. It's doubtful you'd be wrong 99.9% of the time, it's a safe bet

[baldidiot]

+1 the custom 404 although I would add that if possible have links to similar URLs - if you're using joomla sh404SEF can do this for you. Just in case they misstyped it or you moved it without 301'ing the old url.

Otherwise popular pages.