How do I redirect 404's to index.html and rewrite the URL to the home page URL?

Question

I changed a bulky, complex website into a small one-page website, so users need to be redirected from 404s to index.html.

I put this in .htaccess:

ErrorDocument 404 /index.html

If you type mydomain.com/lalalalala, this redirects to the home page content (mydomain.com/index.html), but the URL bar still says mydomain.com/lalalalala.

How do I redirect 404s to index.html and rewrite the URL to mydomain.com?

EDIT:

I'm using Bluehost.

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '14 at 18:27

29

You can use these 2 lines at the top of your .htaccess:

DirectoryIndex index.html
ErrorDocument 404 http://domain.com/

DirectoryIndex will make http://domain.com/ load http://domain.com/index.html by default and use of http:// in ErrorDocument will make it redirect to new URL.

answered Oct 21 '14 at 18:27

anubhava

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or just: ErrorDocument 404 / – panticz Feb 25 '17 at 11:42
1

`ErrorDocument 404 /` will not change URL in browser – anubhava Feb 25 '17 at 12:00
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for me adding ErrorDocument was enough. – BrunoMartinsPro Jul 15 '19 at 10:16
Any insight in whether this is a good practice? Is it not more appropriate (and perhaps SEO abiding?) to have beautiful error pages with navigation to possible important entry points of the website? – s3c Apr 07 '21 at 13:04
@s3c: This question was not about SEO. There can be some internal websites that are not open to public. – anubhava Apr 07 '21 at 13:36

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 30 '17 at 05:31

4

Try below code :

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule . / [L,R=301]

ErrorDocument 404 /index.php

It's any 404 url to your home page.

answered Jun 30 '17 at 05:31

Dhrumin

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Using the rewrite lines created a redirect loop for me. Just using ErrorDocument 404 /index.php by itself appears to work just fine. – Andrew S Jan 24 '20 at 18:31

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 22 '20 at 20:54

-1

DirectoryIndex index.html  
ErrorDocument 404 http://example.com/

this would work for broken links. apply in .htaccess file and then check any broken link tool.

edited Dec 22 '20 at 20:54

Zoe

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answered Dec 22 '20 at 20:54

My Systems Online

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This is essentially the same as the accepted answer. What value does it add? – AlBlue Dec 22 '20 at 21:14

How do I redirect 404's to index.html and rewrite the URL to the home page URL?

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