Apache Cookbook, 2nd Edition

9.5. Redirecting Invalid URLs to Some Other Page

Problem

You want all “not found” pages to go to some other page instead, such as the front page of the site, so that there is no loss of continuity on bad URLs.

Solution

Use the ErrorDocument directive to catch 404 (Not Found) errors:

ErrorDocument 404 /index.html
DirectoryIndex index.html/path/to/notfound.html

Discussion

The recipe given here will cause all 404 errors—every time someone requests an invalid URL—to return the URL /index.html, providing the user with the front page of your Web site, so that even invalid URLs still get valid content. Presumably, users accessing an invalid URL on your Web site will get a page that helps them find the information that they were looking for.

By contrast, this behavior may confuse the user who believes she knows exactly where the URL should take her. Make sure that the page that you provide as the global error document does in fact help the user find things on your site, and does not merely confuse or disorient her. You may, as shown in the example, return her to the front page of the site. From there she should be able to find what she was looking for.

When users get good content from bad URLs, they will never fix their bookmarks and will continue to use a bogus URL long after it has become invalid. You will continue to get 404 errors in your log file for these URLs, and the users will never be aware that they are using an invalid URL. If, by contrast, you actually return an error document, they ...