“Error 404 Page not found” a common WordPress Problem by Permalink

Learn WordPress

What if you try to see your post or page and see  “Error 404. Page not found ” on your well running WordPress blog or website?  isn’t it daunting? specially if the website is being received a high volume of traffic. Infect it seems a nightmare in terms of a quick solution because although it’s recoverable though it takes time and even more time if you don’t get the correct symptoms.

WP Permallinks errorI have faced the same with one of my client, who’s blog was just been updated by me and later he sent a mail to take a look at the error was being reported by the subscribers. I had a quick jump to his WordPress blog’s Admin area, never found any thing messed up but the problem persisted on the front side of the blog for some posts. What to do quickly, was the initial thoughts but let me explain what the issue related with is, the “Permalinks“. The Permalinks is a key factor to let search engine find your posts or pages.


Permalinks helps search engines to find your blog’s relevant keywords but you have to be very very careful when going to update either Permalink or your WordPress version. The most common issue was found related with those who updated their current version with the latest available.

In this part of “Permalink” issue I would remain specific on setting or resetting permalink because it some time resolves the matter by selecting appropriate option. If you just changed the Permalink option from “default” to “custom”, you may receive the Error 404 page not found. I recommend backup your blog or website prior to update.

How to backup your WordPress Blog or Web Site?

How to backup your WordPress blog or websiteIt is super easy to have a backup with and export xml file. Just go to Dashboard, click “Tools” or hover, it’ll show you “Export” tab. Click Export and then save your all content to the local Hard Drive or on your desktop. Once you updated successfully with the latest available WordPress version, first of all check all the pages and posts if they all are working appropriately.

In case, there is “Error 404. Page not found” appears to any post or page then you will have to set the Permalink first but if does not remove the issue then get you previous setting by importing your blog or website you have a backup of.

To Import your backup files again go to the Dashboard and then hover over “Tools” like you did before and then choose “Import” this time. It will ask you to install WordPress Importer so just go on. As soon as you install the Importer, it’ll ask you to “Activate and Import your WordPress”. You will be prompted to choose a user for administration or other roles.

After Importing successfully, again go to check all the posts and pages if they don’t have any issue. Then reset your Permalink setting back to Custom. What I found is, /%postname%/ is the popular setting that people love and it provide results when any search engine searches the relevant keywords. If you still have the problem choose default option and then check again I am sure you will find the solution of this issue.

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