Microsoft Provides Toolkit To Include Live Search Results In "404" Error Pages

[kamikaze Optimizer]

We're pleased to announce that the Live Search folks released a new toolkit today for creating dynamic 404 error pages. The Web Page Error Toolkit allows you to display custom error messages with search results that are generated from relevant keywords. Rather than generic "We're Sorry" pages with links to every subject area within your site, these custom error pages offer relevant choices to help your visitors find the information they want.

[dev.live.com...]

[g1smd]

Nasty.

I hope it is opt-in for both the website owner and the person using the browser.

[bill]

Nasty.

Did you even bother to read the article, or was that just a knee-jerk response. (The latter isn't of much use to anyone.)

For those of you who bother to click through to the article you'll see that this is a developer's toolkit. Developers who want to incorporate a search engine's results (and it doesn't have to be Live) into their error pages can use this. This is a tool that lets you provide a potentially more informational/helpful error page. Hardly "nasty"...

[skipfactor]

It's the least nastiest of the 404 hijacks that I've seen. It's been awhile, but as I recall, custom 404s on IIS could be a pain w/ the wrong host.

If webmasters can control the sites and ads displayed (for free-for awhile), MS might be barking up the right tree. With potential new HP/Live saturation, it's default to their custom 404 or use the one they allow you to create. Involving webmasters...

[venti]

I really like this concept and I am surprised that this hasn't been done by Google and Yahoo (that I know of) before. It seems like an "easy" way to help monetize and capture 404 traffic. Its too bad that:

* It's a .NET/IIS based solution
* You can't easily customize the look for the page (webmasters seem to be having issues with this in the forums)