404 error redirect

[chensp18]

I redirect 404 error to my homepage using following codes in .htaccess:
ErrorDocument 404 /index.html

Is it a 301 redirect? Is it good for major search engine? Does anybody have a better solution to redirect 404 errors to homepage and have no impact with SE ranks?

Thank you!

[SEOforGoogle]

You should place your sitemap on your error handling page - that way if a spider or user gets hung up, they can easily find what they're looking for.

Not sure about the .htaccess, although normally you only use a 301 on a page that you are removing.

[kservik]

It is an interesting subject. My guess it is a risk to do a 301 redirect, but have no evidence to back it up.

I have also normally used a sitemap.