404 to SE's 301 to visitors.

[amxfan]

I have seen this done over and over but what is the best way to set it up?

I want to display a 404 to the search engines when a page is not found but also want to 301 the visitors back to the root of the site without them seeing any 404 error page.

Right now I have it a custom 404 page. I want to remove this page and just set it so my main page is also the landing page after a 404 error.

I tried a html 301 on the 404 error page but the visitor could see the 404 page pop for a sec before it changed.

Second question... although many people do this is, is it the best thing to do? Would the search engines see it as duplicate content due to they may interpret it as a mirrored index page as a 404 page?

[incrediblehelp]

Why? Just use the 301 redirect so the link juice (if any) gets passed.

[amxfan]

I'm not sure if we are on the same page or if I am just not following. When a visitor follows a link or arrives at a page that is no longer on the site, currently they get shown a custom 404 page. From the custom 404 page they can click on a link to take them to different parts of the site or they can hit the back button. I'm trying to still show the search engines the 404 server response for a page not found while at the same time 301'ing the visitors to my index page, without the visitors seeing the 404. I'm not following what you are saying to do.

In c panel I had it set to redirect any 404 back to the main page. After doing this, I had an error in Google webmaster tools stating that my site was no longer verified. A 200 status ok was reported and not a 404, or something along those lines. That is not the exact wording.

[amxfan]

The last part of my question about it being the best thing to do was answered in this thread (http://www.webproworld.com/google-discussion-forum/71266-returning-404-google-but-301-users-safe.html). Sorry I did not see it when I searched.

but what is the best way to do it?