Examining Search Engines’ 404 Error Pages

I was inspired by Rustybrick’s post about a Search Engine Watch forum thread that talks about Google’s 404 page. 404 pages are displayed once we misspell a URL or click on a broken link. What’s coincidental was that I discussed this one in the office this afternoon. So I’d like to go beyond Google and check whether other search engines are providing as good (or as bad) usability within their 404 error pages. Have a look at which search engine have done something and which has done nothing on their respective websites.

Ask

Baidu

Google

Live Search

Yahoo!

Ask, Baidu and Yahoo! were the best, Google came in next and Live Search was the worst. Perhaps Google can look at Google Toolbar for help.