Microsoft have come up with a great new way for searchers to not become so annoyed when they are directed to a 404 error page.

The new “Web Page Error Toolkit” is a web application that uses Live Search to provide alternative search results on the error page. These search results will be relevant to the searchers keyword query.

Here is what the new error page will look like:

So what is the reasoning behind this new idea? Microsoft has found that “between 2 and 10% of searchers are looking for pages that either don’t exist or have been moved. These unhelpful pages often result in a dead end for users.”

The aim behind the new feature is to make it an easier and a better experience for the searcher. The last thing Microsoft would want searchers to do is to give up on searching for the right website. Additionally, this new feature may potentially give Microsoft a boost in the search market share, which they definitely need as much help as possible with.