What are the potential pitfalls of not returning a proper 404 HTTP status code in PHP?

Not returning a proper 404 HTTP status code in PHP can lead to confusion for users and search engines, as they may not realize that the requested resource does not exist. This can impact SEO and user experience. To solve this issue, make sure to return a 404 HTTP status code when a resource is not found. 

// Check if the resource exists
if(!resourceExists()){
    http_response_code(404);
    include('404.php');
    exit;
}

Keywords

HTTP status code 404 error PHP header function error handling

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