diff --git a/website/src/middleware/organismValidatorMiddleware.ts b/website/src/middleware/organismValidatorMiddleware.ts
index 5becef2d4..861ab42c1 100644
--- a/website/src/middleware/organismValidatorMiddleware.ts
+++ b/website/src/middleware/organismValidatorMiddleware.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ export const organismValidatorMiddleware = defineMiddleware(async (context, next
 
     const { organism: validatedOrganism } = cleanOrganism(organism);
     if (validatedOrganism === undefined) {
-        return context.redirect(routes.unknownOrganismPage(organism));
+        return context.redirect(routes.notFoundPage());
     }
 
     return next();
diff --git a/website/src/pages/404.astro b/website/src/pages/404.astro
index 1f18ebae8..cb1cd4047 100644
--- a/website/src/pages/404.astro
+++ b/website/src/pages/404.astro
@@ -1,19 +1,12 @@
 ---
 import BaseLayout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
-
-const unknownOrganism = Astro.url.searchParams.get('unknownOrganism');
-
-const errorMessage =
-    typeof unknownOrganism === 'string'
-        ? `The organism "${unknownOrganism}" does not exist on this instance. `
-        : 'The page you are looking for does not exist. ';
 ---
 
 <BaseLayout title='Not Found'>
     <div class='bc'>
         <h1 class='title'>Page not found</h1>
         <p>
-            {errorMessage}
+            The page you are looking for does not exist.
             <a href='/'>Go to start page.</a>
         </p>
     </div>
diff --git a/website/src/routes.ts b/website/src/routes.ts
index 63cf3a784..d556b1695 100644
--- a/website/src/routes.ts
+++ b/website/src/routes.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export const routes = {
     },
     userSequencesPage: (organism: string) => withOrganism(organism, `/user/seq`),
     versionPage: (organism: string, accession: string) => withOrganism(organism, `/seq/${accession}/versions`),
-    unknownOrganismPage: (organism: string) => `/404?unknownOrganism=${organism}`,
+    notFoundPage: () => `/404`,
     logout: () => '/logout',
 };