What is the best approach to handling 404 errors?
-
Hello All - I'm a new here and working on the SEO on my site www.shoottokyo.com. When I am finding 4xx (Client Errors) what is the best way to deal with them? I am finding an error like this for example: http://shoottokyo.com/2010/11/28/technology-and-karma/ This may have been caused when I updated my permalinks from shoottokyo.com/2011/09/postname to shoottokyo.com/postname. I was using the plug in Permalinks moved permanently to fix them.
Sometimes I am able to find http://shoottokyo.com/a-very-long-week/www.newscafe.jp and I can tell that I simply have a bad link to News Cafe and I can go to the post and correct it but in the case of the first one I can't find out where the crawler even found the problem. I'm using Wordpress. Is it best to just use a plugin like 'Redirection' to move the rest that have errors where I cannot find the source of the issue?
Thanks
Dave
-
Hi Dave
404 errors will happen on website and you dont have to usually worry about them ( unless they are in alarmingly high numbers ) . You only want to worry about 301ing 404 pages when you are losing link juice with those.
I would use these 3 methods to find 404s on the site
-
Like Chris mentioned using Screaming Frog
-
Use your Analytics Package and search for traffic landing on the 404 page
-
Use Google Bing Webmaster Tools and see the 404 message warning ( in Crawl Stats area )
Form here you would want to 301 all valid 404 error pages to the close resembling pages ( that visitors will find useful ).
-
-
I haven't used that one but I just read up on it. It looks good.
-
Thanks for the fast response Chris. Is the best approach to 301 them using a PlugIn like Redirection? Is there a better approach or is there downsides to using a plug in to handle this?
-
Dave, you can use a tool like ScreamingFrog or Xenu's Lunk Sleuth to find links pointing to the 404 pages. You can leave the pages to 404 unless you can see in your stats that search was sending you traffic to those pages or you have external links going to them--in that case you'll want to 301 them.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
403 error but page is fine??
Hi, on my report im getting 4xx error. When i look into it it says the error is crital fo4r 403 error on this page https://gaspipes.co.uk/contact-us/ i can get to the page and see it fine but no idea why its showing a 403 error or how to fix it. This is the only page that the error is coming up on, is there anything i can check/do to get this resolved? Thanks
Moz Pro | | JU-Mark0 -
What is the best semi-professional camcorder? Trying to shoot our own Whiteboard Friday!
I am trying to recreate Moz's Whiteboard Friday but their article on how to do it is from 2012 so the camera they used at the time of the article is no longer sold. Here is the link to the article I am referencing: https://moz.com/blog/tips-for-filming-whiteboard-presentations Any other tips on the best lighting equipment, microphones, etc. for shooting videos is also appreciated!
Moz Pro | | Fiyyazp0 -
What's my best strategy for Duplicate Content if only www pages are indexed?
The MOZ crawl report for my site shows duplicate content with both www and non-www pages on the site. (Only the www are indexed by Google, however.) Do I still need to use a 301 redirect - even if the non-www are not indexed? Is rel=canonical less preferable, as usual? Facts: the site is built using asp.net the homepage has multiple versions which use 'meta refresh' tags to point to 'default.asp'. most links already point to www Current Strategy: set the preferred domain to 'www' in Google's Webmaster Tools. set the Wordpress blog (which sits in a /blog subdirectory) with rel="canonical" to point to the www version. Ask programmer to add 301 redirects from the non-www pages to the www pages. Ask programmer to use 301 redirects as opposed to meta refresh tags & point all homepage versions to www.site.org. Does this strategy make the most sense? (Especially considering the non-indexed but existent non-www pages.) Thanks!!
Moz Pro | | kimmiedawn0 -
Why would my site return an error when using Open Site Explorer to crawl it?
I have built several new sites over the last few months for others, but recently built a new one for myself. I have gone through most of the checklists from this site to address on-page SEO, and now I am looking at link building. When using Open Site Explorer, I receive an error saying that no information about the URL is available, even when I add competitor sites. Wondering if this is a common issue and if there is a convenient remedy? thanks!
Moz Pro | | MindSpark0 -
Does SEOmoz give a way to know what link on what page produces the 404 errors that SEOmoz is telling me I have??
SEOmoz gives me a report of 404 errors on my site. Do they give a way to know from what link on what page produces the error?
Moz Pro | | MeridianGroup0 -
Why my competitor have a Page Authority lower then mine, but still in the best position?
Hello Guys, my situation is: I have more Page Autority More Backlinks More Root Autority But my competitor still in a better position then mine! How it´s possible? Tks
Moz Pro | | MarcioMoura0 -
Best Keyword Ranking Report Tool
What's the best keyword ranking report tool that anyone is using currently? I have used CuteRank (booo), Rank Tracker, SEOBook.com Rank Tracker, etc. Cost isn't an issue - I'm looking for a free or a paid tool. I need to be able to export resutls in PDF and Excel format. Thanks for the feedback!
Moz Pro | | ezclickmedia0 -
SEO PowerSuite - best kept SEO secret or just bullsh..?!?
I've come across a lot of SEO tools in the last 5-6 years. And there are many great tools out there! I don't believe in the one-tool-fits-all. Among the tools I make use of are Raven Tools and Searchmetrics (great audit and market analysis tool!), and the tools in here, of course. In my search for a better ranking report tool I came across Rank Tracker from SEO PowerSuite. That seems like a great tool in category with AWR; but I am not able tell so as I am not a power user. Well, here is where I am going: I then tested the rest of the PowerSuite and it seems as a great product. But searching for the tools in here, and nothing shows up. Silence. Also elsewhere in other serious places. Why is that? It is a collective secret, shhhh, don't tell 🙂. Or is it is just crap? I know they have a bad reputation in regard to prices and updates. What do you guys think?
Moz Pro | | Danni0