Google Analytics reporting traffic for 404 pages

[jayoliverwright]

Hi guys,

Unique issue with google analytics reporting for one of our sites.

GA is reporting sessions for 404 pages (landing pages, organic traffic) e.g. for this page:

http://www.milkandlove.com.au/breastfeeding-dresses/index.php the page is currently a 404 page but GA (see screenshot) is reporting organic traffic (to the landing page).

Does anyone know any reasons why this is happening?

Cheers.

http://www.milkandlove.com.au/breastfeeding-dresses/index.php

GK0zDzj.jpg

[MattRoney]

Hi Jay! Did Eric or Jordan (or both!) answer your question, and if so, would you mind marking one or both responses as a "Good Answer?" It'll give a few extra, appreciative MozPoints, and it helps us keep track of things on this end.

Otherwise, how can we help?

[GlobeRunner]

For a true 404 error page, Google wouldn't tell you about those errors. You may have a custom 404 error page set up with the tracking code on it and visitors are going to those 404 error page(s). But, since it's JavaScript that must load, then you won't see 404 errors in Google Analytics.

[JordanLowry]

I am not 100% sure if this is the cause but when I look at the source code I see the google analytics tracking code on the page. The other reason could be you have a custom report set up to collect data about 404 pages but it does not appear to be the case when looking at the attached image. I would recommend putting a 301 in place for that page since it appears to get a lot of traffic.

Hope that helps some.