How to remove 404 pages wordpress
-
I used the crawl tool and it return a 404 error for several pages that I no longer have published in Wordpress. They must still be on the server somewhere?
Do you know how to remove them? I think they are not a file on the server like an html file since Wordpress uses databases?
I figure that getting rid of the 404 errors will improve SEO is this correct?
Thanks,
David
-
Yeah...as others have noted, there often is the live link somewhere else that points to a page that is now gone...
So a 404 really is the LINK page....as long as it's out there, it'll point to that non-existant page....so a 301 can help, or (this was fun) you can 301 the incoming 404 link BACK to the linking page itself....
teeHee...yeah, not such a good idea but a tactic that we did have to use about 4 years ago to get a spam directory to "buzz off!!!"
-
Hey David
Once you publish a page/post in WordPress and submit a sitemap, you are stuck with those pages. I've experienced this problem a lot as I use WordPress often. Once you trash a page there and delete it permanently, it's not stored anywhere in the WordPress CMS. They are just reading as 404s since they existed and now no longer exist.
As stated above, just make sure you are not linking to your trashed page anywhere in your site.
I've done a couple things with 404 Pages on my WordPress sites:
1. Make an awesome 404 page so that people will stay on the site if they found your 404 page on accident. Google will eventually stop crawling 404s so this is a good temporary way to engage users.
2. 301 Redirect the 404s to relevant pages. This helps keep your link juice and also helps with the user experience (since they are reaching a relevant page)
Hope that helps!
-
404's are a natural part of websites, Google understands that. As long as you don't have links to pages on your site that are 404'ing you're fine. So basically, just make sure your website is not the source of your 404's.
-
Anything you type after your domain which isn't an actual page will return a not found error; it doesn't mean the page exists somewhere. [Try entering yourdomain.com/anythingyouwant and you will get a 404.] Or am I misunderstanding the question? In any case, 404 errors are not necessarily bad for SEO, as long as they are not harming the user experience.
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
-
Why would someone go to same 404 page over and over?
Good morning, I've been using the redirection plugin on my wordpress site and noticed i have multiple IP addresses going to the same folder on my site - like "mydomain.com/folder-name/". The "folder-name" is obviously not anything remotely like any folder or file name I have on my domain - so it's obviously spammy in nature. And, there are multiple IP addresses going to this same URL address every 3 hours on the dot, so it's appears automated. Is this something to be concerned about? Should I "do" anything? Thanks in advance for reading and replying!
Moz Pro | | mlm120 -
Using Premium SEO Pack – Wordpress Plugin
Hello Im Using Premium SEO Pack – Wordpress Plugin and the plugin in a way tell me what i need to fix so my website get better ranking in SEO, but here in moz im getting an F when i rate my website Moz ask me to fix things that i already fix with the plugin http://imgur.com/bKdHhWL http://imgur.com/1sP0Jm0,bKdHhWL,0XvEPyY#2 what im doing wrong? 1sP0Jm0
Moz Pro | | dawgroup0 -
Google+ Local Business Page not appearing
I have a local verified google + listing and recently just went to update it nicely. even though it has been around for months, however Google just can't seem to index it, does anybody know the reason why? I have tried " hard-searching" for it and it is not even indexed! However if i find hard enough, it will appear in google maps, and also my domain has been around for months, if not a year however under Moz Open Site explorer it indicates it is a super new domain and even alexa is not recognizing any data even though it has traffic. The only thing i have done is i have shifted servers two months ago. Does that translate to a new site? I hope not...
Moz Pro | | partyrocks0 -
On Page Reports for Long-Tail Keywords?
First Q&A here, so take it easy on me. Hopefully this is not a dumb question. 99% of the on page reports I look at are for local keywords. I'm finding that some of the page reports get and F where they should be receiving A's. I noticed if I manage a long-tail keyword like "books in houston tx" that I get a grade based on the exact phrase as opposed to a combination of the keywords. So when I have text in the body saying "books in the Houston area" or "Houston Books" for example, instead of using my exact managed keyword, it will tell me that the keyword is not mentioned in the body anywhere. When it is, it's just not in the exact order... I'm trying to write my pages for users and I don't think the users want to hear "books in houston tx" several times. If I do a report on the same page for the keyword "books" I get an A. So this is where it gets a little in the grey area for me. I need a solid on page report for local long-tail search terms. Anyone have any advice? Is there a way I could be using this tool to better suit my needs?
Moz Pro | | AmericomMarketing0 -
Why does it keep displaying br tags and claiming 404 errors on like 4 of my URL's for all my Wordpress sites?
Is anyone else having the same issue? These errors don't actually exist and i think it has something to do with wordpress - how can i fix this?
Moz Pro | | MillerPR0 -
Wordpress malware help
Hi guys, I've noticed in my crawl reports that some URL's seem to have inline Javascript in them... The JS doesn't work, but it does cause the link to 404. I'm not sure where the links have come from - it's only affecting really old blog posts made before my time here. I'm contemplating deleting them... Here's an example: | http://www.evoenergy.co.uk/blog/author/aaron/page/76/ window.open('http%3A/www.lime.com/redirect/pubs.acs.org/'); void(0) | Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
Moz Pro | | tomcraig860 -
How to check Page Authority in bulk?
Hey guys, I'm on the free trial for SEOmoz PRO and I'm in love. One question, though. I've been looking all over the internet for a way to check Page Authority in bulk. Is there a way to do this? Would I need the SEOmoz API? And what is the charge? All I really need is a way to check Page Authority in bulk--no extra bells and whistles. Thanks, Brandon
Moz Pro | | thegreatpursuit0 -
On-Page Keyword Optimization Question
First let me say I want to improve the text of the site I am working on focusing on the site visitor in the first instance. I run the "On-Page Keyword Optimization" The page fails on "Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document... ...Occurrences of Keyword 48" well over the limit of 15. The occurrence include those in the site navigation and strapline, but it was my understanding that Google was aware of nav areas/areas common to most other pages on the site and that keywords in these areas weren't viewed as being part of the page content. The keyword is the main keyword for the company, and the page is the home page i.e. "acme widgets" the others are "acme widgets for the home"... well you get the idea: The page breaks down as follows: 5 instances in primary nav 1 instance strapline 3 instances secondary nav Remainder in page body I am told by the tool to reduce to 15 instances, so should I? Have 9 instances in the nav and other areas and 6 or so on the page Have 9 instances in the nav and other areas and 15 or so on the page
Moz Pro | | GrouchyKids0