301 to 404

[pwpaneuro]

Hello Everybody,

I've got a technical question about server responses. Imagine this scenario:

www.domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> 404 &

domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> www.domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> 404

I use Wordpress for my websites and I can't seem to be able to configure it (or the server where I have total control) to stop it doing this. Ideally, a non-existent url should return 404 instantly, not first redirect to the "corect" url and then return 404.

Anyone experiencing this and can help? Here's a neat tool that allows you to quickly check server response codes - for those of you who are new to this: http://responsetester.appspot.com/

Much appreciated!

Alex

[KaneJamison]

404s happen for a lot of reasons, but the only time you need to fix them is when there is a link involved that is pointed to a 404 page.

You then have 4 choices:

1. change the link if you have control over it
2. create a page there
3. 301 the URL to something else
4. leave it broken

#1 is the best solution if it's possible. #2 or #3 are acceptable alternatives to me. #4 is unacceptable to me for the sites I manage, but if you have a large or dynamic site where the URLs change frequently, it may be something you have to live with or learn how to handle in a better way (such as a plug-in like Smart404, for a Wordpress site).

As far as whether I'm going to clean up every link to a broken page on my site - I'll absolutely do it if it's a good link, because it's way easier to 301 that link than it is to earn another link elsewhere. If it's a crap link I might not bother.

[pwpaneuro]

What you're suggesting:  "The problem is not the 301, it's the 404. Get rid of it." does not make sense to me.

404 pages happen for lots of reasons and this is normal. It would be nuts to try to "patch" every single one. If the page does not exist, it should return a 404 and that's it.

What if a bunch of people link (mistakingly or not) to a bunch of non-existent pages? You're going to waste your time finding them and creating content for them? ...

[KaneJamison]

The first 301 is in place in order to indicate that the www version is the canonical version.

A 301 to a 404 like that isn't an issue - either create a page at /not-existing-page/ or 301 that URL to a correct one. That's it. The problem is not the 301, it's the 404. Get rid of it.