Weird 404 Errors in Webmaster Tools
-
Hi,
In a regular check with Webmaster Tools, I have noticed a sudden increase in the number of "not found-404" errors. So I have been looking at them and noticed something weird has been going on.
There are well over 100 pages with 404-errors. The funny thing is, none of the ULR's are correct, For example, if the actual url is something like www.domain.com/latest-reviews , the 404-error points to a non-existent URL like www.domain.com/latest-re And when I checked where they were linked from, they are all from these spammy sites.
Anyone know what could be causing these links, why would anyone link on purpose to a non-existent page?
cheers,
-
I have alike problem: dozen of 404 errors in webmastertools like this:
http://domain.ru/ka...tino-akcia-trexkomnatnaja
http://domain.ru/Sa...e-novosti-za-oktyabr-2012
And there's not linkes to these pages from anywhere. Strange situation, cause i've lot's of pages with urls of different length, but not all of theme comes with error.
-
Thanks. I have actually been adding 301 redirects but didn't want to be spending too much time on it. Some of the links were not even linked. They were just text and Google still treated them as links.
-
Thanks. I've got canonical. So I guess I don't have to do anything.
-
Hi,
When compare you give urls seems someone have posted your shortened urls. As an example on some websites they are shortening the actual url and using as Anchor text.
As an example http://www.seomoz.org/q/wei.. but it correctly has linked to the correct page. But some users with less knowledge, they just copy the Anchor text and post those at blog posts or some other places. Because that anchor text looks like an url.
And also it can be happen because of some other site's activity.
Anyway 404 not found errors will not affect your ranking. So you do not have to worry about this problem. Also suggest you to read this help document about 404 errors.
But I can see some another problem can happen because of this kind of activity. Because if you will get any traffic from a url like that with some suffixed which you have not created. As an example a url like this
www.domain.com/latest-reviews/?refferer=some_reffer
can be have a duplicate content issue. So, I strongly recommend to add rel canonical url in to your page.
Regards
Prasad
-
Google is finding text URLs on sites with limited characters. It's a google crawl problem.
SiteX refers to your article: http://yourdomain.com/blog/austin/steve-rides-to-the-alamo but they hit a charater limit of say 40 characters so they print the URL as "http://yourdomain.com/blog/austin/steve" but link it correctly. Even with a correct link, google will read the text and crawl it the way the text is printed, not linked. Or this happens if it's not linked at all and just a shortened text URL.
To sum it up... Google's got a problem and scrapper sites that chop up URLs are feeding the bots crap. If however the linking domain is a good one and you'd like to take advantage of this little error, then you create a redirect rule on your website for the 404 page.
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
-
404 Errors for Form Generated Pages - No index, no follow or 301 redirect
Hi there I wonder if someone can help me out and provide the best solution for a problem with form generated pages. I have blocked the search results pages from being indexed by using the 'no index' tag, and I wondered if I should take this approach for the following pages. I have seen a huge increase in 404 errors since the new site structure and forms being filled in. This is because every time a form is filled in, this generates a new page, which only Google Search Console is reporting as a 404. Whilst some 404's can be explained and resolved, I wondered what is best to prevent Google from crawling these pages, like this: mydomain.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=90&catalogId=1008&homePage=Y Implement 301 redirect using rules, which will mean that all these pages will redirect to the homepage. Whilst in theory this will protect any linked to pages, it does not resolve this issue of why GSC is recording as 404's in the first place. Also could come across to Google as 100,000+ redirected links, which might look spammy. Place No index tag on these pages too, so they will not get picked up, in the same way the search result pages are not being indexed. Block in robots - this will prevent any 'result' pages being crawled, which will improve the crawl time currently being taken up. However, I'm not entirely sure if the block will be possible? I would need to block anything after the domain/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?. Hopefully this is possible? The no index tag will take time to set up, as needs to be scheduled in with development team, but the robots.txt will be an quicker fix as this can be done in GSC. I really appreciate any feedback on this one. Many thanks
Technical SEO | | Ric_McHale0 -
Google Webmaster Tools - content keywords containing spam?
Hi all, When I looked in Google Webmaster Tools today I found under the menu Google Index, Content Keywords, that the list is full of spammy keywords (E.g. Viagra (no. 1) and stuff like that) Around april we built a whole new website, uploaded a new xml-sitemap, and did all the other things Google Webmaster Tools suggest when one is creating a Google Webmaster Account. Under the menu "Security Issues" nothing is mentioned. All together I find it har d to believe that the site is hacked - so WHY is Google finding these content keywords on our site?? Should I fear that this will harm my SEO efforts? Best regards, Christian
Technical SEO | | Henrik_Kruse0 -
Link Webmaster Tools to Tag Manager
I know it is now possible to verify google webmaster tools accounts using google tag manager, but is it also possible to create a link from webmaster tools to tag manager? I would like to connect the two. I have analytics already linked to tag manager, but can't find a clear answer regarding webmaster tools. Anybody? tx!
Technical SEO | | susancompass0 -
Unfindable 404's
So I have noticed that my site has some really strange 404's that are only being linked to from internal links from the site.
Technical SEO | | Adamshowbiz
When I go to the pages that Web master tools suggests I can't actaully find the link which is pointing to the 404. In that instance what do you do? Any help would be much appreciated 🙂0 -
Webmaster tools crawl stats
Hi I have a clients site that was having aprox 30 - 50 pages crawled regularly since site launch up until end of Jan. On the 21st Jan the crawled pages dropped significantly from this average to about 11 - 20 pages per day. This also coincided with a massive rankings drop on the 22nd which i thought was something to do with panda although it later turned out the hosts had changed the DNS and exactly a week after fixing it the rankings returned so i think that was the cause not panda. However i note that the crawl rate still hasn't returned to what it was/previous average and is still following the new average of 10-20 pages per day rather than the 30-50 pages per day. Does anyone have any ideas why this is ? I have since added a site map but hasnt increased crawl rate since A bit of further info if it helps in any way is that In the indexed status section says 48 pages ever crawled with 37 pages indexed. There are 48 pages on the site. The site map section says 37 submitted with 35 indexed. I would have thought that since dynamic site map would submit all urls Any clarity re the above much appreciated ? Cheers Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
What are the best tools for back links?
I am a new to SEO, please help me in choosing the right tools for back links. I am thinking to buy Ultimate demon, Should I buy it or not? I have a range of you tube videos to rank.
Technical SEO | | Sajiali0 -
WP Blog Errors
My WP blog is adding my email during the crawl, and I am getting 200+ errors for similar to the following; http://www.cisaz.com/blog/2010/10-reasons-why-microsofts-internet-explorer-dominance-is-ending/tony@cisaz.net "tony@cisaz.net" is added to Every post. Any ideas how I fix it? I am using Yoast Plug in. Thanks Guys!
Technical SEO | | smstv0 -
Tracking a Crawl error
Hi All, If you find a crawl error on your page. How do you find it? The error only says the URL that is wrong but this is not the location. Can i drill down and find out more information? Thank you!
Technical SEO | | wedmonds0