Do I need to redirect soft 404s that I got from Google Webmaster Tools?
-
Hi guys,
I got almost 1000+ soft 404s from GWT. All of the soft 404s produce 200 HTTP status code but the URLs are something like the following:
http://www.example.com/search/house-for-rent
(query used: house for rent)
http://www.example.com/search/-----------rent
(query used:-------rent)
There are no listings that match these queries and there is an advanced search that is visible in these pages.
Here are my questions:
1. Do I need to redirect each page to its appropriate landing page?
2. Do I need to add user sitemap or a list of URLs where they can search for other properties?
Any suggestions would help.
-
Thanks guys for your inputs. By the way, this issue is already resolved last year. Thanks again!
-
It depends what you want to achieve. If the 404s are pages which no longer exist than it will be the fastest to use the GWMT removal tool to remove the page pattern and also add a noindex in robots.txt. In addition obviously returning a 404.
The soft 404 is a case where content is not found but HTTP-status 200 is returned - this needs to change if you currently serve non-existing pages.
We generally do the following:
- Content which we know does not exist anymore (i.e. a deleted product page or a deleted product category) is served with a SC_GONE (410) and we provide cross-selling information (i.e. display products from related categories). This works great and we have seen a boost in indexed content.
- URLs which don't exist will go through a standard 404 - this is intentional as our monitoring will pick this up. If it is a legitimate 404 put of SEO value, we will do a redirect if it makes sense, or just let Google drop it over time (takes sometimes up to 4 weeks)
You can have multiple versions of 404 pages, but this would need to be coded out - i.e. in your application server you would define 404page which then programmatically would display content depending on what you want to do.
-
I know I am way late to the party, but MagicDude4Eva, have you had success just putting a noindex header on the soft 404 pages?
That sounds like the easiest way to deal with this problem, if it works, especially since a lot of sites use dynamic URLs for product search that you don't want to de-index.
Can you have multiple 404 pages? Otherwise redirecting an empty search results page to your 404 page could be quite confusing..
-
Hi mate,
I already added the following syntax to my website's robots.txt:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search/
I have checked the dynamic pages or URLs produced by search box (ex.http://www.domain.com/search/jhjehfjehfefe) but they are still showing in Google.com and there's still 1000+ soft 404s in my Google webmaster tools account.
I appreciate your help.
Thanks man!
-
I think if it is done carefully it adds quite a lot of value. A proper site taxonomy is obviously always better and more predictable.
-
I would never index or let google crawl search pages - very dangerous ground.
-
I would do the following:
- For valid searches returned create a proper canoncial URL (and then decide if you want to do a index,follow or a noindex,follow on the result pages). You might not necessarily want to index search results, but rather a structure of items/pages on your site.
- I would generally not index search results (rather have your pages being crawled through category structures, sitemaps and RSS feeds)
- It does sound though that the way you implemented the search is wrong - it should not result in a soft 404 - it could be as easy as making the canonical for your search just "/search" (without any search terms) and if no results are found display options to the user for search refinements
The only time I have seen soft 404s with us is in cases where we removed product pages and then displayed a generic "product not available" page with some upselling options. In this case we set a status of 410 (GONE) which resolved the soft 404 issue.
The advantage of the 410 is that your application makes the decision that a page is gone, whereas a 404 could really be just a wrong linked URL.
-
Yes Customize 404 whenever your database don't have have search results for user query then you can redirect them to that page.
Have you considered of blocking "search" results directory in Robots.txt because those pages are dynamic, they are not actually physical page so its better you block them.
-
What do you mean by default page? Is it a customized 404 page?
Thanks a lot man! I appreciate it.
-
Hi,
As per your URL, I think best solution is to block "search" directory in Robots.txt, then Google will not able to to access those pages so no error in GWT. OR you can also create default page for query which don't have any result in database.
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
-
Any risks involved when we have huge list of redirects in our website database?
Hi all, We have changed hundreds and thousands of page and page URLs for last 10 years in our website. So, now we are going to redirect most of the old pages/links to the current related pages. This will increase the number of redirects we set in our website database to thousands. Will this put any extra weight on crawler and any risks involved for employing too many redirects. Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz0 -
Responsive design and Google analytics mobile tracking codes?
Hi all, We are currently rebuilding a site using responsive design, however i have just had a thought. On another site where we have a mobile site under a sub-directory we utilise mobile tracking codes as we found that this was far more accurate for recording visits. On a responsive design site evidently all pages, desktop and mobile, will be under the same URL, yet the content will adjust to the screen size of the device. Should we also change the tracking code to be mobile code on the lower resolutions or would the same code be sufficient?
Web Design | | Sarbs0 -
Changing Links that Show Up when I Google Brand (Site) Name
Hi SEOmoz Community, A quick question for you all. I've added an attachment for reference. When I google my brand name, say for example, Applied StemCell, I see six links as well below the description. Oddly though, these links seem to be chosen at random, or at least I'm not sure how Google decides on them. When I click on one of the links that is the company's name, Applied StemCell it brings me to a PDF document! Is there any way I can choose which ones to display there? Thanks! OF2oVVN.png
Web Design | | swzhai0 -
Google Webmaster Message!!
Hello, One of my clients is using an old version of wordpress. On google's web master tools there are about 5 messages recommending an upgrade. My question is: Could this affect rankings? Thanks
Web Design | | ogdcorp0 -
Google Analytics
Hi Folks I'm currently measuring multiple goals with Google analytics. At the end of the month I compare the Analytics numbers with my actual, from a diffident data base, and there is often a variance. My questions are; 1- Is there an accepted Delta % in goals eg: + or - 10% 2- Is there a resource that anybody found incredibly useful on this topic 3- does anybody have any tips on trouble shooting here? Thank you in advance
Web Design | | Intrested0 -
How Does Google differentiate a keyword you are optimizing for and a non-keyword?
So, let's say that my company is called John's Business Consulting and I offer outsourced HR work (recruiting, evaluating, personality assessments, background checks). So for my home page I want "Business Consulting" to be my keyword that I want to rank for. But "recruiting services", "talent development" are all words that describe a service that I offer and could potential be keywords, how do I get Google to not dilute my authority for "business consulting"?
Web Design | | wlw20090 -
Can google crawl text in jquery sliders?
We are redesigning our website and want to present a fair amount of text within jquery sliders. Will google crawl this text or is it treated the same way as actual script? Perhaps there is a way to just have the text as plain html but use jquery to display it?
Web Design | | Netboost0 -
Is it necessary to redirect every Error page (404 or 500) found?
If I have Hundreds of pages with 404 and 500 erros should set up 301 redirects for all of them? Some of the pages have external links, some don't.
Web Design | | jmansd0