Why would changing 404 pages increase traffic by 9%?
-
Neil Patel claimed in this article that by creating a custom 404 page that links out to 25 to 50 random internal pages on the website, he was able to increase the traffic of Techcrunch by 9%.
I'm a bit skeptical about this claim. A couple of questions:
- Is this theory sound? If you've personally tried this or have read other articles supporting Neil, I'd love to learn more.
- Would a big site like Techcrunch really have problems with Google not indexing all of its pages?
- Also, does getting more pages crawled help you get more traffic? Specifically, would it help a site like mine? For reference, my site gets an average of 12,040 pages crawled per day in last 90 days. Currently 28,922 pages have been indexed.
- Are there any possible downsides to trying this?
Thanks!
-
I agree with you.
It was a chest thumper article. It simply crows about rigging a fix for historic bad practice. It does not explain what caused the problem and the randon links solution isn't the best way to handle 404 traffic and probably not the best way to repair site structure problems.
-
Hi Robert! Nice seeing you again.
Yeah, it looks like Neil is pushing his Quicksprout Traffic University very aggressively. Have you heard either good or bad things about that course? It has a money back guarantee so there's no risk to money. But if the advice is bad, then the damage might be severe.
-
The article claims that the traffic bump is coming from increased indexing of TechCrunch due to Neil adding a widget that links out to 25-50 random internal pages on the 404 error pages.
But your explanation makes more sense, and that means this article is kinda misleading. Most small-mid sized sites don't have problems with systematically deleted pages. So for this tip to be added to an article directed at webmasters of small-mid sized sites seems a bit out of place.
-
I feel the same way about the ads. They are like a bad dog that rushes at you when you approach the property line and chases you down the street. Worse even than Forbes - and they are really bad IMO.
-
Egol's answer is really well thought out. One thing that really surprised me by Neil's article was the huge slap in the face ads. I say no to the first and it is as if I am assaulted over and over. Cannot stand that kind of experience and I actually think Neil is quite bright. Bummer.
Best
-
You can do this and it might be helpful. But, I am betting that TechCruch had big problems from tons of systematically deleted pages.
So, Neil Patel did not really "create" this traffic, he simply "salvaged" it... grabbed it before it went down the drain as a result of sloppy work by TechCrunch.... and like most "salvaged goods" it was probably low quality traffic after being 404ed and disappointed.
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
-
FAQ page structure
I have read in other discussions that having all questions on an FAQ page is the way to go and then if the question has an answer worthy of its own page, you should abbreviate the answer and link to the page with more content. My question is when using some templates in WP, they have a little + button you can click and it reveal the answer to the question. Does this hurt SEO versus having all text visible and then using headers/subheaders? An example of the + button https://fyrfyret.dk/faq/
On-Page Optimization | | OrlandSEO1 -
Page Layout Updates and Mobile Pages with Ads
I have been trying to do some research on the Page Layout Algorithm and Top Heavy Ads and much of what I read does not mention about mobile pages as apposed to desktop. I am curious if the Page Layout updates can be effected by mobile pages as well and if there is any good articles on this subject. Also is this Algorithm been incorporated into its regular algorithm or do we still have to wait for refreshes to see the impact? Cesar
On-Page Optimization | | cbielich0 -
Internal 404 Error
Hi sorry for the newbie question, I have a few 404 pages on my moz crawl report. so for example this one : http://www.dwliverpoolphotography.co.uk/blog/www.coraclecomm.wordpress.com. How can I find the page that is linking to it so I can fix the link or delete it? Best wishes. David.
On-Page Optimization | | WallerD0 -
Noindex child pages (whose content is included on parent pages)?
I'm sorry if there have been questions close to this before... I've using WordPress less like a blogging platform and more like a CMS for years now... For content management purposes we organize a lot of content around Parent/Child page (and custom-post-type) relationships; the Child pages are included as tabbed content on the Parent page. Should I be noindexing these child pages, since their content is already on the site, in full, on their Parent pages (ie. duplicate content)? Or does it not matter, since the crawlers may not go to all of the tabbed content? None of the pages have shown up in Moz's "High Priority Issues" as duplicate content but it still seems like I'm making the Parent pages suffer needlessly... Anything obvious I'm not taking into consideration? By the by, this is my first post here @ Moz, which I'm loving; this site and the forums are such a great resource! Anyways, thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | rsigg0 -
Optimizing pages for keywords
I have a couple of websites for retailing the western chaps manufactured by my company. I have recently tried to increase my learning for SEO since one of my main sites (started in 2006) just lost about 45% of it's organic search volume since the end of May. It seems my search to learn just creates more and more questions. I have been using google adwords for several years now and have used that information to find the most searched keywords. There are some general keywords like western chaps and cowboy chaps that receive decent search volume. If I get more specific to a certain type of chap, chinks for example, the popular high volume keywords are chinks, chinks chaps, western chinks, and cowboy chinks. These all relate to one type of chap...the chink. I want to be visible for these keywords, but how does one optimize for more than one without diluting? Should I also try to optimize on the homepage of my sites for the general terms like western chaps and cowboy chaps? Can I optimize for both? I could really use some help. Any experts out there up to the job of consulting for me, some with extensive knowledge and experience? I'm not looking for the SEO giants with hundreds of clients. I don't feel that I will get the proper value from those types. My company is small and spending is an issue, that's why I would like someone to consult with. I should be able to do most of the labor, I just need the knowledge.
On-Page Optimization | | Kelly_S0 -
If Google still shows my old title in the search results then there is no way my title change could have changed my ranking yet right?
If Google still shows my old title in the search results then there is no way my title change could have changed my ranking yet right? In other words if I changed from TItleA to TitleB but search results and cache still show TitleA then any SERP drops or increases would still be entirely based on titleA right? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | Rezo0 -
Duplicate Page Title
Hi Guys, First off, it's an honour to be a part of this awesome community. I'm using WordPress and getting top 3 rankings for great keywords and I'm very excited, however my page titles are in this format "keyword optimised title here - site name here" eg: "This is my keyword - this is the name of my blog", "This is another keyword - this is the name of my blog", "This is a longtail keyword - this is the name of my blog" SEOMoz is reporting errors because of duplicate page title tags due to the "this is the name of my blog" being in every page title. Will this hurt my rankings? Thanks in advance and keep up the great work! Cheers, Troy.
On-Page Optimization | | TroyDean710 -
Too many links on a page?
On my blog posts, I have links to all the categories and months, dating back 5-6 years. This make the number of links on each blog page well over 100, which I understand might decrease the value of each page. Is there a problem with having more than 100 links on a page?
On-Page Optimization | | rdreich492