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What Do You Do About 404 Errors?
Last Update: May 15, 2012
Since the last update by Google which was named the "Penguin Update", this has caused me problems.
Luckily I have no unnatural linking which is good.
However it seems that so many links that I did have going out as affiliate links now end up on a 404 error page saying it doesn't exist.
Two months ago everything was fine, today ten reviews are bringing back 404 errors.
That is a lot of reviews and a lot of content, what I have read is that you don't delete the content.
But instead have to remove the bad links.
Plus all the pages are ranking well in Google.
Now you can see my dilemma here.
The next problem with all this if you have a lot of content on products that don't exist anymore, what on earth do you do?
It seems the only thing I can do is write another post to act as a page to link to with a product that isn't going to expire some time soon.
The other problem is images, now because of the way that wordpress works you have to have it linking somewhere. Initially when you created the post and inserted an image via it's url from where you have that image hosted. Later on this will come up as a broken link.
All you have to do is unlink it or add in an affiliate link.
I recommend that everyone uses the http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/ plugin.
I have so far sorted out 40 links with a further 150 to do, but as I have over 700 links, the plugin is going to take a few days to work through all of the pages.
In Webmaster Tools 404 Errors are classed as soft errors and shouldn't cause you too many problems. But it is much better for your site not to have any at all because if visitors come and click on a link and they get a 404 error page then it's bye bye to that visitor. Even if you have created a special 404 error page making apologies and providing them with links, it is still far better not to have any errors.
The moral of this is; Do not Ignore 404 Errors or Any Other Type of Error!
Cheers
Neil
Luckily I have no unnatural linking which is good.
However it seems that so many links that I did have going out as affiliate links now end up on a 404 error page saying it doesn't exist.
Two months ago everything was fine, today ten reviews are bringing back 404 errors.
That is a lot of reviews and a lot of content, what I have read is that you don't delete the content.
But instead have to remove the bad links.
Plus all the pages are ranking well in Google.
Now you can see my dilemma here.
The next problem with all this if you have a lot of content on products that don't exist anymore, what on earth do you do?
It seems the only thing I can do is write another post to act as a page to link to with a product that isn't going to expire some time soon.
The other problem is images, now because of the way that wordpress works you have to have it linking somewhere. Initially when you created the post and inserted an image via it's url from where you have that image hosted. Later on this will come up as a broken link.
All you have to do is unlink it or add in an affiliate link.
I recommend that everyone uses the http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/ plugin.
I have so far sorted out 40 links with a further 150 to do, but as I have over 700 links, the plugin is going to take a few days to work through all of the pages.
In Webmaster Tools 404 Errors are classed as soft errors and shouldn't cause you too many problems. But it is much better for your site not to have any at all because if visitors come and click on a link and they get a 404 error page then it's bye bye to that visitor. Even if you have created a special 404 error page making apologies and providing them with links, it is still far better not to have any errors.
The moral of this is; Do not Ignore 404 Errors or Any Other Type of Error!
Cheers
Neil
Join the Discussion
Goldenlady
Premium
I appreciate all the directions given here. Based on them, I found a plugin called
404 Simple Redirect. After installing this plugin, I put the URL of the 404 page in the box provided, and it redirected me to the right page. I think what Bigman was saying about the link on my image was the cause of the 404 error. But this plugin was the solution. Thanks, Bigman and thank you all.
404 Simple Redirect. After installing this plugin, I put the URL of the 404 page in the box provided, and it redirected me to the right page. I think what Bigman was saying about the link on my image was the cause of the 404 error. But this plugin was the solution. Thanks, Bigman and thank you all.
Pobman
Premium
For checking outbound links if its a Wordpress setup then something like Broken Link checker (http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/08/05/broken-link-checker-for-wordpress/) should work a treat as it checks all links. It alows regex so can do multiple changes at once. I tend to turn it on once a month or so rather than leaving it running all the time.
let me know if the link from (klrrider) works for you..... if not we could find other solutions for you
ok if this is a software problem. i would advise you to reinstall the software.. or maybe if the problem is not solf then do a system restore...... let me know if i have to tell you en details
klrrider
Premium
Hey Niel, I use 404 redirected plugin. You can set things manually or in auto it will redirect visitors to the most relevant pages. I also lets you see the 404 results in real time. Retrains search engines to what pages should be indexed for those broken links. Some 404s are just lame hack attempts usually by automated software.
klrrider
Premium
It is called "404 redirected" you can go to "ad new" under plugins in your WP admin panel and then paste it in the search box. I will come right up. Then Install and activate. I resides under "settings" once installed. Here is their homepage: http://www.weberz.com/plugins/404-redirected/
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