404 soft errors - webmaster tools

Log in to reply
LianneF

LianneF

Free Member
Jul 18, 2007
798
53
Oxford, UK
  • #1
    Hi
    In google webmaster tools I have lots of pages that have come back as soft 404 errors / 404 like content - these are products that we no longer stock and aren't on the website but these pages still seem to exist even though I have deleted them. I think a previous web developer set it up so that it says 'sorry this product is out of stock, please use our gift finder' We don't really have similar products that we can re-direct customers to and worry that as we will get even more of these pages over time that it may effect our rankings. When you delete a product, shouldn't it completely disappear like it was never there? as on my site, they all seem to be there if you type in old url's? I am happy to pm some of the urls if someone has 5 mins to take a look to see if these pages are setup correctly.
    Thanks
    Lianne
     
    LianneF

    LianneF

    Free Member
    Jul 18, 2007
    798
    53
    Oxford, UK
  • #4
    a lot have been out of stock over a year. Some seem to be still in googles index as I notice people clicking on them. Our xml sitemap hasn't been setup correctly so not sure if a lot of these urls have come from that but this is being sorted soon.
     
    Upvote 0
    D

    Deleted member 61074

  • #6
    Personally I get fed up when I search for stuff and find a page where it is out of stock. For me best practice is to do a 301 permanent redirect for each deleted page or reuse the page name.
     
    Last edited by a moderator:
    Upvote 0
    fisicx

    fisicx

    Moderator
    Sep 12, 2006
    46,650
    8
    15,354
    Aldershot
    www.aerin.co.uk
  • #7
    allthingsgifts said:
    Our xml sitemap hasn't been setup correctly so not sure if a lot of these urls have come from that but this is being sorted soon.
    Click to expand...
    Delete it today. A bad sitemap will hurt your ranking is so many ways. If you have good internal linking on the site you don't need a sitemap. Delete, remove, expunge the thing right now.
     
    Upvote 0
    LianneF

    LianneF

    Free Member
    Jul 18, 2007
    798
    53
    Oxford, UK
  • #9
    also in webmaster tools, it shows about 300 items with duplicate title tag and meta description. and when you click on one it shows two different urls for the same product. This is where I have changed the title and thus the url changes. One doesn't seem to forward to the other but both work like they are separate. Would this have any effect on rankings?
    Thanks
    Lianne
     
    Upvote 0
    fisicx

    fisicx

    Moderator
    Sep 12, 2006
    46,650
    8
    15,354
    Aldershot
    www.aerin.co.uk
  • #11
    allthingsgifts said:
    Deleting it does seem abit scary but google does pick up new products we list pretty much straight away. Ok I will go for it!
    Click to expand...
    I bet you see your ranking improve.
    allthingsgifts said:
    also in webmaster tools, it shows about 300 items with duplicate title tag and meta description. and when you click on one it shows two different urls for the same product. This is where I have changed the title and thus the url changes. One doesn't seem to forward to the other but both work like they are separate. Would this have any effect on rankings?
    Click to expand...
    Yes. Google thinks you have two pages so will share gthe ranking (or ignore one of the pages)

    Investigate the canonical tag, it does exactly what you want: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=139394
     
    Last edited:
    • Like
    Reactions: LianneF
    Upvote 0
    Log in to reply

    Latest Articles

    Join UK Business Forums for free business advice
    Top Bottom
    Community
    Articles
    Menu