Google Webmaster Tools
I have been using the Google Webmaster tools to improve my sites and one of the functions is to tell you if there are links out there that are getting error 404 messages and I had a few because some of the files that were linked have been removed.
To avoid this problem I set up a redirect to my homepage so if someone clicks on the link that was giving errors, now they will go straight to the index file.
Google updated the stats on the site yesterday and it left all the 404 errors there even though now it links to the index file with no issues.
I was hoping that I could get these errors off the analytics by doing this. Is there something else I should do to correct this problem?
I am a novice by my standards so please be detailed in any responses.
The site I am referring to is http://immfinancial.com
Thanks for any input!
Wade Henderson
Wade
greg posted this at 23:39 — 21st April 2009.
He has: 1,581 posts
Joined: Nov 2005
Wouldn't it have been better to remove the links altogether, rather than make them link to the homepage?
And which links are you referring to? In your post you linked to your homepage but there is a lot of content there to have to search and find what you are referring to.
Wade Henderson posted this at 01:16 — 22nd April 2009.
He has: 29 posts
Joined: Mar 2009
The links I am referring to are on other peoples sites that have made an error in putting in the link to my site in their code...there are quite a few of them (over 100) so there is no way for me to fix the links on other peoples sites.
Wade
Megan posted this at 02:09 — 25th April 2009.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
How did you redirect the links? Did you use a 301 redirect? Try checking the error codes returned when you click some of those links (there's a Firefox plugin that helps with this but I forget what it's called. I have it installed at work).
What you should do is 301 those links to the page that best matches the topic - not necessarily your home page. That will help to spread the link juice to different parts of your site.
Megan
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casius posted this at 07:44 — 8th April 2010.
They have: 12 posts
Joined: Apr 2010
Well I have removed all external links from our website as you can;t be sure what people will add to the link. You can't count on them, even if you redirect from your website with any status like 301 or 302 still if there is no website when you will get 404 error. I guess better of to remove the external links. If you are using wordpress add the plugin Broken Link Checker it will the job for you. Also what app do you use for generating your sitemap for google?
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spectranet posted this at 05:12 — 13th April 2011.
They have: 6 posts
Joined: Feb 2011
i was also facing the same problem. After redirection on my homepage all broken links are improving.
DavidIpswich posted this at 13:56 — 23rd June 2011.
He has: 117 posts
Joined: Aug 2009
The thing to check on Webmaster Tools is not just the names and number of error links, but the date the error was found.
You see an error and fix it. Return to Google and it still shows the error. It can often take quite a while before Google changes it's list of errors.
For example:
Check the list on 1st of the month and correct it the same day.
Log on the next day, the 2nd, if error was found on the 1st then you're OK. If error was found on the 2nd then it's still an error.
Hopefully, as you log on from day to day you will see the date getting further and further away. Even though it's still listed, you can safely ignore it. Eventually, Google will stop listing it.
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