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Author Topic: Soft 404 Errors  (Read 15063 times)
toko
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« on: May 07, 2015, 08:36:27 AM »

Hi,

Google webmaster tools gives me around 10 soft 404 errors. One of the urls which apparently causes this error is http://www.firstchoicecarbon.com/en/programs/small-emitter-and-hospital-opt-out-scheme.

Error details:

The target URL doesn't exist, but your server is not returning a 404 (file not found) error. Learn more
Your server returns a code other than 404 or 410 for a non-existent page (or redirecting users to another page, such as the homepage, instead of returning a 404). This creates a poor experience for searchers and search engines.
More information about "soft 404" errors


Google also says that this url is linked from active sites, e.g. the home page, and urls that no longer exist. I checked the source code of the home page and confirm there is no link to the above mentioned url - strange!

I thought soft 404 errors would stop when enabling the 404 error page article in Joomla. So now the 404 error page shows up just fine but apparently the server no longer returns a 404 error. Was this intended when creating the template, more precisely the 404 error page?

Any idea how to resolve this problem once and for all? Thanks for all the help!

To Ko
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mikek
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« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2015, 11:09:25 AM »

Hello,

404 pages are sent to an article, where you can customize the look and layout of the page. You can see the tutorial here:

http://www.shape5.com/documentation/Vertex-Framework/Joomla-Specific/How-to-Create-a-Custom-404-Page-in-Joomla

If you don't want to use the article method, you can simply delete or rename the article called "404 Error Page" and it will just use the default Joomla error page without forwarding to an article. However, that page has no additional styling and you can't control the content of it.
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Mike Knott
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toko
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« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2015, 02:40:35 PM »

Mike,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Are you saying that I can either

1) use the "404 error page" and continue receiving soft 404 errors from Google, or
2) delete or rename the article called "404 error page" to let the server send out 404 error messages and, as a consequence, the soft 404 errors from Google will disappear?

Thank you for your clarification!

To Ko


Hello,

404 pages are sent to an article, where you can customize the look and layout of the page. You can see the tutorial here:

http://www.shape5.com/documentation/Vertex-Framework/Joomla-Specific/How-to-Create-a-Custom-404-Page-in-Joomla

If you don't want to use the article method, you can simply delete or rename the article called "404 Error Page" and it will just use the default Joomla error page without forwarding to an article. However, that page has no additional styling and you can't control the content of it.
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mikenicoll
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« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2015, 10:22:39 PM »

Hello,

We have added a custom 404 redirect which allows you to create an article using the method Mikek posted. This shouldn't affect 404 pages not appearing or generating false URLs as we just echo the default 404 page provided by Joomla. If you remove the default 404 error page article and the error still appears with the default error.php file it means there is a problem with the menu items/content alias' themselves.
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Mike Nicoll
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mikek
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« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2015, 07:34:08 AM »

Hello,

You can do either method, but both methods will result with a 404 error from the server. Using the article method simply forwards the url to more aesthetically pleasing page after the error has been detected. It uses the default error.php file that comes with Joomla to first detect the error on the server end, and once that error is detected it forwards you to the article page. Removing the article simply removes the forward and leaves you on the default 404 error page with no forwards afterwards.
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Mike Knott
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toko
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« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2015, 09:06:45 AM »

Mike,

the 404 error page article's alias is '404-error-page'. Hence, it should show the url www.website.com/404-error-page but it shows www.website.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118 instead. I cleared out all unpublished and trashed articles/categories to avoid any url conflict - still no change. I had the feeling something were wrong with the URL rewriting because when I enter the www.website.com/404-error-page it redirects to www.website.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118 (indeed 118 is the id of the 404 error page article). But why does it keep redirecting?

Any other ideas?

Many thanks,
toko

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mikek
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« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2015, 06:41:05 AM »

Hello,

The script only points to an article ID. SEF urls work when there is a menu item involved. If you publish that article also to a menu item, it might take on SEF settings, but the script isn't necessarily written for that. I typically setup a "hidden" menu where I publish menu items like this, it doesn't have to be live on the page.
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Mike Knott
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toko
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« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2015, 06:58:20 AM »

Mike,

Sorry, I have the feeling there is a misunderstanding. For me it is not so much about the look of the url but more about the server signal. Please have a look on the attached photo. The picture shows the fetch result as 'redirected' instead of 'not found'. That's the reason for the soft 404 error. I am still asking myself why does it not return a 404 error?

Toko
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mikek
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« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2015, 07:13:27 AM »

Hello,

As stated above it is a redirect to an article; the customized 404 page that is showing is an article. If you don't want it to redirect you have to rename or delete the "404 Error Article", and then no redirect will take place; it will simply keep you on the default error.php page, which is the default Joomla 404 error page, and will result as a 404 with no redirect at all. However, that method is not recommended because there is no styling.
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Mike Knott
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Shape 5 Team

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sneadm
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« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2015, 09:19:56 AM »

So, just to be clear, if we use your method, the html return code is a redirect resulting in a soft 404.  Defaulting to the joomla default results in a html 404 error and a hard not found, removing the url from the index.
For me, a good Google result is more important than a formatted page.  Is there any way I can have both?
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mikek
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« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2015, 12:37:06 PM »

Hello,

If you want the article method with good styling the way is what is mentioned here in this post and the tutorials. If you don't want the article method and want to use the default error handling you would delete the article "404 Error Page", you cannot have both.
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Mike Knott
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Shape 5 Team

- Need a great host for your website? We highly recommend siteground.com!


- Put your trust in the hands of our extremely qualified staff to get your job done right!


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sneadm
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« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2015, 01:18:47 PM »

Hello,

If you want the article method with good styling the way is what is mentioned here in this post and the tutorials. If you don't want the article method and want to use the default error handling you would delete the article "404 Error Page", you cannot have both.

Ahh, but I can!  Thanks to OS Training https://www.ostraining.com/blog/joomla/custom-404/  I edited the error.php as they suggested using the hidden menu to create a menu item for my 404-error page and it works like a charm.  HTML return code is a 404 and I have my fully styled page available to provide to the users.

Thank-you Nick!
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mikek
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« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2015, 08:22:46 AM »

Hello,

If you've modified the error.php file to forward to another url, that is what our default scripts do already. At the top of error.php it looks 404 Error Page and if it exists it forwards the users to that page, if it doesn't then it continues on with the default error.php script.
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Mike Knott
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Shape 5 Team

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sneadm
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« Reply #13 on: November 30, 2015, 03:31:22 PM »

It doesn't redirect it just echo's the page while setting the header to 404.  So it looks to google like a hard 404.
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mikek
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« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2015, 08:34:32 AM »

Hello,

Would you be willing to post a url to your site and the error.php file you are using? I would like to look it over but I can't get OSTraining's tutorial to work correctly. I'd like to see what it looks like on your site.
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Mike Knott
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- Need a great host for your website? We highly recommend siteground.com!


- Put your trust in the hands of our extremely qualified staff to get your job done right!


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