What is the correct way to optimize pages that are forbidden? Should we redirect them, or use a custom splash page? Is it incorrect to not have a forbidden redirect like this example here? http://www.msquared.com/images/ Our website says “Forbidden†when you hit a place you're not supposed to be, but the example above goes to a Google page. http://www.jvfconsulting.com/images/ Is there a correct way of using Forbidden pages?
why would you want to optimize a page that is forbidden??? SEO pages that are available to the public and you want crawled, otherwise just add them to your robot.txt
I want to offer the best possible browsing experience for everyone, even people that hit our forbidden pages by accident. I'm only curious if its best to keep the forbidden page or use a redirect to a Google page like the example above. Do we have the option of making a branded forbidden page, would it be worth while?
I would do a redirect back to the homepage, and do the same for all forbidden/ broken links on the site.
Thanks bobbarkle, but we need the forbidden pages there for a reason. I was just passed some info on how to create the custom 403 and 404 pages I was asking about. Here's the solution... Apache custom error 403 & 404 configuration This custom error page can be configured with a single line in the .htaccess file for the relevant directory, as shown below. If this instruction is given in the root level document directory, it applies to all subdirectories. .htaccess ErrorDocument 403 /error-docs/403.html ErrorDocument 404 /error-docs/404.html
That's exactly what I was about to say. What you want is return 403 page (forbidden) and that is up to you, not to SEO Who cares how well can they rank if they'll be hit accidentally? Offering a 400/401/403/404 page with al link to your main page (or those you think surfer may like to look at) along with a search facility is the best way to cope with those error pages IMHO