Google Webmaster Tools: BOGUS 404 ERRORS!

Discussion in 'Google' started by satlas, Aug 28, 2007.

  1. #1
    I have been getting hundreds of bogus 404 not found errors in my google webmaster dashboard. I have NO idea what to do. Does anyone know:

    1. where these references are coming from?
    2. how to get rid of them?
    3. how to prevent them?
    4. what problems they may cause?


    some examples:

    mydomain.com/alabama.php
    mydomain.com/arkansas.php
    mydomain.com/alltell.com
    mydomain.com/home.do
    mydomain.com/dobson.com
    mydomain.com/ci/content/url/226337.html
    mydomain.com/db/ARCHIVE/WORLD_CUPS/WC2007/
    mydomain.com/columns/content/story/genre.html?genre=114
    mydomain.com/mydomain.com/Board/Board.asp?BoardID=1
    mydomain.com/Boards.asp?Assort=1


    It may be a coincidence, but one of my pages that has slowly been climbing in google rank suddenly dropped way down again after these errors started compiling.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
     
    satlas, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  2. salmonbones

    salmonbones Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Well, I guess they aren't bogus 404's if the pages don't exist.....!

    Is this just an example of referer spam or something more malicious?
     
    salmonbones, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  3. Pixelrage

    Pixelrage Peon

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    #3
    I had one of these in my list. That tool is the most difficult thing to understand. One week, you'll get 7 URLs listed there, the next week, 0. The week after that, 1.
     
    Pixelrage, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  4. theo-zzzz

    theo-zzzz Notable Member

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    #4
    I would report this to Google..
     
    theo-zzzz, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  5. satlas

    satlas Peon

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    #5
    Interesting.... I assumed this was something that other people experience as well, but I guess not? I will definitely report it to google asap.
     
    satlas, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  6. WorldImpulse

    WorldImpulse Well-Known Member

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    #6
    This is something strange ... Better email to google.
     
    WorldImpulse, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  7. salmonbones

    salmonbones Well-Known Member

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    #7

    Yeah, because google are going to do something about it!!!
     
    salmonbones, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  8. QuEST

    QuEST Peon

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    #8
    i think i too noticed this, maybe that happens on shared hosting or something?
     
    QuEST, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  9. Pixelrage

    Pixelrage Peon

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    #9
    I'm on a dedicated server. It's so ridiculous. God forbid your site is being updated or goes down for an hour, Googlebot never seems to miss being there at that exact moment...then you'll get 200+ links listed as "not found" in google webmaster for a week or two :D
     
    Pixelrage, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  10. IEmailer.com

    IEmailer.com Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Here is the answers:
    1- Google indexed those pages because the is links pointing to them
    2- Go to the webmaster tools and use the url removal request tool
    3- Use robots.txt file on your server to allow google bot to index specific pages
    4- Double content - deindexing - banning.

    Hope it's helpful.
     
    IEmailer.com, Aug 28, 2007 IP
  11. satlas

    satlas Peon

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    #11
    I did a search for my problem and found someone else who had the EXACT same problem with the EXACT same bogus URLs (mysite.com/bogusphrase/bogusphrase.bogusextension). After reading that I have a hard time believing that someone is indeed linking to these ridiculous URL strings. I have come to the conclusion that it is either:

    A. Googlebot being nuts
    B. Some kind of spam with malicious intent

    I emailed google about it a few weeks ago and of course I have not heard back from them. Any other ideas?
     
    satlas, Sep 6, 2007 IP
  12. dpEv

    dpEv Guest

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    #12
    Anyone ever find an answer for this thread???
     
    dpEv, Jul 27, 2008 IP
  13. jburdon14

    jburdon14 Well-Known Member

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    #13
    A lot of times people copy and paste some text into their website without knowing that they are also copying hyperlinks with the text... With some site CSS you cannot tell the difference between text and links... I would almost be willing to bet that your site is linking to those sites (obviously on accident)... I would scan your source code very carefully.
     
    jburdon14, Jul 27, 2008 IP