my google webmaster tools is reporting that the url http://theguitarresource.com/index.html is a 404 page. is that bad? or does it not really matter since my homepage does not live there? (or does it?)
I don't know why you would want that to show up. Most people put in your regular domain name to get to the homepage.
IMO, Google does penalize sites that have poor construction, and a bad link is part of that. Will it be enough of a penalty to effect you? Probably not. But, you need to figure out why you have a bad link or sitemap entry and get it fixed. If anything, it'll remove one of those blemishes that cause my OCD to kick in.
well i actually have a 27 pages that are 404's... check it out, this is from google webmaster. http://theguitarresource.com/2006/01/ 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 1, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/5-guitar-playing-tips-learn-to-play.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/building-chords-using-scales-to-make.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/diatonic-harmony-building-block-of.html 404 (Not found) [?] May 29, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/guitar-playersget-balanced-guitar.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/g...r-tuning-tips-want-some-techniques.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/how-to-read-guitar-tabs-and-guitar.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/03/practicing-guitar-with-metronome-why.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/alternate-picking-video-lesson.html 404 (Not found) [?] May 29, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/creating-tension-and-resolutionthe-v7.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/essential-lead-guitar-techniques_01.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/how-to-practice-guitar.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/how-to-tune-your-guitar-by-ear.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/04/learning-arpeggios-what-are-arpeggios.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/05/buying-metronome.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/05/hang-in-there.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 7, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007/05/modes-intorduction-to-learning-modes.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007_03_01_archive.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/2007_05_01_archive.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/bbc/bbc_bg.gif) 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 2, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/bbc/bbc_hoverbg.gif) 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 2, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/buy-guita...ar-amplifiers/fender-guitar-amplifiers/ 404 (Not found) [?] May 26, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/feeds/posts/default 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 5, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/forums/Themes/vsmfb-multi-4/images_core 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 1, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/forums/Themes/vsmfb-multi-4/images_core/ 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 1, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/forums/Themes/vsmfb-multi-4/images_core/post/ 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 2, 2007 http://theguitarresource.com/index.html 404 (Not found) [?] Jun 6, 2007 But i think it is because i don't use that same permalink structure anymore. is there a way to delete these old urls???
your page is not found. when i click on your index.html link . i see The Server tried all of its options before returning this page to you. You are looking for something that is not here now. You can always try doing a search or browsing through the Archives. Don't loose your hope just yet.
You need to make sure that every page that doesn't exist anymore redirects to a page that does exist. Do this using htaccess or cpanel. Let me know if you can't figure it out.