Google bots and 404's

Money Bomb · 09-25-2009, 11:13 PM

This is just bizarre, I'm getting all sorts of love from the google bots - but they are hitting lots of 404's. Sent them up to date sitemaps and they still are hitting them.

Wordpress install, they are attempting to get my posts from a shallow link structure - My structure is fairly deep using categories and sub categories.

Why in the world would G be looking for something that isn't there? Something must be telling them to look there, perhaps a buggy plugin?

Edit: I am using /%category%/%postname%/ ---- G is looking for just /%postname%/ after the domain.

Bo Mill · 09-25-2009, 11:21 PM

I had a similar problem.

Did you carefully analyze what exactly G! Bots are visiting from your Webmaster Central dashboard? It provides you with an overview of what links they are hitting, as well as how they "got to know" those links.

Also, let it go for a little while. I have updated my sitemap several times and changed the misleading links on one of my websites, yet I was still receiving those unwanted hits.

It took about a week or so for the bots to "update" themselves.

-Bo

Money Bomb · 09-25-2009, 11:46 PM

Since submitting a new sitemap, G is finding the posts but immediately tries to find the same post under the shorter permalink as before.

What is strange, is the permalink structure hasn't changed since populating the website - so nothing should be telling G to go there.

All I can think of is the old sitemap gave the content structure I used when I setup the sitemap plugin. Not sure if a sitemap can do that.

I'll wait a week or two, then maybe redirect the 404.php to the home page?

09-25-2009, 11:13 PM	#1
Money Bomb Warrior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 23 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Google bots and 404's - Help! This is just bizarre, I'm getting all sorts of love from the google bots - but they are hitting lots of 404's. Sent them up to date sitemaps and they still are hitting them. Wordpress install, they are attempting to get my posts from a shallow link structure - My structure is fairly deep using categories and sub categories. Why in the world would G be looking for something that isn't there? Something must be telling them to look there, perhaps a buggy plugin? Edit: I am using /%category%/%postname%/ ---- G is looking for just /%postname%/ after the domain.
	My Wordpress Article Directory Exclusively Expert - Dofollow and free to post content and comment!

09-25-2009, 11:21 PM	#2
Bo Mill Victory is Life! War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 255 Thanks: 19 Thanked 24 Times in 21 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Google bots and 404's - Help! I had a similar problem. Did you carefully analyze what exactly G! Bots are visiting from your Webmaster Central dashboard? It provides you with an overview of what links they are hitting, as well as how they "got to know" those links. Also, let it go for a little while. I have updated my sitemap several times and changed the misleading links on one of my websites, yet I was still receiving those unwanted hits. It took about a week or so for the bots to "update" themselves. -Bo

09-25-2009, 11:46 PM	#3
Money Bomb Warrior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 23 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Google bots and 404's - Help! Since submitting a new sitemap, G is finding the posts but immediately tries to find the same post under the shorter permalink as before. What is strange, is the permalink structure hasn't changed since populating the website - so nothing should be telling G to go there. All I can think of is the old sitemap gave the content structure I used when I setup the sitemap plugin. Not sure if a sitemap can do that. I'll wait a week or two, then maybe redirect the 404.php to the home page?
	My Wordpress Article Directory Exclusively Expert - Dofollow and free to post content and comment!