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404 Erros Google Webmaster Question

by TonyG23
5 replies
Hello,

I had a forum running for my health and fitness site and took it down due to ton's of spam. Now I have over 1000+ pages with 404 errors in webmaster tools that show.

Is this hurting my ranking and how could I go about fixing this?

Thanks,
Tony
#404 #erros #google #question #webmaster
  • Profile picture of the author Tim3
    Put articles on those defunct URL's

    Remove the 404's using Webmaster tools URL removal tool (one at a time - ouch!)

    Add 301 redirects for all your broken pages back to the home page.

    If you still can, replace the forum contents and charge a joining fee.

    Goog says 404's will not harm your site, so leave them and keep check on your rankings in case.
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    • Profile picture of the author CynthiaC
      Put your 404 page to use.

      put an optin on it, sales page, video, advertising etc.

      And a search bar.

      You could do something like

      "Hey, Sorry you got lost but we are re-arranging the set. Please use the search bar to find what you were looking for or check out this cool new tool.

      Free for you - just pop in your email and I'll send it right out!"

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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Swift
    Hi Tony,

    404's just mean that the page doesn't exist anymore under your domain name. You could re-direct them to a page adding value, or giving away a freebie if they are still getting traffic. I wouldn't direct them to a sales page as potential customers have to know and trust you before they will buy from you.

    I don't think it would be hurting your Google ranking too much, but on the other hand Google doesn't like thousands of empty pages with no content and it might drop you down the rankings slightly.

    Hope this helps

    Christian
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  • Profile picture of the author TonyG23
    I don't have the forum no more. It was to much to maintain with to many spammers. Really don't want to go one by one and redirect over 1000+ 404 errors. I think I might just leave them I believe it automatically redirect to a page with a search bar option.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tim3
      Originally Posted by TonyG23 View Post

      Really don't want to go one by one and redirect over 1000+ 404 errors. I think I might just leave them I believe it automatically redirect to a page with a search bar option.
      The best way to do that Tony is to just do a few a dozen each day,
      Having two Windows open side-by-side will speed up the process
      considerably (GWT and your notepad list of 404's)
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