Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster

Fearrchair · 23rd Nov 2008, 08:51 AM

I seem to be having trouble getting the site validated with googles webmasters tools.

I've tried both the meta tag and the html.

Using the html method I wondering is it that the following is applying

# Your site doesn't return a 4xx HTML status code for non-existing URLs

If you're using HTML verification, it's important that a non-existing URL returns a 4xx status code. We can't verify sites configured to return other status codes (such as 2xx or 5xx) for non-existing URLs, because this would enable anyone to verify ownership of your site. You can try our meta tag verification method or change your server's configuration.

This configuration presents a security risk for site verification and therefore, we can't verify your site. If your web server is configured to return a status of 200 (found) in the header of 404 (not found) pages, and we enabled you to verify your site with this configuration, others would be able to take advantage of this and verify your site as well. To ensure that no one can take advantage of this configuration to view statistics to sites they don't own, we only verify sites that return a status of 404 in the header of 404 pages.

If your server is configured to return something other than a 404 for non-existent pages, try our meta tag verification method or change your server's configuration.

and if I trying to use the meta tag one to verify the site

I can seem to see the title and body pieces of the html if I try to locate it where I think it is
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Your Title</TITLE>
<META name="verify-v1" content="String_we_ask_for">
</HEAD>
<BODY>

I did run the W3C Markup Validation Service and that does product a head and title but then only seems to mess up the site layout. Running the Tidy html check seems to throw up a good few errors.

Any ideas....the site is profit2success.dot.com

Alan Mater · 23rd Nov 2008, 09:06 PM

Looking at your site code I see a huge issue. You don't have any meta tags at all. You should get your site restored because the formatting is all messed up. The code you show above isn't even there when I check the source code for your home page.

Alan

Fearrchair · 24th Nov 2008, 04:23 PM

Thanks Alan,

Glad its not just myself, I searched the site up and down for them.

Support had told me that without metatags the site wouldn't work at all but I think there must have been a misunderstanding between.

I'll have to get after them again, unless I going to try and put it in myself but I don't think that will work so well.

Michael

Alan Mater · 24th Nov 2008, 04:27 PM

You could put them in yourself, but looking at your site it seems to have a bunch of formatting problems. It's best to get your site restored to the original PIPS site and then go from there.

Patrician · 24th Nov 2008, 05:25 PM

Yes definitely a mess.

I have replied to your helpdesk ticket and I can give you the original PIPS site.

I ask you where you got this Mega Site and whoever did it if you paid them needs to put your code back together. I will try to fix it if you don't want me to write over it with the original -

To be honest it is really bad looking with the colors on the left sidebar that can barely be read. I would go for the original non-Mega version before I would use this template you have - that would kill two birds.

Waiting for your response on the ticket desk.

Suzanne Morrison · 24th Nov 2008, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by Fearrchair

# Your site doesn't return a 4xx HTML status code for non-existing URLs

Not sure what your site URL is as the one you gave didn't work for me..

But, from this error, my guess is that you can't get your site validated because the .htaccess file is redirecting to the PIPS sales page instead of a 404 page. A 404 page should return a 404 error.

To check whether or not this is the problem, do the following:

- login to the webepanel
- click on the file manager icon
- look for the .htaccess file
- If you see a line like this in the file:

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-xxxxx

- remove this line or replace the PIPS sales page URL with one that returns a 404 error code

Cheers,
Suzanne

Patrician · 24th Nov 2008, 06:32 PM

But then be sure to put the PIPS sales page back in the .htaccess file after it is validated.

This guy has serious problems - no Meta Tags at all - and if the .htaccess file is screwed up you will get a 404 for the site.

It turns out Darrin needs to fix this.

Alan Mater · 24th Nov 2008, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by Patrician

But then be sure to put the PIPS sales page back in the .htaccess file after it is validated.

This guy has serious problems - no Meta Tags at all - and if the .htaccess file is screwed up you will get a 404 for the site.

It turns out Darrin needs to fix this.

I agree! Especially if Darrin worked on it to be begin with.

Patrician · 24th Nov 2008, 07:17 PM

Yes that would be why.

Suzanne Morrison · 25th Nov 2008, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by Patrician

But then be sure to put the PIPS sales page back in the .htaccess file after it is validated.

The problem with doing this is that the PIPS sales page is a normal page and not a page that returns a 404 error.

So, if you put it back in, then later on when Google does its periodic checks for the 404 error being returned, then it will flag a problem.

The only way round it as far as I know would be to create a file with a .php extension and put the following code at the top:

<?php
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
?>

Then follow the above code with the normal HTML code to frame the PIPS sales page or something different. This will allow the page to return a 404 error and then display the regular code.

Anyone who has a redirect to a normal page in their .htaccess file will experience a problem validating their website with Google webmaster tools.

Cheers,
Suzanne

Fearrchair · 25th Nov 2008, 03:01 PM

Darrin has fixed it now again, looking at the html it looks a lot better now.

I also been looking up on googles pages and I think that true alright if it cannot see a 404 page then it flags it as a problem. According to Google without a 404 page is a security risk it seems.

Since the html was fixed it even looking a lot healthier (it was like a sick child for a few days there).

The comment from Darrin was that I should always back up the index page before I edit anything but to the best of my knowledge I hadn't fiddled around that much with it that would have deleted the header, title and meta tags from the code.

I can even see the affiliate codes now as well a lot more easily.

Suzanne the url was profit2success .com

I was at this pip site a few years ago but it was only costing me money, this time its only costing me money as well but there is more spent this time promoting it. No return yet anyway. Even a trickle would do for a start...

Michael

Alan Mater · 25th Nov 2008, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Fearrchair

Darrin has fixed it now again, looking at the html it looks a lot better now.

I also been looking up on googles pages and I think that true alright if it cannot see a 404 page then it flags it as a problem. According to Google without a 404 page is a security risk it seems.

Since the html was fixed it even looking a lot healthier (it was like a sick child for a few days there).

The comment from Darrin was that I should always back up the index page before I edit anything but to the best of my knowledge I hadn't fiddled around that much with it that would have deleted the header, title and meta tags from the code.

I can even see the affiliate codes now as well a lot more easily.

Suzanne the url was profit2success .com

I was at this pip site a few years ago but it was only costing me money, this time its only costing me money as well but there is more spent this time promoting it. No return yet anyway. Even a trickle would do for a start...

Michael

Yes, looks MUCH better.

As far as the money issue and not seeing results, you need to be active in promoting your site. There are many free ways to do that and are very effective. It takes time to learn and apply what you learn.

Good luck!

Alan

Patrician · 25th Nov 2008, 03:06 PM

Oh wow - Looks MUCH better.

To back up your file, go to the file manager and open index.html file to edit - do not edit it.

Go down to the box that says 'save file name' and type index.bak - now this is an exact copy of index.html

When you make changes make them to index.bak and only after you have tested the changes,

then rename index.html to index1.html
and rename index.bak to index.html - (in that order)

Now the changes are displayed on your home page, index.html.
index1.html is the file before the changes.

Again, once you do whatever it is you are trying to do with Google, be sure to put the .htaccess back with the sales page redirect. I can do this for you if you contact the helpdesk.

A 404 message just leaves a prospective customer hanging in mid air with no direction home. Anytime there is a typo or anything when typing your site name you will lose them.

The redirect is for a good reason and rather than leaving them in nowhere, it sends them to your sales page. Best to do as Suzanne says though so you won't get penalized in the future.

I apologize because I did not understand your problem and did not take the time to really look at what you were saying, pending further explanation. In the future I will be more diligent in trying to find out what someone is actually saying. My bad.

Patrician · 25th Nov 2008, 03:15 PM

Thanks, Suzanne - well then hundreds and hundreds of PIPS members have always had this problem, for many years, yes?

How important is being able to use Google WebMaster Tools? Well I think it is relevant as people do wonder what to do with errors from the Google Monster in general and this would solve one I suppose.

I think I will put this on the table for Stone to fix this from the get go. Will quote you

Originally Posted by Suzanne Morrison

The problem with doing this is that the PIPS sales page is a normal page and not a page that returns a 404 error.

So, if you put it back in, then later on when Google does its periodic checks for the 404 error being returned, then it will flag a problem.

The only way round it as far as I know would be to create a file with a .php extension and put the following code at the top:

<?php
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
?>

Then follow the above code with the normal HTML code to frame the PIPS sales page or something different. This will allow the page to return a 404 error and then display the regular code.

Anyone who has a redirect to a normal page in their .htaccess file will experience a problem validating their website with Google webmaster tools.

Cheers,
Suzanne

Patrician · 25th Nov 2008, 05:16 PM

Well so far Stone says he sees this as custom design someone would do on their own, if they have a problem.

... we will see - in my opinion it is something that should come-with.

....or hey Suzanne, do you smell a new service offering or would this be part of your SEO service???

alloke613 · 25th Nov 2008, 11:45 PM

HI all,
Is it any benefits to submit websites to google webmaster?
I just submitted my site to there few days ago.

Thanks for answer,
Alex

richardt23476 · 3rd Dec 2008, 06:07 PM

I have just submited my site and get it validated from google webmaster.

it will allow you to see your site's statistics and reports from google and enable you to enhance your search engine access.

Suzanne Morrison · 4th Dec 2008, 05:00 AM

The advantages of having a Google webmaster account are that it lets you do things like :

- find out what the top keywords being used to search for your site are (if applicable)
- find out whether the Google bot has had any problems spidering your site
- submit a site map
- find out how many backlinks you have (true count rather than the public count available on google.com)

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Having a google webmaster account is not mandatory, but it is very useful. If you just have the standard PIP site with no changes at all and only 1 page, then it won't help you much, but if you have additional pages, or a blog, or if your site has been optimized then it can be helpful.

Pat - it should be pretty easy for me to create a small php script that returns a 404 error and displays the PIPS sales page. I will put this on my to do list and get back to you. Yes, I imagine this has always been a problem, but nobody has really asked about it till now so I have never thought about it.

Cheers,
Suzanne

richardt23476 · 4th Dec 2008, 08:07 AM

I remember Stone mentioned somewhere that this 404 error redirect is a meaningful feature for PIPS website, if visitor typed a url pointing to a non-existe file on the website, he/she will be redirected to PIPS member's main sale page. I knew it so I used HTML tag way to validate to Google webmaster tool.

Just let u know

Suzanne Morrison · 4th Dec 2008, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by richardt23476

I remember Stone mentioned somewhere that this 404 error redirect is a meaningful feature for PIPS website, if visitor typed a url pointing to a non-existe file on the website, he/she will be redirected to PIPS member's main sale page. I knew it so I used HTML tag way to validate to Google webmaster tool.

Just let u know

Yes, it certainly is useful (and good for sales) to return a meaningful page rather than the standard 404 error page, but it is good practise to return a 404 error code AND display a meaningful page. Unfortunately doing a standard redirect doesn't return an error code.

richardt23476 · 7th Dec 2008, 05:59 AM

oh, I see.

23rd Nov 2008, 08:51 AM	#1
Fearrchair New Warrior Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , Ireland. Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: I seem to be having trouble getting the site validated with googles webmasters tools. I've tried both the meta tag and the html. Using the html method I wondering is it that the following is applying # Your site doesn't return a 4xx HTML status code for non-existing URLs If you're using HTML verification, it's important that a non-existing URL returns a 4xx status code. We can't verify sites configured to return other status codes (such as 2xx or 5xx) for non-existing URLs, because this would enable anyone to verify ownership of your site. You can try our meta tag verification method or change your server's configuration. This configuration presents a security risk for site verification and therefore, we can't verify your site. If your web server is configured to return a status of 200 (found) in the header of 404 (not found) pages, and we enabled you to verify your site with this configuration, others would be able to take advantage of this and verify your site as well. To ensure that no one can take advantage of this configuration to view statistics to sites they don't own, we only verify sites that return a status of 404 in the header of 404 pages. If your server is configured to return something other than a 404 for non-existent pages, try our meta tag verification method or change your server's configuration. and if I trying to use the meta tag one to verify the site I can seem to see the title and body pieces of the html if I try to locate it where I think it is <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Your Title</TITLE> <META name="verify-v1" content="String_we_ask_for"> </HEAD> <BODY> I did run the W3C Markup Validation Service and that does product a head and title but then only seems to mess up the site layout. Running the Tidy html check seems to throw up a good few errors. Any ideas....the site is profit2success.dot.com

23rd Nov 2008, 09:06 PM	#2
Alan Mater Freelance Proofreader War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Pennsylvania, US Posts: 1,564 Thanks: 55 Thanked 154 Times in 135 Posts Blog Entries: 2	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Looking at your site code I see a huge issue. You don't have any meta tags at all. You should get your site restored because the formatting is all messed up. The code you show above isn't even there when I check the source code for your home page. Alan
	AshMax - Earn $22,300 per month 100 days from now Work From Home Opportunities \| Legitimate Work From Home Jobs Professional Proofreading and Editing Services Work From Home Resources Blog

24th Nov 2008, 04:23 PM	#3
Fearrchair New Warrior Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , Ireland. Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Thanks Alan, Glad its not just myself, I searched the site up and down for them. Support had told me that without metatags the site wouldn't work at all but I think there must have been a misunderstanding between. I'll have to get after them again, unless I going to try and put it in myself but I don't think that will work so well. Michael

24th Nov 2008, 04:27 PM	#4
Alan Mater Freelance Proofreader War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Pennsylvania, US Posts: 1,564 Thanks: 55 Thanked 154 Times in 135 Posts Blog Entries: 2	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: You could put them in yourself, but looking at your site it seems to have a bunch of formatting problems. It's best to get your site restored to the original PIPS site and then go from there.
	AshMax - Earn $22,300 per month 100 days from now Work From Home Opportunities \| Legitimate Work From Home Jobs Professional Proofreading and Editing Services Work From Home Resources Blog

24th Nov 2008, 05:25 PM	#5
Patrician OffTheWallflowerChild War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,776 Thanks: 6,161 Thanked 2,625 Times in 1,763 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Yes definitely a mess. I have replied to your helpdesk ticket and I can give you the original PIPS site. I ask you where you got this Mega Site and whoever did it if you paid them needs to put your code back together. I will try to fix it if you don't want me to write over it with the original - To be honest it is really bad looking with the colors on the left sidebar that can barely be read. I would go for the original non-Mega version before I would use this template you have - that would kill two birds. Waiting for your response on the ticket desk.
	Patricia Brucoli Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk

24th Nov 2008, 06:32 PM	#7
Patrician OffTheWallflowerChild War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,776 Thanks: 6,161 Thanked 2,625 Times in 1,763 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: But then be sure to put the PIPS sales page back in the .htaccess file after it is validated. This guy has serious problems - no Meta Tags at all - and if the .htaccess file is screwed up you will get a 404 for the site. It turns out Darrin needs to fix this.
	Patricia Brucoli Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk

24th Nov 2008, 07:17 PM	#9
Patrician OffTheWallflowerChild War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,776 Thanks: 6,161 Thanked 2,625 Times in 1,763 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Yes that would be why.
	Patricia Brucoli Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk

25th Nov 2008, 03:01 PM	#11
Fearrchair New Warrior Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , Ireland. Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Darrin has fixed it now again, looking at the html it looks a lot better now. I also been looking up on googles pages and I think that true alright if it cannot see a 404 page then it flags it as a problem. According to Google without a 404 page is a security risk it seems. Since the html was fixed it even looking a lot healthier (it was like a sick child for a few days there). The comment from Darrin was that I should always back up the index page before I edit anything but to the best of my knowledge I hadn't fiddled around that much with it that would have deleted the header, title and meta tags from the code. I can even see the affiliate codes now as well a lot more easily. Suzanne the url was profit2success .com I was at this pip site a few years ago but it was only costing me money, this time its only costing me money as well but there is more spent this time promoting it. No return yet anyway. Even a trickle would do for a start... Michael

25th Nov 2008, 03:06 PM	#13
Patrician OffTheWallflowerChild War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,776 Thanks: 6,161 Thanked 2,625 Times in 1,763 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Oh wow - Looks MUCH better. To back up your file, go to the file manager and open index.html file to edit - do not edit it. Go down to the box that says 'save file name' and type index.bak - now this is an exact copy of index.html When you make changes make them to index.bak and only after you have tested the changes, then rename index.html to index1.html and rename index.bak to index.html - (in that order) Now the changes are displayed on your home page, index.html. index1.html is the file before the changes. Again, once you do whatever it is you are trying to do with Google, be sure to put the .htaccess back with the sales page redirect. I can do this for you if you contact the helpdesk. A 404 message just leaves a prospective customer hanging in mid air with no direction home. Anytime there is a typo or anything when typing your site name you will lose them. The redirect is for a good reason and rather than leaving them in nowhere, it sends them to your sales page. Best to do as Suzanne says though so you won't get penalized in the future. I apologize because I did not understand your problem and did not take the time to really look at what you were saying, pending further explanation. In the future I will be more diligent in trying to find out what someone is actually saying. My bad.
	Patricia Brucoli Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk

25th Nov 2008, 05:16 PM	#15
Patrician OffTheWallflowerChild War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: USA Posts: 2,776 Thanks: 6,161 Thanked 2,625 Times in 1,763 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: Well so far Stone says he sees this as custom design someone would do on their own, if they have a problem. ... we will see - in my opinion it is something that should come-with. ....or hey Suzanne, do you smell a new service offering or would this be part of your SEO service???
	Patricia Brucoli Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk

25th Nov 2008, 11:45 PM	#16
alloke613 Active Warrior Join Date: 2008 Posts: 64 Thanks: 5 Thanked 9 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: HI all, Is it any benefits to submit websites to google webmaster? I just submitted my site to there few days ago. Thanks for answer, Alex
	Profit Generator: www.alfaprofitgen.com Click here to join. Welcome to my Alfa PALACE.

3rd Dec 2008, 06:07 PM	#17
richardt23476 Active Warrior Join Date: 2008 Posts: 71 Thanks: 2 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: I have just submited my site and get it validated from google webmaster. it will allow you to see your site's statistics and reports from google and enable you to enhance your search engine access.
	Launch 6+ Automated Income Streams In Just 24 Hours! Doubling Your Money Every Single Month...GOT PROOF \|\| All-in-one Forex Trading Information Portal

4th Dec 2008, 05:00 AM	#18
Suzanne Morrison Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 511 Thanks: 38 Thanked 160 Times in 112 Posts Blog Entries: 3	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: The advantages of having a Google webmaster account are that it lets you do things like : - find out what the top keywords being used to search for your site are (if applicable) - find out whether the Google bot has had any problems spidering your site - submit a site map - find out how many backlinks you have (true count rather than the public count available on google.com) https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools Having a google webmaster account is not mandatory, but it is very useful. If you just have the standard PIP site with no changes at all and only 1 page, then it won't help you much, but if you have additional pages, or a blog, or if your site has been optimized then it can be helpful. Pat - it should be pretty easy for me to create a small php script that returns a 404 error and displays the PIPS sales page. I will put this on my to do list and get back to you. Yes, I imagine this has always been a problem, but nobody has really asked about it till now so I have never thought about it. Cheers, Suzanne
	=> FREE WSO - Penguinized! Discover How to Recover Your Site After Google Penguin <= * 30 Ways To Get Traffic in 30 Minutes Or Less - FREE Brandable EBook & Course *

4th Dec 2008, 08:07 AM	#19
richardt23476 Active Warrior Join Date: 2008 Posts: 71 Thanks: 2 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: I remember Stone mentioned somewhere that this 404 error redirect is a meaningful feature for PIPS website, if visitor typed a url pointing to a non-existe file on the website, he/she will be redirected to PIPS member's main sale page. I knew it so I used HTML tag way to validate to Google webmaster tool. Just let u know
	Launch 6+ Automated Income Streams In Just 24 Hours! Doubling Your Money Every Single Month...GOT PROOF \|\| All-in-one Forex Trading Information Portal

7th Dec 2008, 05:59 AM	#21
richardt23476 Active Warrior Join Date: 2008 Posts: 71 Thanks: 2 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Getting PIPS validated with Google Webmaster Share on: oh, I see.
	Launch 6+ Automated Income Streams In Just 24 Hours! Doubling Your Money Every Single Month...GOT PROOF \|\| All-in-one Forex Trading Information Portal