RSS Feed Errors in Google
-
We recently (2 months ago) launched RSS feeds for the category pages on our site. Last week we started seeing error pages in Webmaster Tools' Crawl Errors report pop up for feeds of old pages that have been deleted from the site, deleted from the sitemap, and not in Google's index since long before we launched the RSS feeds.
Example: www.mysite.com/super-old-page/feed/
I checked and both the URL for the feed and the URL for the actual page are returning 404 statuses.
www.mysite.com/super-old-page/ is also showing up in our Crawl Errors. Its been deleted for months but Webmaster Tools is very slow to remove the page from their Crawl Error report.
Where is Google finding these feeds that never existed?
-
These are often hard to diagnose, but you have a few options for digging out the source of these links. First of all, you want to make absolutely sure they aren't coming from your site. Unfortunately, most of the time we usually miss something when removing old pages, and our own site is the cause of the problem.
1. Check Google Webmaster Tools - In the same place they list the 404 errors, they will often tell you where they found the page under a column named "Linked From" Here's a screenshot: https://skitch.com/cyrusshepard/8jrqx/webmaster-tools-crawl-errors-http-truefabrications.com
Clicking on the pages listed will often uncover the source of the link.
2. Try Screaming Frog or Xenu to crawl your site and see if the RSS feeds or links appear.
3. Or one of the SEOmoz crawlers, such as the PRO web app or the Custom Crawl tool.
Unfortunately, if the pages aren't coming from your site, (they could be coming from old feeds that others scraped a long time ago) then about the only thing you can do is file a removal request with Google. This can be a slow and tedious process if you have a number of pages.
Hope this helps. Best of luck with your SEO!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Ecommerce Alerts
I recently started getting email notifications from Google re: new products on our websites. I am subscribed to Google alerts. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Technical SEO | | AMHC0 -
Increase in Not Found Errors
Hello All, Looking for input on an issue I am having. We used to have a website www.gazaro.com. It was a price comparison engine for consumers. A shift in the focus of the business resulted in www.360pi.com - a price intelligence tool for retailers.The two websites have similar themes, so I thought it would be valuable to pass SEO juice from the old domain to the new domain.Back in August, I noticed that Gazaro was redirected to 360pi with a meta refresh. I know a 301 redirect is preferable to a meta refresh, so we switched to a 301 redirect.Since that happened, there has been a spike in 404 errors in webmaster tools. If you hover over the url, it is actuallywww.360pi.com/deal/amazon etc etc. It is looking for gazaro urls on the 360pi domain - which don't exist. I think this is hurting our homepage ranking. Our homepage no longer ranks for "price intelligence" when it used to be in pos. 4 or 5. As it turns out, we are ranking #1 for "price intelligence" but with our product page.I'm wondering why the 404 are happening. Is something setup in correctly? Or should I have them switch back to a meta refresh.Thoughts? Thanks for your helpPNM1cYO PNM1cYO
Technical SEO | | AmandaHorne0 -
Client error 404
I have got a lot (100+) of 404´s. I got more the last time, so I rearranged the whole site. I even changed it from .php to .html. I have went to the web hotel to delete all of the .php files from the main server. Still, I got after yesterdays crawl 404´s on my (deleted) .php sites. There is also other links that has an error, but aren't there. Maybe those pages were there before the sites remodelling, but I don't think so because .html sites is also affected. How can this be happening?
Technical SEO | | mato0 -
Pages not indexed by Google
We recently deleted all the nofollow values on our website. (2 weeks ago) The number of pages indexed by google is the same as before? Do you have explanations for this? website : www.probikeshop.fr
Technical SEO | | Probikeshop0 -
Having to type Google CAPTCHA all the time
Hi guys, Our office has about 15 computers all on the same IP address and about 10 actively search on Google. Recently we have been asked to type in CAPTCHA almost every single time searching on Google and would like to know if you have any suggestions of resolving this. We do use Firefox Rank Checker to check ranking once per week (around 400 keywords) but we use Hide My Ass to hide the IP. No malware or virus detected on computers in the network. Many thanks for your help in advance David
Technical SEO | | sssrpm0 -
RSS Feeds
It is highly preached that RSS is a great way to get backlinks. Can somebody explain me how go to about RSS, or direct me to a good source on Internet where I can learn all about RSS feeds and how to implement them? I know there are many reasonable RSS feeds services available out there, but I don't want to go for them. If at all I'd like to first learn myself and then decide on what to do. Please help.
Technical SEO | | KS__0 -
My site cannot be found by google at all
I don't know why but our company site can not be found by google at all. I have submitted to google webmaster, have social media point to, etc, Is there any reason for this? url for our website is www.bistosamerica.com Thank you
Technical SEO | | BistosAmerica0 -
How to show ratings on Google?
One thing I have noticed recently is "review ratings" appearing in the Google search results. I have attached a screenshot which shows an example of this. I think this is a really good feature and helps make a listing stand out in the SERPs, I would certainly be more likely to click this one. My question is how do you code for it so that Google will display it? The URL of the page in question is http://www.footy-boots.com/inter-milan-away-shirt-2011-2012-9430/ 4nXyk
Technical SEO | | ukss19840