400 Errors do these error really matter

[robert89]

Hi there,
One section of our website has been undergoing a face lift. This face lift has brought about a change in urls. We updated links to these pages in our section of the site and ran new link checks. The link checkers return 400 errors. Are 400 errors detremential to search engine results? And if you want to help me learn, what exactly causes a 400 error?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[ChrisHirst]

a 400 error is a bad request. Turn off friendly errors faq333-5427 to see what is causing them.

It can be bad for SE results because it's now less links pointing to the rest of your site so less importance being passed.

The best way is to 301 redirect the removed pages to the equivalent new ones, and have a custom error page for ones that don't have equivalents.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[robert89]

Hi Chris,
Thanks. It occured to me a bit more info may get me a more detailed answer. Our site is a sub domain of the site where the 400 errors are originating from. It appears from the W3C link check response that the 400 results after a redirect. The text of the message is:

What to do: Usually the sign of a malformed URL that cannot be parsed by the server. The original request has been redirected.
>
> Response status code: 302 -> 400
> Response message: Found -> Proxy Error: remote host didn't send any data - URL

As far as the SEO end of this goes, my concern/question is: If I am linking to these pages and the link is producing a 400 error, will that affect our ranking. I don't really care about the ranking of the main site.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[ChrisHirst]

it may not affect rankings of the remaining pages but it sure as hell will affect the credibility of your site with real users, which is far more important in my book.

I would double check the response with WebBug

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[robert89]

Ah Chris,
Suspect I still wasn't clear. The error is transparent to the user experience. For example the link redirects to the page. The 400 bad request error comes up when I do a link check.

Though it just occured to me:
Is it possible that a user who has not turned off friendly errors, even though they may get to the right page, they would see the 400 error message along the way?

Thanks for your thoughts.
Bob

 

[ChrisHunt]

Hang on , I'm confused here...

We updated links to these pages in our section of the site

the link redirects to the page. The 400 bad request error comes up when I do a link check.

Are you linking to the old addresses, which are then being properly redirected but with the wrong http status code (400 instead of 301). Or are you linking to the new addresses, and getting the 400 (instead of 200) header returned with a valid page?

Either way it shouldn't affect your rankings, but may be pretty catastrophic for the other one.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[robert89]

Hi Chris,
I turned on friendly error message feature in IE. Going to these urls gave me no message. However, w3c link checker still flags them as redirects > 400 status. I think you've answered my main concern.

Thanks for your help.
Bob

 

[ChrisHirst]

I would be inclined to recheck the links with webbug (use HTTP/1.1) and with Link Sleuth It's sounds like the w3 one is having "an issue" with redirects.

To redirect SEs BTW the links must return a 301 rather than a 302 response.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[robert89]

Hi Chris,
I'm kind of in to swearing by W3C, cause I like the standard thing. The 400 errors also came up when I used a nother link check software. I know about Sleuth, but it would kind of be like cheating. Ah, look no more 400 errors, therefore there mustn't be any, but knowing that there are.

Do apprecaite knowing about 301 and 302 SE relationship. This is the kind of knowledge I can build on.

Thanks again for your help with this.
Bob