GOOGLE

Google: Fine if 30-40% of URLs in Search Console Are 404s

Published

4 years ago

February 27, 2021

google fine if 30 40 of urls in search console are 404s via mattgsouthern

Google’s John Mueller says it’s normal if 30-40% of URLs in a site’s Search Console report are returning 404 errors.

This is stated during the Google Search Central SEO hangout from February 25, where we also learned it’s impossible to stop Google from trying to crawl URLs that no longer exist.

Google may continue trying to crawl URLs years after they’ve been deleted from a website, and there’s nothing site owners can do to prevent that from happening.

Therefore 404s are unavoidable, even for the most diligent of SEOs.

An SEO named Robb Young asked the series of questions which drew that information out of Mueller this week.

Young has a site which is returning 404s in Search Console for URLs that haven’t been live for 8 years. The URLs were previously 410’d and have no links pointing to them.

He wants to know if this is normal or not. Here’s Mueller’s response.

John Mueller on Googlebot Crawling Old URLs

Mueller says 8 years is a long time to still be crawling nonexistent URLs, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

If Google saw that a URL was live in the past then it may try to crawl the URL again from time to time.

If you know the URL doesn’t exist then you can simply ignore it in the Search Console report.

“Seven or eight years sounds like a really long time… if it was something that we saw in the past then we’ll try to recrawl it every now and then.

We’ll tell you: “oh this URL didn’t work.” And if you’re like: “well it’s not supposed to work.” Then that’s perfectly fine.”

In a follow-up question, Young asks if there’s any way he could send a stronger signal to Google that those URLs no longer exist.

Will Google ever stop trying to crawl the removed URLs?

“I don’t think you could guarantee that we won’t at least try [to crawl] those URLs. It’s one of those things where we have them in our system, and we know at some point they were kind of useful, so when we have time we’ll just re-try them.

It doesn’t cause any problems. It’s just, we re-try them and we show you a report and tell you, “oh we re-tried this and it didn’t work.””

Concerned about the volume of 404s in his Search Console report, Young asks one more follow-up question to Mueller.

He clarifies it’s not just a handful of URLs returning 404 errors, it’s around 30-40% of URLs in the report that have a 404 error.

Is that normal?

“That’s perfectly fine. That’s completely natural especially for a site that has a lot of churn. If it’s like a classifieds site where you have classified listings that are valid for a month, then you expect those listings to drop out. And then we, like, over the years, we collect a ton of those URLs and try them again. And if they return 404s or 410s, like, whatever. Perfectly fine.

I don’t think that would look unusual to us. It’s not like we would see that as a quality signal or anything. The only time where I think 404s would start to look like something problematic for us is when the home page starts returning 404s. Then that might be a situation where we go: “oh, I don’t know if this site is actually still up.”

But if parts of the site are 404, like, whatever. It’s like a technical thing, like, it doesn’t matter.”

Google can remember URLs long after they’ve been removed, and may try to re-crawl them at any time. However, there’s no need to stress when you see 404 errors in Search Console for URLs that aren’t supposed to be there anyway.

Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below:

Searchenginejournal

GOOGLE

Google Warns About Misuse of Its Indexing API

Published

3 days ago

September 12, 2024

Max

Google Warns About Misuse of Its Indexing API

Google has updated its Indexing API documentation with a clear warning about spam detection and the possible consequences of misuse.

Warning Against API Misuse The new message in the guide says:

“All submissions through the Indexing API are checked for spam. Any misuse, like using multiple accounts or going over the usage limits, could lead to access being taken away.”

This warning is aimed at people trying to abuse the system by exceeding the API’s limits or breaking Google’s rules.

What Is the Indexing API? The Indexing API allows websites to tell Google when job posting or livestream video pages are added or removed. It helps websites with fast-changing content get their pages crawled and indexed quickly.

But it seems some users have been trying to abuse this by using multiple accounts to get more access.

Impact of the Update Google is now closely watching how people use the Indexing API. If someone breaks the rules, they might lose access to the tool, which could make it harder for them to keep their search results updated for time-sensitive content.

How To Stay Compliant To use the Indexing API properly, follow these rules:

Don’t go over the usage limits, and if you need more, ask Google instead of using multiple accounts.
Use the API only for job postings or livestream videos, and make sure your data is correct.
Follow all of Google’s API guidelines and spam policies.
Use sitemaps along with the API, not as a replacement.

Remember, the Indexing API isn’t a shortcut to faster indexing. Follow the rules to keep your access.

GOOGLE

This Week in Search News: Simple and Easy-to-Read Update

Published

3 months ago

June 30, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

This Week in Search News: Simple and Easy-to-Read Update

Here’s what happened in the world of Google and search engines this week:

1. Google’s June 2024 Spam Update

Google finished rolling out its June 2024 spam update over a period of seven days. This update aims to reduce spammy content in search results.

2. Changes to Google Search Interface

Google has removed the continuous scroll feature for search results. Instead, it’s back to the old system of pages.

3. New Features and Tests

Link Cards: Google is testing link cards at the top of AI-generated overviews.
Health Overviews: There are more AI-generated health overviews showing up in search results.
Local Panels: Google is testing AI overviews in local information panels.

4. Search Rankings and Quality

Improving Rankings: Google said it can improve its search ranking system but will only do so on a large scale.
Measuring Quality: Google’s Elizabeth Tucker shared how they measure search quality.

5. Advice for Content Creators

Brand Names in Reviews: Google advises not to avoid mentioning brand names in review content.
Fixing 404 Pages: Google explained when it’s important to fix 404 error pages.

6. New Search Features in Google Chrome

Google Chrome for mobile devices has added several new search features to enhance user experience.

7. New Tests and Features in Google Search

Credit Card Widget: Google is testing a new widget for credit card information in search results.
Sliding Search Results: When making a new search query, the results might slide to the right.

8. Bing’s New Feature

Bing is now using AI to write “People Also Ask” questions in search results.

9. Local Search Ranking Factors

Menu items and popular times might be factors that influence local search rankings on Google.

10. Google Ads Updates

Query Matching and Brand Controls: Google Ads updated its query matching and brand controls, and advertisers are happy with these changes.
Lead Credits: Google will automate lead credits for Local Service Ads. Google says this is a good change, but some advertisers are worried.
tROAS Insights Box: Google Ads is testing a new insights box for tROAS (Target Return on Ad Spend) in Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns.
WordPress Tag Code: There is a new conversion code for Google Ads on WordPress sites.

These updates highlight how Google and other search engines are continuously evolving to improve user experience and provide better advertising tools.

AI

Exploring the Evolution of Language Translation: A Comparative Analysis of AI Chatbots and Google Translate

Published

7 months ago

February 26, 2024

Max

A Comparative Analysis of AI Chatbots and Google Translate

According to an article on PCMag, while Google Translate makes translating sentences into over 100 languages easy, regular users acknowledge that there’s still room for improvement.

In theory, large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are expected to bring about a new era in language translation. These models consume vast amounts of text-based training data and real-time feedback from users worldwide, enabling them to quickly learn to generate coherent, human-like sentences in a wide range of languages.

However, despite the anticipation that ChatGPT would revolutionize translation, previous experiences have shown that such expectations are often inaccurate, posing challenges for translation accuracy. To put these claims to the test, PCMag conducted a blind test, asking fluent speakers of eight non-English languages to evaluate the translation results from various AI services.

The test compared ChatGPT (both the free and paid versions) to Google Translate, as well as to other competing chatbots such as Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini. The evaluation involved comparing the translation quality for two test paragraphs across different languages, including Polish, French, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Tagalog, and Amharic.

In the first test conducted in June 2023, participants consistently favored AI chatbots over Google Translate. ChatGPT, Google Bard (now Gemini), and Microsoft Bing outperformed Google Translate, with ChatGPT receiving the highest praise. ChatGPT demonstrated superior performance in converting colloquialisms, while Google Translate often provided literal translations that lacked cultural nuance.

For instance, ChatGPT accurately translated colloquial expressions like “blow off steam,” whereas Google Translate produced more literal translations that failed to resonate across cultures. Participants appreciated ChatGPT’s ability to maintain consistent levels of formality and its consideration of gender options in translations.

The success of AI chatbots like ChatGPT can be attributed to reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF), which allows these models to learn from human preferences and produce culturally appropriate translations, particularly for non-native speakers. However, it’s essential to note that while AI chatbots outperformed Google Translate, they still had limitations and occasional inaccuracies.

In a subsequent test, PCMag evaluated different versions of ChatGPT, including the free and paid versions, as well as language-specific AI agents from OpenAI’s GPTStore. The paid version of ChatGPT, known as ChatGPT Plus, consistently delivered the best translations across various languages. However, Google Translate also showed improvement, performing surprisingly well compared to previous tests.

Overall, while ChatGPT Plus emerged as the preferred choice for translation, Google Translate demonstrated notable improvement, challenging the notion that AI chatbots are always superior to traditional translation tools.

Source: https://www.pcmag.com/articles/google-translate-vs-chatgpt-which-is-the-best-language-translator