google returning 200 ok header on 404 page

[pagetta]

I have a custom 404 error message page and according to this headercheck it returns a 404 header.
However google webmaster tools will not allow me to choose between mysite.com and www.mysite.com as they say my 404 error page is returning a 200 ok message so they cannot verify the site.
does anyone know how to fix this?
many thanks

[Webnauts]

Can you at least tell the URL?

[pagetta]

oh yes sorry my mistake
www.codestone.net/404.php

[wige]

It definitely gives a 404 header, however it redirects after a few seconds. That redirect might be the problem.

Also, any request without a www. seems to get redirected to www.codestone.com, so google probably wouldn't give you the choice since it can't access anything in the non-www version.

[pagetta]

ahhh - thanks for pointing out the redirect that was a hangover from a different solution that i tried have removed that now!

yeah the page is definitely returning a 404 redirect even after that but google won't verify it. I am not very good at the server side stuff but i am SURE i set up a 301 redirect from non-www to www urls but on my browser it is just giving me a 'page under construction' message for these. I will look into this thanks for the tips.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by wige

Also, any request without a www. seems to get redirected to www.codestone.com, so google probably wouldn't give you the choice since it can't access anything in the non-www version.

Nah they should still allow you to do it. They have for me. Any new news on this pagetta?

[corvettehunt]

Yes, you have set (IMO incorrectly), your 301 redirect

http://codestone.net/404.php => http://www.codestone.net/

When it should do this:

http://codestone.net/404.php => http://www.codestone.net/404.php

If you are using apache, your .htaccess should contain:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^codestone.net[NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.codestone.net/$1 [L,R=301]

That would do the trick. Cheers!

[chowell]

We had the same problem:

You need to use a relative URL not the full domain name in the ErrorDocument directive to trigger the correct 404 Not Found response.

Your use of the full domain name triggers a redirect and thus a 200 OK response.

For example:
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

[dean]

I seem to recall when I had the same problem that google has an alternative method of verifying the site by adding a meta tag instead of uploading a file. Using this method will verify you regardless of the response headers.

[pagetta]

Hi thanks for your help with this

Chowell - my htaccess has the path as relative not full domain so i know that's not the issue.

corvettehunt thanks for the code there i will give that a go

i'll have a look at google's alternative methods too see if i can't get this sorted this morning!