Why so many Error Page hits?

[Songwriters7]

When we check our webstats, they show we are getting lots of visits to our Error page, sometimes more visits than our homepage.

However, we've gone through our site carefully and find no bad or outdated pages. Also, in our Pages Not Found section of our webstats, we find no entries under no "Required but not found URLs (HTTP code 404)"

So I guess that just leaves 206 and 304 errors.

Is it possible we're getting these "error page" hits from spiders? We much appreciate any ideas or suggestions.

Thanks,

Steve
http://www.greatamericansong.com

[wrmineo]

You have a LOT of javascript behaviors in your code. Make sure that it is validating properly and that the code/path for the images on the swapouts is correct. I'm not saying that's the source, just one possible guess that could contribute to "false" errors. Also, check with your webhost or stats provider to get a more indepth look done into what is generating these alleged errors - could be nothing at all.

One finding that I did come across using an html link validator from http://www.htmlhelp.org/tools/valet/index.html

http://www.greatamericansong.com/success.htm
file:///D%7C/Websites/SRN%20Redesign/images/newbutton1.gif

http://www.musiciansfriend.com error 503

Something that did not upload properly, like an image pointing to the local machine instead of the site root would create 404s.

[writergrrrl48]

Thanks for the good response - I've had similar problems but did not know how to approach it.

Do you have advice on how to serve a customized error page instead of the generic one?

thanks :-)

[ADAM Web Design]

The boys down at 4 Guys From Rolla have a great article on just that topic, writergrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl.

http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/061499-1.shtml

I don't think the Javascript per se is causing it. It looks like your standard Dr*amw*av*r mouseover/mouseout script. As bulky, inefficient, and monolithic as it is, at least it usually works.

Steve: I've intentionally created what should have resulted in a 404 error (I'm the guy who did intentional_404_attempt.html). If this results in anything other than a 404, then you've likely got a malformed custom error page or something's misconfigured on your server.

I don't think you have any 500 errors occurring since you're not server-side programming. And I'm inclined not to believe that you are getting 206/304 errors without any 404s. Usually when partial content situations exist, no content situations are far more prevalent.

[synergytheory]

You have a LOT of javascript behaviors in your code. Make sure that it is validating properly and that the code/path for the images on the swapouts is correct. I'm not saying that's the source, just one possible guess that could contribute to "false" errors. Also, check with your webhost or stats provider to get a more indepth look done into what is generating these alleged errors - could be nothing at all.

One finding that I did come across using an html link validator from http://www.htmlhelp.org/tools/valet/index.html

http://www.greatamericansong.com/success.htm
file:///D%7C/Websites/SRN%20Redesign/images/newbutton1.gif

http://www.musiciansfriend.com error 503

Something that did not upload properly, like an image pointing to the local machine instead of the site root would create 404s.

Also on:
http://www.greatamericansong.com/mail-label.html
You have a dead link: file:///\D|\Websites\SRN Redesign\images\getheard25.jpg

And on:
http://www.greatamericansong.com/fame-carmassi.html
You have a dead link: file:///\D|\DATA Folders\Images & Graphics\2003 Winners\giuliocarmassi.jpg

Your dead links are [obviously] coming from linking to local files on your server [or desktop]. Although I never link absolutely, I guess this is a good example of why googleguy recommends using absolute links.

[khurramali]

Java links are not good for SEO, Google can easily spider them because it is more evolved, but the other search engines which are still on the evolution ladder might not be able to follow all your java scripts.

Better be safe than sorry, loose the javascript and see if your web stats clear up.

[rjjj111]

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

this is a great link checker, run this on your site and you should atleast see if you have any unknow problems, you can do the whole site all at once.

[rjjj111]

i only have a custom 404 error page for my web sites, what other error pages should i be concerned with? i have heard of 302s, but do not know what they are for?

please help....

[rjjj111]

List of redirected URLs
http://www.greatamericansong.com/www.accessmagazine.com
redirected to: http://www.greatamericansong.com/error.html
status code: 302 (object temporarily moved)
linked from page(s):
http://www.greatamericansong.com/raves.html

http://www.greatamericansong.com/contest-music/2005/walls.ram
redirected to: http://www.greatamericansong.com/error.html
status code: 302 (object temporarily moved)
linked from page(s):
http://www.greatamericansong.com/fame-michaelmish.html

http://www.greatamericansong.com/Winners.html
redirected to: http://www.greatamericansong.com/error.html
status code: 302 (object temporarily moved)
linked from page(s):
http://www.greatamericansong.com/winners2000.htm
http://www.greatamericansong.com/winners2001.html

[ste_dean]

One possible cause of the error page being requested is the search engine spiders requesting the robots.txt file. If this does not exist then you will receive 404 errors.

I did come across this when I created my first web site and took me a while to figure out what was causing it. Once I created a robots.txt file the 404 errors vanished!

Hopefully, it will be something this simple, if not good luck...and if I think of any other reasons, i'll elt you know.

[ste_dean]

One possible cause of the error page being requested is the search engine spiders requesting the robots.txt file. If this does not exist then you will receive 404 errors.

I did come across this when I created my first web site and took me a while to figure out what was causing it. Once I created a robots.txt file the 404 errors vanished!

Hopefully, it will be something this simple, if not good luck...and if I think of any other reasons, i'll elt you know.

[willthegeek]

There is also a handy tool at Alexa that will spider your site and give you a full report:

http://pages.alexa.com/associates/sitereport.html

Since it is a spider, it gives a very accurate list of those pages causing errors.

Regards,

Will

[Songwriters7]

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I did a Validator check (see below) that refers to a Doctype. Not sure how important this is, since we get impressively high SE placements (a reason I'm hesitant to to mess with success, as they say.) What do you folks think? How big deal is this DOCTYPE Declaration?

Steve GreatAmericanSong.com
>>

The DOCTYPE Declaration was not recognized or is missing. This probably means that the Formal Public Identifier contains a spelling error, or that the Declaration is not using correct syntax. Validation has been performed using a default "fallback" Document Type Definition that closely resembles "HTML 4.01 Transitional", but the document will not be Valid until you have corrected this problem with the DOCTYPE Declaration.