If you’ve ever used any third party websites to check on the status of your website, you’ll generally be hit with a lot of types of “problems” that the site identifies. While these are all things that you could fix on your website, they don’t take into account the severity of the issue and how it could affect your website. Some errors that pop-up won’t be considered a problem in Google’s eyes, but some of them could lead to penalties on your website! So, which errors could be most detrimental to your website? We break it down for you below!
4xx Errors
If you’re hit with a page with a 4xx error, it means that the link leading to that page is either broken or has otherwise been removed from your website. These types of errors send a red flag to Google’s algorithm, making it think that your website is broken. It’s important to act quickly when met with pages like these! Take the links with these errors and set up redirects for them. This will fix the issue and prevent any penalties from Google.
Duplicate Content
In recent years, Google has started to take the issue of plagiarism a lot more seriously. Strict penalties can be enforced for websites that are found to have duplicate or plagiarized content! However, when a third party website reports this error to you, it’s important to be able to distinguish the “okay” from the “not okay”:
- Okay:
- Pages That Have The Same Menu Bar
- Pages That Have The Same Footer Content (Address, Contact Links)
- Pages That Have The Same Header Content
- Not Okay:
- Two pages with the exact same information
- Two pages with long paragraphs that are identical
- Pages that have paragraphs copied and pasted from another page
If you know the difference, you’ll be in the clear going forward!
Links To Broken Content
Internal and external links are always important to have on your website, but are the links they lead to actually working? If not, it could have a pretty negative impact! When you do a website audit, pay close attention to any pages with broken links. Oftentimes, the website will be able to tell you the specific ones so you can go in and remove them easily.
Boost Your Website’s Presence At Boston Web Marketing
If you’re looking to boost your website’s search result rankings, Boston Web Marketing can help you achieve that! We’re always up to date on the best practices for SEO and important algorithm changes. To see the business that our services can bring to your website, contact us today!