“Submitted URL seems to be a Soft 404”

  • Resolved wandercooks

    (@wandercooks)


    6 years, 1 month ago

    Hi guys,

    We’ve had this plugin installed for ages with no issues (absolutely love it!)

    Just recently though we got an error message from Google Search Console that a URL relating to this plugin “seems to be a soft 404”.

    As the URL is just for one of our Shop page categories (https://www.wandercooks.com/the-pantry/utensils-gadgets-cookware) and not a real page, I’m not sure exactly how to fix. Wondering if you’ve come across this before and if you have any suggestions on how to fix?

    Thanks,

    Laura

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Plugin Author leonmagee

    (@leonmagee)

    Hi Laura, this looks like a category archive page. Do you know if there is anywhere on your site that is linking to this page directly?

    Thanks

    Thread Starter wandercooks

    (@wandercooks)

    Hi Leon,

    Thanks for getting back to me. It’s not something we would have deliberately linked to. I’ve tried searching for a link to it from within our site just in case, but can’t find anything.

    Is there something else I should look for?

    Thanks again,

    Laura

    Plugin Contributor Justin McChesney-Wachs

    (@justinmw)

    Hi Laura,

    This isn’t something you really need to worry about since nothing is actually linking to it and 404’s are not a Google ranking factor. I know that it is annoying though (it bothered me too).

    In Yoast SEO, you can disable indexing for the shop page wp archive pages really easily.

    From the WP admin, navigate to SEO > Search appearance > content types tab.
    This link might work if you are logged in: https://www.wandercooks.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=wpseo_titles#top#post-types

    Scroll down to Shop Page WP

    Switch “Show Shop Page WP in search results?” to No
    Switch the “Show the archive for Shop Page WP in search results?” to No

    This will set those to no index so google won’t look at them.

    Let us know if you have more questions.

    Thread Starter wandercooks

    (@wandercooks)

    Hi Justin,

    Perfect thank you! I’ve made those changes now. Really appreciate your insight with this one.

    Cheers,

    Laura

    Plugin Contributor Justin McChesney-Wachs

    (@justinmw)

    Great!

    Cheers,
    Justin

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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