Gary Illyes, Google’s Office Hours host, answered a query about 404 Page Not Found error that was accompanied by a decline in ranking.
Fake External Error 404
Bots can cause 404 error messages for many different reasons. These error messages could have been generated by automated scanners looking for vulnerable themes or plugins.
If you check the IP address of the bot causing the server errors 404, it can give clues as to whether those responses were generated by automated scan bots. The IP address will indicate if it is a Russian IP or Chinese IP. It’s also possible that the hacker bot is using an outdated version of Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. This is just one of the many reasons.
Google Answers the Question
A person who asked the question linked a decline in ranking with server responses of 404 Page not Found.
The question was:
Could this false 404 URLs that are hitting my site from an external source be related to a ranking drop? How can I fix this?
Gary Illyes, Google’s Gary Illyes replied:
Googlebot crawling fake 404s cannot reasonably be attributed to ranking drops. You don’t need to fix 404s. It is normal for a website to have a number of them. However, if your analytics show that more users actually visit those URLs then you should try and convert them by showing them relevant content.
Ranking drops and 404 page not found
Gary stated that 404 errors are common and will not affect search engine rankings. It is true that many 404s occur. In most cases, it’s fine and there is no need to do anything.
The 404s that are generated by actual users
Other cases are when 404s were created by people following links and receiving a Page Not Found reply. It is possible to determine if a URL that the visitor to the website was trying to access closely matches the actual URL. This is an indicator that someone has misspelled the URL. The way to correct this error is to create a redirection from the incorrect URL to the right one.
Drop In Rankings
Gary did not mention this, but it is important to note that Gary may have missed something. Small Businesses It is possible that the bot found a bug and that the scanner was searching for vulnerabilities.
You can check this by using phpMyAdmin. This server application allows you to look at your database table in the users section and determine if an unknown user is present.
If the website is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin that scans the site for vulnerable themes or plugins.
Jetpack Protect It’s a vulnerability scanner created by Automattic. The free version won’t repair a security flaw, but will alert the user to any plugins or themes that may be vulnerable. Premium version is more protected.
There are other reliable WordPress security plugins. Sucuri You can also find out more about the following: WordfenceBoth are free, but they do very different things. They also come in premium and paid versions.
If that is not true, then it’s a coincidence. The real reason for the drop in ranking lies elsewhere.
Office Hours Podcast: Listen to question and answer starting at the 12:27 mark.
Shutterstock/Asier Romaro Featured image