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Went Hot: February 12, 2008 - 10:15 pm
Posted By: Sugarrae 200 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://seoker.com)
Category: Google
17 Comments
Went Hot: February 12, 2008 - 10:15 pm
Posted By: Sugarrae 200 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://seoker.com)
Category: Google
17 Comments
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Comments
the 404 hijacking only happens when you don't have a custom 404 page.
Not saying I agree with it or think it's right but giving you a way to prevent it happening to you
Here's the official google explanation
http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?answer=75816
Graywolf, the site in question uses a custom page that then redirects on their 404... so, if he is getting this message on a 404, then Google is overriding his 404?
Happening on one of my sites too :) Doesn't seem like the right
thing for Google to incorporate in the toolbar features set.
@jmaulson agreed google has an long established MO of sacrificng the publisher to improve their user experience.
Hey G why not add something into webmaster central about detecting a non custom 404 ?
I have less of an issue when this is happening right off a SERP click but I have major issues if Google is capturing users mid-stream. Is Google planning to take these people (and revenue)? Serious intrusion, imo.
Of course, at the end of the day, everyone *should* have a custom error doc.
IE has been doing this exact same thing -- the exact same thing -- since like 2002 or earlier. So I don't see reason to fault Google if they are indeed detecting if there's a custom 404 and only serving a different page if that doesn't happen.
@dannysullivan my issue with this guy's post is that the site in question has a custom 404 page. That said, his custom 404 works fine in Firefox, but doesn't seem to work in IE.... so maybe that is the issue...
Rae, I believe that's an IE issue. Maybe the toolbar detects the MS error page that IE displays instead of the custom 404 page.
I'm with you, Rae -- if Google is NOT detecting a custom 404 and doing the right thing, color me angry too.
Matt posted about this:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/404-pages-in-google-toolbar/
Takeaway: "So if you’re a webmaster and want users to see your custom 404 page, just make your page be more than 512 bytes long."
Any parellels here with with Matt's take on the ISP that was intercepting web pages and adding their customer message?
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/confirmed-isp-modifies-google-home-page/
The ISP was probably doing this in the thought that it would benefit the subscriber...
Google thinks that they have a better way to display 404s... a benefit to the installer of the toolbar?
Same happened to one of my sites. But that was before I had a customized 404 error page. By the way, I wrote an article today (http://www.yargon.com/12/customize-404-error-page/) which was Sphinned today...
Related post here...
http://sphinn.com/story/28157
I've got it fixed, in IE too :)
Thanks Rae for timely reminder,
thanks Graywolf for pointing in the right direction.
They aren't hijacking the site's 404 page. They are replacing the message the IE browser generates and replacing that with the Google message.
it's a subtle philisophical line in the sand google is crossing
"if we don't think your stuff is good enough we'll ignore it and do what we want"
plain and simple google is arrogant, and over stepping their bounds. Why the 512K limit, if it was just in the best intrests of the users then they should only hijack when there's nothing.
Matt used "Microsoft has been doing it" as an excuse to perpetuate something that is just wrong.. If your excuse is "Microsoft does it" you need to seriously look at it again..
Regardless of whether it is good for the end user or not, any time you take a page, custom or defualt, and change it without the express permission of the owner of the site you have crossed a very serious line in my mind.. How much of a step is it from, "that error page sucks, here's a better one", to "that landing page sucks, here's a better one"??
Hijacking is hijacking, period.. If a webmaster wants a crappy 404, then that is his/her call.. To have Google, or Microsoft, decide otherwise is simply wrong..