Can I point some rel alternate pages to a 404?

[OptiBacUK]

Hi everyone,

I'm just setting up a series international websites and need to use rel="alternate" to make sure Google indexes the right thing and doesn't hit us with duplicate content.

The problem is that rel="alternate" is page specific, and our international websites aren't exact copies of the main UK website. We've taken out the ecommerce module and a few blog categories because they aren't relevant.

Can I just blanket implement rel="alternate" and let it sometimes point to a 404 on the alternate websites? Or is Google going to find that a bit weird?

Thanks,
James

[AndreVanKets]

This will be an issue as you are linking to non existent pages and Google will continue reporting 404 errors in G-WMT.

It would be worth your time to do it accurately one channel at a time.

Greg

[OptiBacUK]

Hi Greg,

Forgot to say thanks! We ended up taking your advice and we've made sure each page uses rel alternate correctly. Took a bit of development time, but I'm sure it's worth it in the end.

Cheers,
James