What if 404 Error not possible?

[te_c]

Hi Everyone,

I get an 404 error in my page if the URL is simply wrong, but for some parameters, like if a page has been deleted, or has expired, I get an error page indicating that the ID is wrong, but no 404 error.

It is for me very difficult to program a function in php that solve the problem and modify the .htaccess with the mod_rewrite. I ask the developer of the system to give a look, but I am not sure if I will get an answer soon.

I can control the content of the deleted/expired page, but the URL will be very similar to those that are ok (actually the url could has been fine, but now expired).

Thinking of solutions I can set the expired/deleted pages as noindex, would it help to avoid duplicated title/description/content problem? If an user goes to i.e., mywebsite.com/1-article/details.html I can set the head section to noindex if it has expired. Would it be good enough?

Other question, is it possible anyhow to set the pages as 404 without having to do it directly in the .htacess, so avoiding the mod_rewrite problems that I am having? Some magical tag in the head section of the page?

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Best Regards,

Daniel

[TakeshiYoung]

Why are these parameters an issue for you?  Where are they getting linked from?  If it's from a high authority external site, it may make sense to 301 redirect them.  If they're just low quality sites, it's probably safe to ignore.

[te_c]

Hi Again,

@Takeshi Young: Thanks for your answer.

I will try to explain what is happening a little better.

We are using a CMS for Classifieds adds. The script is able to give "SEO Friendly" URLs, which are based in mode_rewrite. If a listing has an ID number, lets say "5", that listings url will look like this:

http://mydomain.com/5-listingname/details.html

After the listing expires, the URL will not be valid anymore, and if a user try to visit the listing, the script deliver a page with a message indicating that the lising is not active anylonger. The HTTP Code is 200 "ok". If the listing is deleted, then a user trying to visit the URL will get a similar message, also with a HTTP Code 200. It is a problem, because that page should return a 404 code, indicating the search engine that the page is gone.

If a user try to visit an invalid page, like for example:

http://mydomain.com/invalidpage.html

then the system will deliver the 404 page that is set in the .htaccess file, but since the script recognises the numeric parameter in the deleted/inactive listing, it does not deliver the 404 error but a page with a message, and this page with a message is a soft 404 error, bad for SEO.

It is out of my knowlage to repair the script in order to make it deliver the proper 404 header, but I can customize as much as I want the page indicating the error.

Then I have two questions:

1. If I set the soft 404 error page as noindex, will it be good enough as to not being affected by the problem?

2. Is there any way of indicating the search engine that a page is 404, other than using the apache .htaccess? Like a tag in the head section? or any trick that would help me with this problem?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Daniel

[TakeshiYoung]

Ok, sounds like a noindex,follow in the header is the best solution then.  That will keep the no-longer-existant pages from being indexed while still preserving any link juice the page may have acquired.

[te_c]

Hi Takeshi, thanks for the asnwer again.

Would it prevent the deleted/expired pages to be shown as soft 404 in the Webmaster tools?

[TakeshiYoung]

The pages should not show up at all once they are de-indexed.