Can a page be penalised by Google but not the entire site?

[AAttias]

I have recently given some content to another site for a link. When I originally checked the site, it was indexed by Google and seemed ok. However, when I tried to check that the catergory page that my content was posted on was indexed, I received and error message from Google, however the homepage is still being indexed by Google. Is that the sign of a penalty or not?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

What was the error message you got back from Google, Brian?

It is possible for Google to only index parts of a site that are considered worthwhile, but are you sure they haven't just no-indexed the category pages on the site? This is quite common.

-Andy

[AAttias]

I'm just getting that 'Error 404 (not found)' page with the picture of the broken robot.

They may have just no-indexed the category pages, I didn't know that was possible.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Yes, the common thing to do here is noindex the page but leave is set to Follow.

That said, you shouldn't get a 404 unless the page actually doesn't exist. Can you browse to the category on their website?

[AAttias]

I can access the category page on their website.

However, when I go to Google and type the cache:..... it returns a 404 error.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Have a look in the header of the category page and see if it says "noindex, follow".

A simple way to check if a page is indexed, is to type    site:www.siteurl.com/category   or whatever the URL to the category page is.

The 404 might just mean the page wasn't available when it was crawled, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The main thing is the page with your content on is indexed.

-Andy

[AAttias]

It does say noindex, follow

When I tried to check if it was indexed that way, it didn't return any results

[Andy.Drinkwater]

All is fine then. Category pages are very often noindexed to reduce duplication issues, so really don't worry about this. It certainly doesn't sound like there are any penalties going on there.

That said, do a little social activity around your post as well and get it promoted.

-Andy