404 Error Pages being picked up as duplicate content

[kfallconnect]

Hi,

I recently noticed an increase in duplicate content, but all of the pages are 404 error pages.

For instance, Moz site crawl says this page: https://www.allconnect.com/sc-internet/internet.html has 43 duplicates and all the duplicates are also 404 pages (https://www.allconnect.com/Coxstatic.html for instance is a duplicate of this page).

Looking for insight on how to fix this issue, do I add an rel=canonical tag to these 60 error pages that points to the original error page?

Thanks!

[ClaytonJ]

I am not sure of the site is wordpress but have you considered 'smart 404' plugin. Could consider adding to the site, a solution.

Hope that assists.

Regards

[DietzenDev]

I had some issues with 404 errors as well.

Not sure how your site is set up but I just added permanent redirects on all the 404 duplicates I was having. I didn't have as many as you so it was pretty easy to do. I'm not sure if this is the 100% correct way of doing it but it fixed my issue.

Hope it helps!

[kfallconnect]

We run on Drupal so I'm not sure if there is a 404 plug in

[ClaytonJ]

I have not used Drupal for a couple of years, but there used to be a plugin called Fast 404 for some versions. Need to check whether suitable and if it weighs downs page speed. Zach is right if you can manually handle it do so, but if not perhaps research a plugin and research side effects.

[GlobeRunner]

kfallconnect, if the 404 errors are being picked up as duplicate content, then most likely they're not actually showing up as 404 error pages. It's quite possible that it's a 404 error on the site (that's what the user sees) but, in fact, the server header is not displaying a 404 error. It could be showing up as a "200 OK".

First, I would identify the pages. If the user sees an error on the page, then that's fine. Use a server header check tool to see what the response code is when someone goes to the page. You can use something like Rex Swain's HTTP header tool to check it: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html . If the page shows a 404 error then you should be fine, it's not duplicate content.

If the page is showing a "200 OK" then it most likely IS duplicate content. If the page is showing an error to users but showing a '200 OK' in the server header, then that needs to be fixed.

But if the page is showing actual content (and not an error to visitors) then you need to look at potentially using the canonical tag or removing the content on the site completely (which is preferred).

[kfallconnect]

I just did a check and you're right, even though these pages are showing up as errors to the user they are actually showing up as 200 OK, which is causing the duplicate content issue.

Thank you!

[donnieath]

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