URL error is a hindrance that occurs when a browser fails to find and display a web page due to various difficulties with the web address or server. These issues cause your website to stay behind when it should be up there in the search results. And let’s be real, nothing is more annoying than investing a lot of effort in building an effective website only to find that people are unable to reach your pages due to URL errors.
In today’s age, you should know about a standard URL error and its solution. Only this makes your website reach the user and ranks it higher. We’ll describe these three typical URL errors and the tools that provide fixes in this article.
1. Dead Link Checker for Invalid or Harmful URLs
An incorrect or faulty URL is the first issue you should search for. Since it would prevent Google from parsing the URL, it is essential to get this URL error fixed. This problem has a simple solution and doesn’t cause much hassle. Popular options of checker tools include Dead Link Checker.
Let’s begin by defining “what does ‘bad URL’ mean?”
What is meant by “bad URL”?
When a URL has spaces, symbols, or other structures that Google is unable to understand, it is considered poor or invalid. The following characters and structures may invalidate your URL:
- Spaces
- Backslashes
- Relative URLs, such as /blog.html, instead of the complete URL, like http://mysite.com/blog.html
How to fix an invalid URL error
To fix the above issues, here is a list of solutions that you can simply replace in place of those characters.
- Spaces: Use %20 instead of the space
- Backslashes: Use forward slashes (/) instead
- Relative URLs: Use the complete URL, starting with “http://.”
2. Google Search Console for Missing pages
The two types of frequently occurring problems are 404 errors, which are connected to this type of page misplacement. There are two outcomes: you may receive an absolute 404 error if the page doesn’t exist on the website altogether, or get a second error. The second one is a soft 404; this shows the page even when it is not there.
404 (not found) errors
A 404 error means that the page can not be located, and there is a broken link causing hindrance. Users may find these errors annoying since they click on links that don’t exist. A 404 is produced, for instance, if a medical facility has URLs for each of its physicians but removes those URLs when a physician departs.
How to fix this URL error:
- Customize your 404 Page
- incorporate a 301 Redirect
- Examine the accuracy of sitemaps and internal links
- Simply getting Google Search Console. It gives free insights directly from Google with high accuracy.
Soft 404 errors
Soft 404 errors occur when the page doesn’t exist and or has barely any content, but still returns a “200 status code.”
How to resolve this URL error?
Depending on the URL error in question, you have a few alternatives to fix these errors:
- Include original content, or combine it with another page if there isn’t enough.
- Install a 301 redirect
- Put up a 404 or 410 response
- Set the URL with no index.
3. Screaming Frog for Crawl mistakes
Like other web-based tools, you can fine-tune settings to initiate a crawl of your website with Screaming Frog. Search engines need to crawl your website in order to display it in the search results, possibly. They won’t be able to index your website if a site’s faults prohibit them from doing so, thus it won’t show up in the search results. We refer to these mistakes as crawl errors.
Crawl issues might be a URL error that impacts your site’s SEO and user experience, or they can be site-wide server failures. Some of the most frequent URL issues will be discussed in this section, along with solutions.
Access denied
Now, you may encounter an access denied error if the crawler is unable to access the page. This problem is usually produced when the page requires a login to access, and or a robot is trying to access it. There is another frequent response for the requested URL returned error: 403. A 403 error, also known as a Forbidden error, means that although the server has decoded your request, it is still denying access to the page due to insufficient permissions.
Ways to resolve this URL issue
So, here is an easy fix. If you ever face this URL error in a search engine, remember to check if a login is required to view the site. After doing that, double-check that it’s not a part of your robots.txt file. That if not given the permission.
Malfunctioning Redirects and Redirect Loops:
These hinder search engines from reaching the appropriate URL. A redirect loop happens when a page points back to the initial one.
How to fix the URL error:
Remember to redirect leads to the correct pages without mistakes. You should refresh the page to fix the requested URL returned error: 403, as a shortcut. To fix a loop, change your “.htaccess file” to cut down and adjust the redirects. Verifying the URL and clearing your browser cache might help as well to get rid of the error
Don’t let a URL error negatively impact your site’s SEO.
Not every URL error requires a team of ten working on it to fix it; some can stop critical pages from showing up in the search results of users. Take the necessary steps to fix them so that search engines and visitors can reach your pages when you spot any of these URL issues.
Prepared to improve your website’s efficiency? JSA Global can assist you in identifying and fixing URL problems while enhancing your site for improved search visibility. Receive a proposal today to discover how we can help with your SEO strategy!
