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Wednesday, January 22, 2014
In the past, we have seen occasional confusion by webmasters regarding how
crawl errors
on redirecting pages were shown in
Webmaster Tools.
It's time to make this a bit clearer and easier to diagnose! While it used to be that we would
report the error on the original—redirecting—URL, we'll now show the error on the
final URL—the one that actually returns the error code.
Let's look at an example:
URL A redirects to URL B, which in turn returns an error. The type of redirect, and type of error
is unimportant here.
In the past, we would have reported the error observed at the end under URL A. Now, we'll instead
report it as URL B. This makes it much easier to diagnose the crawl errors as they're shown in
Webmaster Tools. Using tools like
cURL or your favorite
online server header checker,
you can now easily confirm that this error is actually taking place on URL B.
This change may also be visible in the total error counts for some websites. For example, if your
site is moving to a new domain, you'll only see these errors for the new domain (assuming the old
domain redirects correctly), which might result in noticeable changes in the total error counts
for those sites.
We hope this change makes it a bit easier to track down crawl errors, and to clean up the
accidental ones that you weren't aware of! If you have any questions, drop by in the
Google Webmaster Help Forum.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Webmaster Tools now reports crawl errors on the final URL of a redirect chain, instead of the original redirecting URL, for easier diagnosis.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis change simplifies identifying the source of errors using tools like cURL to verify the error on the final URL.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eError counts in Webmaster Tools may shift for sites undergoing domain migrations as errors are attributed to the new domain.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis update only impacts error display in Webmaster Tools and doesn't negatively affect site indexing or ranking for expected errors like 404s on nonexistent pages.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Google's Webmaster Tools updated how crawl errors on redirecting pages are displayed. Previously, errors were reported on the original redirecting URL. Now, errors are reported on the final URL that actually returns the error code. This change, effective from January 22, 2014, aims to simplify error diagnosis. While total error counts may fluctuate, the change only affects display, not website indexing or ranking. External tools like cURL can be used to verify errors on the final URL.\n"],null,["# Changes in crawl error reporting for redirects\n\nWednesday, January 22, 2014\n\n\nIn the past, we have seen occasional confusion by webmasters regarding how\n[crawl errors](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35120)\non redirecting pages were shown in\n[Webmaster Tools](https://search.google.com/search-console).\nIt's time to make this a bit clearer and easier to diagnose! While it used to be that we would\nreport the error on the original---redirecting---URL, we'll now show the error on the\nfinal URL---the one that actually returns the error code.\n\nLet's look at an example:\n\n\nURL A redirects to URL B, which in turn returns an error. The type of redirect, and type of error\nis unimportant here.\n\n\nIn the past, we would have reported the error observed at the end under URL A. Now, we'll instead\nreport it as URL B. This makes it much easier to diagnose the crawl errors as they're shown in\nWebmaster Tools. Using tools like\n[cURL](https://www.google.com/search?q=curl) or your favorite\n[online server header checker](https://www.google.com/search?q=http+header+viewer),\nyou can now easily confirm that this error is actually taking place on URL B.\n\n\nThis change may also be visible in the total error counts for some websites. For example, if your\nsite is moving to a new domain, you'll only see these errors for the new domain (assuming the old\ndomain redirects correctly), which might result in noticeable changes in the total error counts\nfor those sites.\n\n\nNote that this change only affects how these crawl errors are shown in Webmaster Tools. Also,\nremember that having crawl errors for URLs that should be returning errors (for example, they\ndon't exist)\n[does not negatively affect the rest of the website's indexing or ranking](/search/blog/2011/05/do-404s-hurt-my-site)\n(also as [discussed on Google+](https://plus.google.com/+JohnMueller/posts/RMjFPCSs5fm)).\n\n\nWe hope this change makes it a bit easier to track down crawl errors, and to clean up the\naccidental ones that you weren't aware of! If you have any questions, drop by in the\n[Google Webmaster Help Forum](https://support.google.com/webmasters/threads?hl=en&thread_filter=(category:search_console)).\n\n\nPosted by [John Mueller](https://johnmu.com/), Website Error Analyst"]]
