Google Search Console is the gateway for your website and the most important tool for the SEO of your website. As you know the website is indexed and crawled then it goes to the stage of ranking. But what if your page is not indexed or crawled? How do you know if there any issues arise in the process of crawling and indexing? The only way to know this crucial information is the Google search console tool. It is a free tool that notifies you if Google faces any issues when it crawls and tries to index your website in search results. It also provides you with details about your website’s location, ranking pages, and pages chosen to ignore. However, console errors can seriously affect a blogger’s ability to connect and interact with their audience. Let’s see Google search console errors in detail and how to remove those errors that arise in this tool that bloggers must need to know. Let’s take a look!
Features of Google Search Console:
Index coverage report:
The Index Coverage Report is one of Google Search Console’s most useful features. This report gives website owners a thorough understanding of the crawling and indexing processes used by Google. It displays every page that Google is making an effort to crawl and index, along with any problems that could be keeping certain sites from being correctly indexed. Website owners can make sure that their content is correctly recognized and shown in Google search results by recognizing and resolving these issues.
Performance Tab:
The Performance Tab in Google Search Console is another important feature. This section provides useful data about how well a website performs in Google search results. The Performance Tab provides the following important metrics:
Number of clicks: This indicator shows you how many clicks your website gets overall from Google search results and gives you details of the number of people that are visiting your website through search results pages.
Total impressions: The total number of times your website shows up in Google search results for different queries is called total impressions. It offers helpful details about how visible your website is in search engine results.
Average CTR: CTR, or click-through rate, is a crucial number that indicates what proportion of people visit your website after finding it through a Google search. A high conversion rate (CTR) means that people are being successfully drawn to your website and encouraged to stay on it.
Average Position: The term “Average Position” describes how your website ranks on average for the searches it appears for in Google search results. By monitoring this indicator, you can measure the success of your SEO campaigns and pinpoint areas in need of development.
The most common errors that bloggers need to know
Status Code Errors
Status code issues in Google Search Console are important markers of how well your website is functioning and how easily accessible it is to search engine crawlers, especially Googlebot. When Googlebot tries to crawl your web pages, it receives HTTP status codes that are closely correlated with these problems.
Whether it’s a user’s browser or a search engine bot like Googlebot, HTTP status codes allow communication between the server of your website and the requesting client. Regarding the outcome of the server’s effort to satisfy the client’s request, each status code offers certain details.
When a user types in the URL or when a search engine bot accesses it, they make a request to the server hosting a web page. The server generates an HTTP status code in response to this request, which it then sends back to the browser or bot.
Three-digit numbers are used to represent these status codes, and each one denotes a different result or server response. Here are a few typical HTTP status codes:
200 (OK): The server has successfully returned the requested website in response to the request, indicating that the request was successful.
301 (Moved Permanently): it indicates that the requested URL has been relocated permanently to a new address. Redirecting URLs is one of its frequent uses.
404 (Not Found): it signifies that the webpage that was requested could not be found by the server. It usually happens when someone types a URL incorrectly or when a webpage gets erased or destroyed.
Types of status code errors
There are different types of status code errors:
- Server Error (5xx)
- Not found (404)
- Unauthorized request (401)
- Soft 404
- Redirect error (3xx)
Let’s explore this in more depth
1. Server error (5xx):
Server errors (5xx) are responses generated by the server indicating that it was unable to fulfill a valid request made by the client, such as a web browser or search engine bot. These errors typically stem from issues in the server environment rather than problems with the client’s request. There are different types of server errors:
500 internal server error:
A general error message that indicates technical problems preventing the server from processing the request is the 500 Internal Server Error. There are a number of possible causes for this error, such as PHP code going wrong, Content Management System (CMS) coding flaws, or other unknown problems with the server environment.
502 Bad Gateway Error:
This error code denotes a gateway or proxy server issue that causes the request to be processed slowly. Whether the upstream service is operating on the same server or a different one, this error usually arises when the upstream service is unavailable. A 502 error is frequently ascribed to problems with the content management system (CMS), especially those running WordPress.
503 services unavailable error:
The server cannot process the request at this time for a variety of reasons, as indicated by the 503 Service Unavailable Error. These reasons might include maintenance tasks, server overload, or total server downtime. If Googlebot receives a 503 error, it means that the server is either unavailable or too busy to reply promptly. The Googlebot can terminate its session after a certain amount of time, resulting in the display of a 5xx error.
Common causes of server errors and their solution
There are different causes of server errors including programming errors like Bugs or coding errors within the server-side scripts, server configuration issues, server runs out of essential resources like memory or processing power, or any database issues like connection or database server issues. To fix all those issues roll back website updates if the server error started after recent changes. For support, get in touch with your hosting company. Examine the CPU, RAM, and disk space of the server, and if more capacity is required, think about expanding your hosting package.
2. 404 Not Found errors
The standard HTTP response code “404 Not Found” means that the server couldn’t find the content associated with the requested URL. When a 404 error is displayed in Google Search Console, it indicates that Googlebot’s attempt to crawl a page on your website was unsuccessful due to the server’s inability to locate the page’s content.
How to Find 404 Errors in Google Search Console?
Use Google Search Console to find 404 errors by doing the following steps:
- Go to the Pages report by opening the Google Search Console.
- Navigate down to the Why pages aren’t indexed section.
- This is where you can find details about any pages that have a 404 error.
Common Causes of 404 errors and how to fix them:
Various reasons cause 404 errors, such as intentionally deleting a page or removing it from your website, changing the URL structure without proper redirects, or errors in the URL provided to Googlebot, such as typos or mistakes. To address these issues, implement 301 redirects when moving a page, update internal links to valid URLs, check external links for non-existent pages, and submit a current sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure effective crawling and indexing by Googlebot.
3. Unauthorized Requests (401)
When a website restricts access to Googlebot for indexing, crawling, and ranking, it generates an “unauthorized request (401)” error. Even if people can view the website without any problems, this blocking can still happen.
The main cause of this problem is that Googlebot is unable to crawl your website; this is usually because internal site systems or firewall settings are preventing Googlebot from accessing the page. Similar problems can also occur when other web crawlers, such as ScreamingFrog or Sitebulb, crawl a website.
Common reasons of unauthorized requests (401) and their solution:
Various factors contribute to this error, including restricted access for unauthorized users, including Googlebot and other web crawlers, on certain pages, especially those with password-protected content. It can also result from implementing IP-blocking or access restrictions or encountering crawler-specific configuration issues.
To address an unauthorized access issue, review the affected pages’ authentication settings, test access manually, review access restrictions and verify user agent access. Ensure Googlebot’s IP addresses are not blocked and necessary permissions are in place for crawling. If specific rules limit access, configure them appropriately. After resolving the issue, use Google Search Console to request a recrawl of the affected pages to update Googlebot’s index.
4. Errors (Soft 404)
Soft 404 errors can seriously affect how search engines crawl and display your sites in search results, as well as confuse search engines like Google. Google Search Console marks them as errors, suggesting that there could be problems with the page’s content.
Common Causes of Error soft 404 and its solution
Soft 404 errors can occur due to empty pages, redirected pages, or custom error pages. Empty pages may not provide meaningful information, while redirected pages may have thin or irrelevant content. Custom error pages might also trigger soft 404 errors since search engines might mistake them for empty or irrelevant content.
To fix a soft 404 error in Google Search Console, review the content of flagged pages, verify if redirects are relevant, and check custom error pages. Ensure the content is meaningful and relevant, and avoid redirecting users to irrelevant pages. Ensure custom error pages are informative and assist users in navigating the website effectively.
5. Redirect Errors
Redirect errors can degrade user experience and make search engine crawling less effective. If you want to keep your website accessible and valid, you must fix these mistakes as soon as possible.
There are different types of redirect errors including:
Redirect Loop: A redirect loop occurs when the final destination URL in a redirect chain redirects back to a previous URL in the chain. This creates an infinite loop of redirects, preventing the page from loading and leading to crawl errors.
Redirect Chains That Are Too Long: Redirect chains that are too long occur when there are multiple sequential redirects from one URL to another, forming a chain. Long redirect chains can slow down page loading and adversely affect search engine crawling efficiency.
Bad or Empty URLs Within a Redirect Chain: In some cases, bad or empty URLs may be encountered within a redirect chain. This could occur due to misconfigurations or errors in the redirect settings, leading to incomplete or invalid redirections.
Redirect URL Exceeded the Max Character Length for a URL: When the redirect URL exceeds the maximum character length allowed for a URL, it can result in a redirect error. This may occur due to overly long or complex URLs that cannot be properly processed by the server.
How to fix redirect errors?
To fix redirect errors in Google Search Console, follow these steps:
- 1) Identify the error in the “Pages” report
- 2) Analyze redirect chains,
- 3) Fix redirect loops,
- 4) Check redirect targets,
- 5) Update internal links if URLs change, and
- 6) Use appropriate HTTP status codes, such as 301 for permanent moves and 302 for temporary moves, to improve user experience and reduce the need for redirects.
Other Common Errors:
Blocked by Page Removal Tool:
When a page is blocked by the “Page Removal Tool,” it means a removal request was used to intentionally remove the page from search engine results. This can be the result of out-of-date content, legal issues, or other factors.
Crawled – Not Currently Indexed:
Pages that search engine crawlers have viewed but haven’t yet been included in the search engine’s index are considered crawled but not indexed. This can happen for several reasons, including duplicate material, poor-quality content, or structural problems with the website.
located-Currently Not Indexed:
Found pages are those that search engine crawlers have located throughout the crawling process but have not been included in the search engine’s index. This is similar to crawled but not indexed pages. Crawl financial constraints, limited authority, and low relevancy are a few possible causes of this.
Alternate Page with Appropriate Canonical Tag:
If there is an alternate page with a canonical tag, it indicates that there are other copies of the same material, but that version has been marked with a canonical tag as the preferable version. By doing this, duplicate content problems are avoided and search engines are guaranteed to index the chosen version first.
Duplicate without User-Selected Canonical:
Problems with duplicate content occur when the content on several pages is the same or extremely similar. Search engines can select one version as the canonical by default if there isn’t a user-selected canonical tag indicating the preferred version. This might cause problems with indexing and ranking.
Duplicate, Google Selected Different Canonical than User:
When duplicates occur and the user specifies a canonical tag, differences can occur between the user’s intended version and the one that Google has picked. Ensuring the intended version is correctly indexed and rated may require further research and potential adjustments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are console errors, and why are they important for bloggers?
Console errors, also known as webmaster errors or search engine errors, are notifications or warnings generated by tools like Google Search Console. These errors indicate issues that may affect a website’s visibility, accessibility, and performance in search engine results, crucial for bloggers to improve their SEO efforts.
What are some common console errors that bloggers may encounter?
Bloggers may encounter various console errors, including Server Errors (5xx) indicating issues with the web server that is hosting the page. A Not Found (404) error message indicates that the server was unable to locate the page. Unauthorized Request (401) indicates that certain sites have access restrictions that prohibit search engine crawlers from viewing them. Soft 404 errors are pages that look normal but have no content that makes sense, which confuses search engines.
What are the benefits of resolving console errors for bloggers?
For bloggers, fixing console issues has several advantages, including Correcting mistakes making it more likely that blog material will be appropriately indexed and rated by search engines, and increasing both its visibility and ranks. Fixing errors enhances the browsing experience for users, boosting engagement and retention. Blogging can see a boost in organic traffic and reader engagement with better visibility and content optimization.
How do console errors impact a blogger’s website?
A blogger’s website can suffer from console problems in several ways, including Errors that can lower blog content’s visibility in search results by preventing search engines from correctly indexing and ranking it. Error-ridden pages could not load properly or offer pertinent material, which would be bad for the user experience. Errors can have an impact on the blog’s reach and engagement by lowering organic traffic.
What are some best practices for preventing console errors?
To prevent console errors, bloggers should follow best practices such as maintaining clean and optimized website code, ensuring proper URL structures, implementing redirects correctly, and regularly updating website content and plugins to avoid issues with outdated or deprecated features.