Ask How can I bulk redirect 404 error domains without causing a loop?

[Brajet]

Dealing with a client issue where the client has someone building fake URLs and pushing them into Google via a clever array of junk websites that randomly generate links daily. So far this has created over 4.3 million 404 URLs that appear in Google Search Console and make reports difficult to read.

The client's server and host do not allow the usage of ErrorDocument directive and offer no other way to handle this at scale. I found a nice little plugin called 404 to 301 which is handling this beautifully but for it to work I had to create a new 404 page inside of WordPress (when I tried using the standard 404.php it went into a loop).

This is technically going to work but it gives off a 200 OK status code and does not give off a 404 error status code, and if it did, it would cause the plugin I am using to loop and crash. Instead I've set the page's meta robots to "noindex" so all of the millions of randomly generated 404 URLs will just point to this one and get noindexed..

 

[Anthony Joshua]

From what I've learned, the key is to carefully map all your old URLs to their new destinations before setting up bulk redirects. Using a CSV file or a plugin like Redirection (for WordPress) helps manage multiple URLs at once. Make sure none of the destination URLs are also in your redirect list, because that can cause loops. Testing a few redirects first is always a good idea. Many Reddit and Quora users recommend keeping a backup and monitoring logs to ensure everything works smoothly.

 

[Felix😎]

Dealing with a client issue where the client has someone building fake URLs and pushing them into Google via a clever array of junk websites that randomly generate links daily. So far this has created over 4.3 million 404 URLs that appear in Google Search Console and make reports difficult to read.

The client's server and host do not allow the usage of ErrorDocument directive and offer no other way to handle this at scale. I found a nice little plugin called 404 to 301 which is handling this beautifully but for it to work I had to create a new 404 page inside of WordPress (when I tried using the standard 404.php it went into a loop).

This is technically going to work but it gives off a 200 OK status code and does not give off a 404 error status code, and if it did, it would cause the plugin I am using to loop and crash. Instead I've set the page's meta robots to "noindex" so all of the millions of randomly generated 404 URLs will just point to this one and get noindexed..

Wow, over 4.3 million 404 errors from fake URLs - that's a real headache! Nice work finding that 404 to 301 plugin to help clean things up. Just gotta be cautious setting up the 404 page to avoid any looping. The noindex meta tag is a clever solution to keep those URLs out of your Google Search Console reports. For redirecting based on status code, try using a .htaccess file to set up 301 redirects. That should let you route all those 404 errors to a central location without any loop issues.

 

[Dean101]

First, decide where each domain should actually end up and stick to that. Don't just redirect everything to a page that already links back to the old URLs and that's how loops happen. Use 301 redirects and point old URLs straight to their best match, not randomly to the homepage. Before you go live, double-check that none of your destination URLs are also listed as sources. Running a quick crawl or redirect checker helps catch problems fast.