[SOLVED]Unseen broken links 404 reported by Google and SEM Rush in CMS content

[Pecatum 6]

[i started this topic in a wrong place and I don't know how to move it here, so now it's duplicated. Sorry for that]

 

Hi all,

 

I have an strange problem (at least for me).

 

Google Search Console and SEM Rush are reporting some 404 errors in my site, all related to the CMS content (Legal Notice, Terms of Use, etc.). Just an example:

 

URL not found:

https://www.pecatum..../3-terms-of-use

 

Linked from:

https://www.pecatum....-wine-75cl.html

 

If I call the first URL, of course I get a 404 error (correct URL is: https://www.pecatum..../3-terms-of-use).

 

The problem is, if I call the second URL and examine the code source, I cannot find any "https://www.pecatum..../3-terms-of-use". But I do find the correct link: "https://www.pecatum..../3-terms-of-use".

 

I didn't change the links format in Preferences > SEO & URLs. I guess it's somehow related to .htaccess / robots.txt / sitemap, but I cannot find the reason.

 

I know I can write some redirections and solve this, but I prefer to know the origin of the error and thus a "smart" solution.

 

BTW, I had the same problem with the Wordpress blog installed (via Inveostore Theme Provider) in /blog subfolder. In the beginning I thought it was just a problem with Wordpress, and made redirections with Redirection plugin for WP. But then these other errors in Prestashop appeared, so I'm not sure about anything.

 

Forgot to say I'm using PS 1.6.

 

Thanks in advance!

https://www.pecatum.com

Edited June 29, 2017 by Pecatum (see edit history)

[Pecatum 6]

I've been waiting some days, just in case it was Google taking its time for a right crawling and so on...

 

Well, what I find now, with different tools (not only Google Search Console, but also SEM Rush, Screaming Frog, etc.), is that NOW the problem above only happens with Terms of Use CMS page. As a summary:

 

1. URL Not found: https://www.pecatum.com/en/seafood/content/3-terms-of-use

2. Linked from: https://www.pecatum.com/en/seafood/26-light-belly-tuna-fillets-in-olive-oil-rosa-lafuente.html (actually, from EVERY product in Seafood category)

 

If I go to any of these products, the link to Terms of Use is the correct one:

3. https://www.pecatum.com/en/content/3-terms-of-use

 

 

Of course, I've examined Source Code just in case there was any hidden wrong link, and there isn't.

 

I've searched through the forum and I have found similar errors, but not this one. I've checked Friendly URLs format, CMS pages (I have no CMS categories). As far as I know, I didn't change anything related to CMS.

 

I have 2 languages in my shop (EN / ES) and the same happens with both languages.

 

Thanks!

Pecatum Gourmet Foods

 

[Scully 254]

Just compare the two different links:

 

Not good:

 

.../en/seafood/content/3-terms-of-use

 

Good!

 

.../en/content/3-terms-of-use

 

I copied the URLs partially by intend so the difference is clearly visible.

 

It looks like you try to use a relative URL which means, the terms of use URL is just added to the category.

So the final URL might consist of the category part plus the actual terms of use URL part.

 

Try to avoid relative links if possible at any time.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Scully (see edit history)

[Pecatum 6]

Just compare the two different links:

 

Not good:

 

 

Good!

 

 

I copied the URLs partially by intend so the difference is clearly visible.

 

It looks like you try to use a relative URL which means, the terms of use URL is just added to the category.

So the final URL might consist of the category part plus the actual terms of use URL part.

 

Try to avoid relative links if possible at any time.

 

Hi Scully,

 

Yes, that was the problem, the relative paths. I just was upset that I didn't find the place where that relative URL was called from.

 

But yesterday I finally found the problem. It was the UE Cookie module. Of course, in my computer I didn't find the calling URL because the cookies were accepted by me already. But Google bots and other crawlers, DID see the UE Cookie text and the relative link, thus reporting the error.

 

I then checked the UE Cookie configuration and, well, I was entering an absolute path, not a relative one!!! Tiny MCE Editor was converting the absolute path in a relative one.

 

Solution:

 

In file httpdocs / js / tiny_mce / tinymce.min.js, I put this:

convert_urls:true,
relative_urls:false,
remove_script_host:false,

That way, if I enter an absolute path in Tiny MCE Editor, it REMAINS absolute and is not converted to relative.

 

Thank you Scully for your answer. And thank you also Vekia and NemoPS, I was watching some of the information and tutorials by them (sorry I can't find links now) and they were really useful for me.

 

Hope this can be useful for someone. I mark this as solved.

 

www.pecatum.com

[Scully 254]

Quite tricky. Thank you for this update!

[andyfick 2]

This was a life-saver for me as I had exactly the same problem.

Fixed now!

Thanks so much,

 

Andrew