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Format of tag page urls

1 Feb 23, 2015 00:24    

My B2E version: 5.2.1

I recently created an account with google webmaster tools. Google is reporting several 404 errors concerning links to tag pages. Google is looking for links in this format:

..../b2evolution/index.php/mytag

However, my b2evolution installation serves up tag pages like this:

.../b2evolution/index.php/tag/mytag

In the site - structure - SEO tab under "Tage Pages" all options seem to use some sort of tag prefix. In my current installation under this setting this is enabled:

" Use extra-path: Use URL path prefix only (recommended)"

Below that is a box labeled "Prefix" which contains the word "tag" and is described as an optional prefix to be added to the URLs of tag pages.

It seems that if I could delete / disable that prefix the 404 errors would cease, but if I clear "tag" from the box and save the page - when the page refreshes the prefix "tag" has returned. It seems that I can change the prefix to something other than "tag" but cannot opt to have no prefix.

A couple of months ago my site was updated and took a leap from v 2.4.6 to 5.1.2 (and since then 5.2.1). I'm guessing the old version (in place for many years) did not use the tag prefix and links from external sites were created without it. Now googlebot is following those links and getting 404 errors.

Is there any way to NOT use a prefix in tag page urls?

Or is there any way to redirect a link that lacks the prefix to the correct url (using the prefix)?

Thanks!

Mark

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2 Feb 24, 2015 08:11

Hi @mark_c,

It's mandatory to add some information to the URL (prefix or sufix) to let b2evolution know that we are looking for a tag page and not a regular post or something else. The possible options are summarized in the "Tag pages" section at the SEO tab of your current blog.

The problem looks like that somewhere in your site are incorrect links and the Google robot is trying to follow them. I guess that Webmaster Tools is able to tell you in which page did it find the broken link, so please try to find them and tell us where are they generated. If they are automatically created by b2evolution, then it's an issue that must be fixed.

Regards!

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3 Feb 25, 2015 01:43

Thanks, @mgsolipa -

I checked the errors on google webmaster tools. There are about 35 404's of tag pages reported n the past couple of weeks, and all but 3 show no referring page. So I have no idea why google is looking for those pages...

The three links that do show referrers show only external pages linking in. Following those links back they were apparently setup without any preface in the tag page url. So, I guess that my system was just malfunctioning at some time int he past, formatted the tag pages incorrectly and people linked to those urls which are now not valid.

I don't see any evidence that my current installation is creating bad tag pages but I will continue to monitor that...

Thanks again -

Mark C.

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