Very wierd pages. 2900 403 errors in page crawl for a site that only has 140 pages.

[H.M.N.]

Hi there,

I just made a crawl of the website of one of my clients with the crawl tool from moz.

I have 2900 403 errors and there is only 140 pages on the website.

I will give an exemple of what the crawl error gives me.

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

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http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en

| http://www.mysite.com/en/www.mysite.com/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/en/index.html#?lang=en |

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There are 2900 pages like this.

I have tried visiting the pages and they work, but they are only html pages without CSS.

Can you guys help me to see what the problems is. We have experienced huge drops in traffic since Septembre.

[H.M.N.]

Thank you so much for your response!

Yes. Could you please email me at [email protected]? I will be able to give you the url via email

[effectdigital]

Almost right, but 'just about' wrong; the 403 error is only served once an URL 'is' accessed. The content may not be accessible (as it's forbidden) but the URL itself, still is. Whilst it's unlikely that these URLs would ever be indexed, there's still an infinite loop in the link architecture which could impact upon crawl allowance and site health metrics

I'd get it sorted out!

[JenWing11]

but 403 is a forbidden error so those pages wouldn't be getting accessed from google. Google can't access them which in this case is a good thing right.

[effectdigital]

This is almost assuredly a link-based architectural error. It will be something similar to this:

• You load a page on EN
• You click the EN flag or language icon
• Instead of just reloading the page you are already on (since you're already on EN) the link is coded wrong and adds another /EN/ layer to the URL
• Once the new URL loads, the problem can be repeated
• This creates infinity URLs on your site
• Bad for Google, and Moz's crawler

Bet you it's something like that. If you give me the exact URL I might even be able to find the flaw and detail it for you via email or something

[samantha.chapman]

Hi there,

Thanks so much for reaching out - Sam from Moz's Help Team here!

I'm just going to be reaching out to you directly from [email protected] about this, after taking a look into your campaign and crawl. I'll be in touch soon!