Comments on: File Not Found? Google Knows Best http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/ News, opinion, and fresh thinking for web developers and designers. The official podcast of sitepoint.com. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:35:20 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: aarontgrogg http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-641918 aarontgrogg Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:21:19 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-641918 sorry... <blockquote>so, i need to make sure my custom 404 is at least 513 <strong><em>bytes</em></strong>?</blockquote> sorry…

so, i need to make sure my custom 404 is at least 513 bytes?

]]> By: aarontgrogg http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-641917 aarontgrogg Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:18:00 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-641917 so, i need to make sure my custom 404 is at least 513k? ok. too many sites leave the user hanging. i dont like companies hijacking the web any more than the next person, but this doesnt sound entirely evil. at least they dont place a full-blown ad in there! could you imagine them selling AdWord space on their custom 404?? now THAT would be evil... :-) Atg so, i need to make sure my custom 404 is at least 513k?

ok.

too many sites leave the user hanging.

i dont like companies hijacking the web any more than the next person, but this doesnt sound entirely evil.

at least they dont place a full-blown ad in there! could you imagine them selling AdWord space on their custom 404??

now THAT would be evil… :-)

Atg

]]> By: Paul Annesley http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-636295 Paul Annesley Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:11:55 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-636295 <blockquote><p>Does the 512 bytes also count the HTTP headers or just the page content size?</p></blockquote> I'd say it'd definitely be based on the Content-Length, which is the size of the response body, excluding headers.

Does the 512 bytes also count the HTTP headers or just the page content size?

I’d say it’d definitely be based on the Content-Length, which is the size of the response body, excluding headers.

]]> By: Simon Mackie http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-636033 Simon Mackie Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:07:16 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-636033 At least IE doesn't try to make money from you by hijacking the 404 page. At least IE doesn’t try to make money from you by hijacking the 404 page.

]]> By: Tim http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635888 Tim Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:33:28 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635888 Isn't this similar to the same stunt that Verisign pulled when they started trapping 404, 503 or some other error code and redirecting users to their domain? I don't see this as being any different. One question I have is, can anyone here create a meaningful and helpful 404 replacement page that is under 512 bytes? Lean markup aside, I'd hazard a guess any page under 512 bytes wouldn't be that useful to the end user. Does the 512 bytes also count the HTTP headers or just the page content size? Isn’t this similar to the same stunt that Verisign pulled when they started trapping 404, 503 or some other error code and redirecting users to their domain? I don’t see this as being any different.

One question I have is, can anyone here create a meaningful and helpful 404 replacement page that is under 512 bytes? Lean markup aside, I’d hazard a guess any page under 512 bytes wouldn’t be that useful to the end user.

Does the 512 bytes also count the HTTP headers or just the page content size?

]]> By: crome http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635621 crome Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:32:24 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635621 The only way I could see Google even trying to squirm out of this one is if they gave out a meta tag or something that we could put on our custom 404 pages to stop Google's 404 steam rolling in over the top. Even that wouldn't be a good solution but at least it would suggest they had thought for a few milliseconds about us mere web mortals! <meta name="404" content="Get lost Google I've made my own Thanks!" /> The only way I could see Google even trying to squirm out of this one is if they gave out a meta tag or something that we could put on our custom 404 pages to stop Google’s 404 steam rolling in over the top. Even that wouldn’t be a good solution but at least it would suggest they had thought for a few milliseconds about us mere web mortals!

<meta name=”404″ content=”Get lost Google I’ve made my own Thanks!” />

]]> By: ionix5891 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635590 ionix5891 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:48:14 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635590 I have confronted Matt Cutts about this <strong>this is pure evil, even Microsoft would not sink this low</strong> I asked him what gives google the right to do this? and why not show live.com or yahoo.com search lets say 50% of time? google are turning into scum, this is what spyware do! I have confronted Matt Cutts about this

this is pure evil, even Microsoft would not sink this low

I asked him what gives google the right to do this?
and why not show live.com or yahoo.com search lets say 50% of time?

google are turning into scum, this is what spyware do!

]]> By: mattymcg http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635418 mattymcg Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:20:47 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635418 @Mikel Ward: Thanks, typo fixed. @Dean C: Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. Well, not until Paul mentioned two comments before you anyway. @Mikel Ward: Thanks, typo fixed.

@Dean C: Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that. Well, not until Paul mentioned two comments before you anyway.

]]> By: Dean C http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635382 Dean C Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:23:26 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635382 God these posts are annoying. IE6+ displays their own 404 not found page if the page is not greater than 512 bytes anyway. I think this is a great idea for web users who aren't smart enough to fix their own problems when URLs don't work. If only more websites did this on their 404s. God these posts are annoying. IE6+ displays their own 404 not found page if the page is not greater than 512 bytes anyway. I think this is a great idea for web users who aren’t smart enough to fix their own problems when URLs don’t work. If only more websites did this on their 404s.

]]> By: locomotivate http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/comment-page-1/#comment-635379 locomotivate Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:10:49 +0000 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/02/14/file-not-found-google-knows-best/#comment-635379 404 pages are a very valuable piece of a website. It is certainly wrong for Google to do this by default. 404 pages are a very valuable piece of a website. It is certainly wrong for Google to do this by default.

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