Fetch as google - getting both 301 and 404

Question

I am getting this from fetch as Google:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved
Server: nginx
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 23:07:58 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 20
Connection: keep-alive
Status: 404 Not Found
Location: http://www.peciatky.sk/page-not-found
Vary: User-Agent,Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Set-Cookie: 8812c36aa5ae336c2a77bf63211d899a=Bbvc3w0i7riSZmjnod4ylyvTAnxn7DCLHYhXe92zKrRSDQqNDueWOsutRqv%2FallRQe4HFrGbnpiOTy4Cy%2Beglw%3D%3D000060; expires=Tue, 11-Feb-2014 23:07:58 GMT; path=/; domain=peciatky.sk; httponly
Set-Cookie: 8812c36aa5ae336c2a77bf63211d899a=Bbvc3w0i7riSZmjnod4ylyvTAnxn7DCLHYhXe92zKrSIJvpKfQ%2BsH0cil9dtFLSB7mx6NcgFC89BWp3h8IqeSQhy%2Btt5JlIMFe0f%2BdCAhpI%3D000075; expires=Tue, 11-Feb-2014 23:07:58 GMT; path=/; domain=peciatky.sk; httponly

Which one is the main error that Google works with - the 301 or 404?

Answer 1

The 301 is the status returned by the first request, but I guess the request redirects to a 404 error page, hence the Status: 404 header.

I assume this is the request you tried

➜  ~  curl -I http://peciatky.sk/page-not-found 
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved
Server: nginx
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 00:37:40 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Connection: keep-alive
Status: 404 Not Found
Location: http://www.peciatky.sk/page-not-found
Vary: User-Agent,Accept-Encoding
Set-Cookie: 8812c36aa5ae336c2a77bf63211d899a=Bbvc3w0i7riSZmjnod4ylyT6lv6oeCXMbYFHnKQ0PFdSDQqNDueWOsutRqv%2FallRDzainvFkpqyBhBYisWge6Q%3D%3D000060; expires=Wed, 12-Feb-2014 00:37:40 GMT; path=/; domain=peciatky.sk; httponly
Set-Cookie: 8812c36aa5ae336c2a77bf63211d899a=Bbvc3w0i7riSZmjnod4ylyT6lv6oeCXMbYFHnKQ0PFeIJvpKfQ%2BsH0cil9dtFLSB7mx6NcgFC89BWp3h8IqeSc4l7065jqYJYxCe%2FEI9xSQ%3D000075; expires=Wed, 12-Feb-2014 00:37:40 GMT; path=/; domain=peciatky.sk; httponly

In this case, it's hard to guess what is the final result. Generally speaking, the properties of a redirect source (such as link juice) are passed to the target, but in this case the target is a 404 error page thus it doesn't really matter.

At the source will be assigned a 301 state, at the target a 404 state.

http://peciatky.sk/page-not-found (301)
http://www.peciatky.sk/page-not-found (404)