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Ive got a bunch of URLs showing up in search console > crawl errors > not found.

These urls are not proper pages but rather a pages like mysite.com/sdfhjuyhbn.html or mysite.com/wpimages/34f126905bc8Pc7454118.xml (the site is a static html site, not wordpress and nether has been..)

When these pages are visited my site displays a 404 error correctly.

a) should i be worried about these and is there a way to correct them or are they actually valid errors and should i just ignore them in search console ?

b) how do these get here as ive never had pages with these urls ?

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  • It is very likely that someone is landscaping your site for vulnerabilities. If you can block the AH, then you may want to consider it. Otherwise, landscaping in-of-itself is not harmful until they do find a vulnerability. It is all script-kiddie stuff and so there is likely no person directly behind this but rather a hacked/compromised system. Block it. No worries otherwise if your system is safe. Just annoying as strained poop.
    – closetnoc
    Oct 1, 2016 at 15:48
  • @closetnoc In static site, there is nothing like vulnerabilities or executing JavaScript. I think OP have register a domain that was used in past by someone else. I have also registered a new domain, and got 404 not found error in search console, but when I check who links to me, then there is blank list. So I think OP have used the domain, that was used by someone else. And still google re-crawling that page in hope of that page will be come back again.
    – Goyllo
    Oct 2, 2016 at 6:51
  • @closetnoc what is AH an abbreviation for ?
    – sam
    Oct 2, 2016 at 13:52
  • @Goyllo I dont beleive the domain was ever registered before, ive checked via the wayback machine and it seems ive been the only owner.
    – sam
    Oct 2, 2016 at 13:54
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    @Goyllo Landscaping is figuring out if a site has a vulnerability. A site does not have to be vulnerable. These are generally from compromised systems running a script that is indiscriminate in how it works.
    – closetnoc
    Oct 2, 2016 at 16:43

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Don't worry.

It's normal to have 404's here as any site can link to any URL on your website and there's no way you can control it.

If there are 404 for pages that existed on your site you should 301 redirect them to the correct address.

For instance /myFavoriteMovies.html shows 404 error because you renamed it to /my-favourite-movies.html. Then redirect with a 301 to the new address and then mark it as fixed in GWT(/SC).

From Google Support Docs:

While it's normal to have Not Found (404) errors, you'll want to address errors for important pages linked to by other sites, older URLs you had in your sitemap and have since deleted, misspelled URLs for important pages, or URLs of popular pages that no longer exist on your site. This way, the information that you care about can be easily accessed by Google and your visitors.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35120?visit_id=1-636111731774022834-892319877&hl=en&rd=1#url_errors

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