AOL doesn't unescape URL's

is this AOL's or Google's fault

[figment88]

Pardon if this has already been discussed, but I didn't see it in a site search.

One of my websites has started generating a bunch of 404's on incoming searches from AOL. On closer inspection I saw that the URL's are mangaled for a new section of the site that has dynamically generated pages and require a parameter in the URL string.

Apparently the Google feed to AOL "escapes" HTML characters, so question marks get converted to %3F, equals signs to %3D, etc. AOL fails to "unescape" these characters before forming their target URL's.

This is not an isolated problem. For a search of lifeguarding jobs in maryland [search.aol.com] three out of the 10 results have escaped URL's and generate 404 when clicked thru.

[mifi601]

I have had similar results for aol. I really do not like AOL. The time I have spent only to streamline a site becase my customer was using AOL exclusively .... to get rid of those escape characters ...another subject

IT is AOL's fault

[deft_spyder]

one path is make those pages static if you can, or disallow the bot from those pages you know will not have the same url every time.

is there not a setting on servers to forward 404 errors to the home page, or maybe drop the variables to the closest root and forward the req to that directory?

i got past this problem by not only having a dynamic search tool, but also had the server write out every page as static so the SE would have something nice and friendly to crawl.

[aspdesigner]

I see what you mean. These are re-directing links, they look normal when you move your mouse over them, but they are faking that with Javascript.

I tried feeding one of the actual links into Rex Swain's HTTP viewer, to see where it leads.

The AOL server issues a 302 temp redirect to the target site. The re-direct has the erroneous address problem you mentioned.

The sever issuing the 302 is on AOL, it also identifies the server type as: Netscape-Brew/6.2.1

So it seems prety clear the problem is with AOL and not Google.

You may want to E-MAIL them and let them know about this.

[figment88]

HeHehe I did try to tell them. I used their contact AOL search form and got a 500 error on the submit :(

I think Google shares some of the responsiblity - it says powered by Google after all.

Maybe I share some of the responsibility, but for right now I just think it is kind of funny that a company as huge as AOL is so inept.

[figment88]

Looks like someone got the word. Or maybe they discovered it independently (it was pretty obvious after all).

It appears, AOL is now properly handling parameterized target URL's.