Setting Headers

Headers: 404 showing as 200 not 404

[hunkydory]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help, for SEO reasons I need to show my 404 errors as 404 in the page header not 200 as my server currently shows them. I assume this has to be done with .htaccess?

At present my .htaccess has:

Redirect permanent /links1.htm [domain.com...]
Redirect permanent /links2.htm [domain.com...]

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerSE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerElite [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailCollector [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ExtractorPro
RewriteRule ^.*$ [domain.com...] [L]

ErrorDocument 400 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 401 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 404 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 500 [domain.com...]

Any ideas?

Thanks

Henry

[Longhaired Genius]

RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

"F" for forbidden!

[hunkydory]

so add the rule:

RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

or append it to my current Rewrites?

Thx

[Longhaired Genius]

Replace your RewriteRule.

(Can't hurt to add the final delimiter...)

RewriteRule ^.*$ - [F,L]

[hunkydory]

Thanks will give it a go now

[hunkydory]

Still get the header as 200 not 404, adjusted as said:

Redirect permanent /links1.htm [domain.com...]
Redirect permanent /links2.htm [domain.com...]

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerSE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerElite [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailCollector [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ExtractorPro
RewriteRule ^.*$ [domain.com...] [F,L]

ErrorDocument 400 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 401 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 404 [domain.com...]
ErrorDocument 500 [domain.com...]

[Longhaired Genius]

The rule should be literally this:

RewriteRule ^.*$ - [F,L]

"F" means load the error document. You don't need to reference it twice.

Also, the error documents should be linked relatively from thr RewriteBase (probably "/"), not absolutely (with [)....]

[hunkydory]

Okays have now adjusted and added the rewrite base:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerSE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} CherryPickerElite [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailCollector [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ExtractorPro
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [F,L]

RewriteBase /

ErrorDocument 400
/notfound.htm
ErrorDocument 401
/notfound.htm
ErrorDocument 404
/notfound.htm
ErrorDocument 500
/notfound.htm

Yet the entire site now gives a 500 internal server error, sorry about this.

Thanks
Henry

[Longhaired Genius]

You don't need to explicitly state the RewriteBase if the .htaccess file is in the root directory but if you do, put it at the top with RewriteEngine on.

The error documents should be referenced like this:

ErrorDocument 400 /notfound.htm

(Each one on one line.)

[encyclo]

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.example.com/notfound.htm 

The answer is simple - you must not use an absolute link for the 404 page, otherwise it is seen an external file, so called giving a 200 OK. Use this:

ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.htm

[hunkydory]

Thanks all working now, i really appreciate your help!