Unreachable errors in sitemaps

for pages which never existed

[stuartc1]

I've noticed an increased number of unreachable page errors in my google sitemaps account. The problem is 99% of these pages have never existed.

My concern - I'm wondering if these errors can make my site look bad to google, which in turn could cause problems for my site in the index. I am hoping that this is not some way for competitors to affect my site quality in the eyes of google bots.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to go about preventing this? I thought google had enhanced the sitemaps to a webmaster communication type portal, but I'm not seeing anything useful in ways of contacting google with problems like this.

Stuart

[tedster]

My best suggestion is to take this to the Googe Sitemaps group -- or more precisely, its new incarnation "Google Webmaster Help" Group at [groups.google.com...]