84 strange page not found stats in sitemaps

strange page not found stats in sitemaps

[Kimkia]

I checked Google Webmaster Tools tonight and found 84 page not found entries with a strange code. Each one began as an actual directory url on my static shtml site, but with some asp code tacked on, which does NOT originate with my site.

Like this:
http://www.example.com/directory/widgets.asp?widget=1
http://www.example.com/directory/widgets.asp?widget=2
and on and on, with some numbers missed out, and
http://www.example.com/directory/widgets.asp?widget=120
being the last one.

Could someone please shed some light on this for me? Does this indicate some form of site hijacking and, if so, what do I do about it? And, whatever it is, how do I correct the erroneous information that Google is collecting?

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 8:27 am (utc) on Aug. 26, 2007]
[edit reason] examplified [/edit]

[vinstr]

Yes, I had the exact same thing!
I was going nuts trying to figure this out. I had 39 pages not found errors in webmaster tools...
The URLS are all my site with some strange directory after them. I have no idea where they came from or how Google got them- they are not in my sitemap thats for sure. Most of the strange directories were college sports teams!
For instance:
Not Found:
http://www.example.com/syracuseorange.com
http://www.example.com/pittpanthers.com

There were some that were not colleges and just random garble too.
I am glad that someone else had this problem as it makes me feel as though it might be a Google screw up, but can anyone shed light on this?
Thanks.

[edited by: encyclo at 1:50 pm (utc) on Aug. 26, 2007]
[edit reason] switched to example.com [/edit]

[McMohan]

Same problem here too. About 70 pages that have no connection with my site. They look something like -
http://www.example.com/foto/marca/aston-martin
http://www.example.com/foto/marca/cadillac
and so on.

[simey]

Found 90 odd pages 'not found'.
I sometimes drop pages without redirecting, but these are page I never created to begin with.

[vinstr]

Well it makes me feel better that others are having this problem...it seems like its a google mess up. Hopefully someone will know what is happening and post an answer.

[g1smd]

I have found many of these in the last few years.

In every case it was a malformed link somewhere either within the site or on some other site.

[Kimkia]

Would it be ok to remove these links by using the url removal tool? Or could they be banned through robots.txt?

[g1smd]

Why don't you set up a redirect for each of those to some other page within the site?

You might even get some traffic from those links.

The redirect will get those URLs out of the index too.

[Kimkia]

Now there's some creative thinking! I might just try that. Thanks!

[g1smd]

And, you can also see if you do get any traffic, simply by looking in the logs.

For some of those you'll also be able to see the referrer. That may be a help too.