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Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Some smartphone-optimized websites aremisconfiguredin that they don't
show searchers the information they were seeking. For example, smartphone users are shown an error
page or get redirected to an irrelevant page, but desktop users are shown the content they wanted.
Some of these problems, detected by Googlebot as crawl errors, significantly hurt your website's
user experience and are the basis of some of our recently-announcedranking changesfor
smartphone search results.
Starting today, you can use the expanded Crawl Errors feature in Webmaster Tools to help identify
pages on your sites that show these types of problems. We're introducing a new Smartphone errors
tab where we share pages we've identified with errors only found with Googlebot for smartphones.
Some of the errors we share include:
Server errors: A server error is when Googlebot got anHTTP error status codewhen it crawled the page.
"Not found" andsoft 404errors: A page can show a "not found"
message to Googlebot, either by returning an HTTP404status code or when the page
is detected as asoft 404page.
Faulty redirects: Afaulty redirectis a smartphone-specific error that occurs when a desktop page redirects smartphone users to a
page that is not relevant to their query. A typical example is when all pages on the desktop
site redirect smartphone users to the home page of the smartphone-optimized site.
Blocked URLs: Ablocked URLis when the site's robots.txt explicitly disallows crawling by Googlebot for smartphones.
Typically, such smartphone-specific robots.txt disallow rules are erroneous. You should
investigate your server configuration if you see blocked URLs reported in Webmaster Tools.
Fixing any issues shown in Webmaster Tools can make your site better for users and help our
algorithms better index your content. You can learn more about how tobuild smartphone websitesandhow to fix common errors. As always,
pleaseask in our forumsif you have any questions.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle has identified that some smartphone-optimized websites have configuration issues leading to errors or irrelevant content being displayed to mobile users, negatively impacting user experience and search rankings.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Webmaster Tools now includes a new Smartphone errors tab to help website owners identify and fix these mobile-specific crawl errors, including server errors, "not found" errors, faulty redirects, and blocked URLs.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAddressing these errors through Webmaster Tools improves user experience on mobile devices and allows Google's algorithms to index website content more effectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Smartphone-optimized websites may have issues, such as showing errors or irrelevant pages to smartphone users while desktop users see the correct content. Google's updated Crawl Errors in Webmaster Tools now includes a \"Smartphone errors\" tab. This identifies issues like server errors, \"not found\" errors, soft 404 errors, faulty redirects (e.g., redirecting all smartphone users to the homepage), and blocked URLs. Fixing these errors improves user experience and indexing.\n"],null,["# Smartphone crawl errors in Webmaster Tools\n\nWednesday, December 04, 2013\n\n\nSome smartphone-optimized websites are\n[misconfigured](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing) in that they don't\nshow searchers the information they were seeking. For example, smartphone users are shown an error\npage or get redirected to an irrelevant page, but desktop users are shown the content they wanted.\nSome of these problems, detected by Googlebot as crawl errors, significantly hurt your website's\nuser experience and are the basis of some of our recently-announced\n[ranking changes](/search/blog/2013/06/changes-in-rankings-of-smartphone_11) for\nsmartphone search results.\n\n\nStarting today, you can use the expanded Crawl Errors feature in Webmaster Tools to help identify\npages on your sites that show these types of problems. We're introducing a new Smartphone errors\ntab where we share pages we've identified with errors only found with Googlebot for smartphones.\n\nSome of the errors we share include:\n\n- **Server errors** : A server error is when Googlebot got an [HTTP error status code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes) when it crawled the page.\n- **\"Not found\" and `soft 404` errors** : A page can show a \"not found\" message to Googlebot, either by returning an HTTP `404` status code or when the page is detected as a [`soft 404` page](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/http-network-errors#soft-404-errors).\n- **Faulty redirects** : A [faulty redirect](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/4046647) is a smartphone-specific error that occurs when a desktop page redirects smartphone users to a page that is not relevant to their query. A typical example is when all pages on the desktop site redirect smartphone users to the home page of the smartphone-optimized site.\n- **Blocked URLs** : A [blocked URL](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/4066608) is when the site's robots.txt explicitly disallows crawling by Googlebot for smartphones. Typically, such smartphone-specific robots.txt disallow rules are erroneous. You should investigate your server configuration if you see blocked URLs reported in Webmaster Tools.\n\n\nFixing any issues shown in Webmaster Tools can make your site better for users and help our\nalgorithms better index your content. You can learn more about how to\n[build smartphone websites](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing) and\n[how to fix common errors](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing). As always,\nplease\n[ask in our forums](https://support.google.com/webmasters/threads?hl=en&thread_filter=(category:crawling_indexing_ranking))\nif you have any questions.\n\n\nPosted by\n[Pierre Far](/search/blog/authors/pierre-far),\nWebmaster Trends Analyst"]]
