Thread: Deleting a Category

After changing ISP's, I started over with new product categories and products. The old product categories that must have been deleted (from the old site) are showing up on my Google webmaster tools as site errors.
Here is an example:

http://www.tohomeshop.com/c-34-.aspx Redirect error Nov 18, 2010



The category name is deleted but not the category itself. So far no one seems to know what is causing and how to fix it. They are not showing in the sitemap.

I'm curious what your database looks like. What is the data for CategoryID 34 in your Category table?

I had the data base checked by a programmer at Mavidea and they could not find anything in the database. Every one of the cateories that were in the old website are showing in the crawl errors and sitemap errors on Google.

It sounds like you did a 301 Redirect. Do you get any 404 errors from the crawl?
I'm not sure there is anything ADNSF has to do with this issue, aside from the curiosity of where pages like /c-34-.aspx come from.

There is a 301 redirect that I can see on the webmaster tools but they say there is no 301 redirect on my website. Mavidea could not find anything and I have had this looked at because it is really a problem with the Search Engines.

I think that the deleting of the category deleted the category name but left the category number. I do not see them in the sitemap but Google has sent me notices that there are errors in the sitemap. It is very odd. No one seems to have found anything that would cause these problems. I thought I should do the upgrade to the new version but it may make matters worse.

There are always issues with the search engines when changing ISPs. Some issues are small to irrelevant, and this one seems to be that type. It is interesting how this is occurring though. Have you looked at the database entry for the category items doing this (like id 34)?

I'll see what I can see from here when I get another chance, but if these redirects from pages that aren't even public are all that you're getting, then you should be good!

I'm really interested in a resolution to this issue. We are considering a move to a new ISP and we are extremely concerned about the possible negative affects on search engine results.

Tom a solution might be to setup some 301 from the deleted categories to new ones...we have done this before for our clients so please contact Jan at jsimacek@compunix.us.

Not sure if this link is of any help

http://groups.google.com/group/googl...a7e?lnk=gst&q=

Google Webmaster Tools shows these category pages with no name as sitemap errors and also redirect errors along with email products to a freind as errors. They have sent me notices regarding errors and my page rank has dropped to 1.

I made the change to the new ISP on Jan 25. Sales from 1/1/10 to 1/24/10 were 0ver $8000.00. There was one sale on the new implemention of $400.00 on Jan 25th and no other sales for months. I have had a few sporadic sales of a few hundred dollars since but nothing compared to usual. I also have to consider the economy as a factor but I have spoken with my distributor and they note that other internet dealers have not experienced the drop in sales that I have.

Sales have not returned. My organic keywords (Uttermost Lamps, Uttermost Mirrors, Designer Mirrors), that generated the sales are still on the first two pages of Google Search.

There seem to be no good explanations, and the errors are troubling.

Originally Posted by Tom Cox

I'm really interested in a resolution to this issue. We are considering a move to a new ISP and we are extremely concerned about the possible negative affects on search engine results.