Verification status: NOT VERIFIED
We’ve detected that your 404 (file not found) error page returns a status of 200 (Success) in the header. (...)]]> When you try to verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools, so that they will index your sitemap, you get the error:

Verification status: NOT VERIFIED
We’ve detected that your 404 (file not found) error page returns a status of 200 (Success) in the header.

Solution:
When Google checks your 404 page, it expects to get a 404 response. If you have an actual page there, such as your home page, it will get a 200 (Success) response, and fail. So, you need a real 404 page, and it needs to send a 404 response. Here is how to set that up.

1. Create an actual 404, page not found document, as opposed to using your home page. This can be a simple HTML page, named something like 404.html, which tells the user that the page they requested cannot be found.
   

   404 Page Examples: Examples from SmashingMagazine.com

2. At the top of the 404 page, add the following code:
   

   <?php
   header(”HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found”);
   ?>

3. Login to your GoTryTHIS dashboard, go to the “Management” page, “Domains” tab, select the domain, and in the settings change the error document to point to the page you created in step 1.
]]> http://www.gotrythis.com/help/tech-support/404-stopped/google-webmaster-tools-and-404-returns-200-code/feed/ 0 http://www.gotrythis.com/help/tech-support/404-stopped/tell-me-about-404-pages-and-errordocuments/ http://www.gotrythis.com/help/tech-support/404-stopped/tell-me-about-404-pages-and-errordocuments/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:16:03 +0000 John Reel http://www.gotrythis.com/blog2/?p=123 The error page is a standard part of any web site, also known as a 404 error document. (...)]]> The error page is a standard part of any web site, also known as a 404 error document. When someone goes to a page that doesn’t exist they are redirected to the 404 error page, which says the pages doesn’t exist. Some people redirect them to a better page, such as a list of top pages on their site, or their home page.

GoTryTHIS redirects 404 page not found errors through your ErrorDocument directive in the .htaccess file, and then through GoTryTHIS to your real error page. It sets this up for you automatically during the setup and you can change your error document later from the domain settings within the GoTryTHIS dashboard.

If you aren’t using a custom error document, just put in your home page URL when setting up the domain for GoTryTHIS.

There is a section in the Setup Guide called, “Error Documents, 404s, and WordPress Conflicts”, which explains them in more detail.

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