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feat: add google indexing troubleshooting
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patrickhousley committed May 30, 2023
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---
title: Google Indexing 404 Paths
type: troubleshooting
tags:
- Browser
- Browser monitoring
- Troubleshooting
metaDescription: 'Google may attempt to index invalid site paths from strings found in the agent loader.'
---

## Problem

You're seeing 404 errors in your Google Search dashboard for URLs that are not valid for your site. You may also see 404 errors in your web server logs for these paths. After searching your site, you found the site path is present as a string in the Browser Agent loader script being injected into your HTML.

## Cause

The Browser Agent makes use of string literals in code but converts those to string concatenation during the build process to prevent possible issues with code that may wrap the loader string in a string literal. In some cases, this may lead to strings the start with a forward slash `/`. When Google indexes the page containing the agent loader script, it will store these strings as potential paths for your site and attempt to index them.

## Solutions

This is not an uncommon scenario for site administrators and is not just linked to the Browser Agent. There could be many causes for strings to appear in your site HTML that Google Search may perceive as a potential path within your site. See the below resources of other people having this same concern.

- [How can I block Google from crawling things it thinks are URLs from __NEXT_DATA__?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75672103/how-can-i-block-google-from-crawling-things-it-thinks-are-urls-from-next-data)
- [Google follows JavaScript string as relative path - produces 404 error](https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/50848/google-follows-javascript-string-as-relative-path-produces-404-error)

Available internet resources indicate these 404 errors will not affect your site ranking or indexing. They can be safely ignored. However, if you are still concerned, you can using the [Google Search Support Community](https://support.google.com/webmasters/community?hl=en) to get additional feedback and help.

- [Do 404 errors hurt my site?](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2011/05/do-404s-hurt-my-site)
- [Google’s John Mueller Explains Why Google Crawls Non-Existent Pages](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googlebot-404/239325/)
- [Google treats 404 as 'Excluded' and doesnt index](https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/59325769?hl=en&msgid=59357731)
- [Block access to content on your site](https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/answer/9605477?hl=en)
- [Large increase in 404 pages with URLs ending in /aggregate in Page Indexing](https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/212583650/large-increase-in-404-pages-with-urls-ending-in-aggregate-in-page-indexing?hl=en)
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions src/nav/browser.yml
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Expand Up @@ -185,6 +185,8 @@ pages:
path: /docs/browser/new-relic-browser/page-load-timing-resources/navigation-start-time-unknown
- title: MooTools related errors encountered
path: /docs/browser/new-relic-browser/troubleshooting/mootools-related-errors
- title: Google Indexing 404 Paths
path: /docs/browser/new-relic-browser/troubleshooting/google-indexing-unknown-paths
- title: Release notes
pages:
- title: Browser agent release notes
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