Hello,
Thank you for reaching out about the discrepancy in the number of 404 pages shown in Rank Math’s “Monitor 404” compared to tools like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog, as well as Google Search Console not displaying these 404 pages.
The reason you might be seeing more 404 pages in Rank Math’s “Monitor 404” is that Rank Math’s Advanced 404 Monitor captures a lot more detailed information about the errors, even individual errors on the same URL. This can lead to a higher count of 404 pages being displayed within the plugin.
Regarding the specific URLs containing slugs like ~root, .well-known, gtm.start, etc., and others being a combination of category names and words, these could be due to various reasons such as outdated links, removed content, or even bot activity. Without a clear pattern in the logs, it might be challenging to pinpoint the exact cause of these specific URLs triggering 404 errors.
If Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and Google Search Console are not showing these specific 404 pages, it could be due to differences in how these tools crawl and report errors compared to Rank Math’s monitoring system.
If you continue to face challenges identifying the source of these 404 errors or need further assistance in resolving them, please provide more details or reply to this ticket. Our team will be happy to assist you further.
Sincerely,
Sources:
How to Find Out Where 404 Errors Are Coming From » Rank Math
Rank Math General Settings
How to Monitor 404 Errors with Rank Math SEO Plugin
The #1 WordPress SEO Plugin in 2023 – Rank Math
Hello,
Thank you for your patience.
Please note that we only report the 404s. We do not have information on how or why they are generated.
You can get further insight into them by enabling the advanced monitor at WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > 404 Monitor:
https://rankmath.com/kb/monitor-404-errors/#advanced-404-monitor
That will give you more information like referrer and user-agent. You can use that information to track down the source or find out if it is just bots generating those errors.
You can also add them to the exclusion list at WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > 404 Monitor > Exclude Paths.
Moreover, if you are seeing random 404s that you know for a fact are incorrect – it is likely generated by a bot and can be safely ignored. You could also use a service like Cloudflare to block out access to bots so they do not use up your server resources.
Here’s a great article on how to secure your WordPress website:
https://mythemeshop.com/blog/wordpress-security-tips/
Hope that helps.
Hello,
Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.
If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.
Thank you.
