Webmasters Accuse the Google Toolbar of ‘Hijacking’ Error Pages
Changes in the way the Google Toolbar handles 404 or “page not found” errors have some site owners crying foul. When the latest version of Google Toolbar lands you on a page that doesn’t exist, the toolbar will insert its own error message rather than the default provided by the server. The new custom Google error page only shows up if the site in question fails to offer its own, but many webmasters still feel the “feature” is a step too far.
Techcrunch likens the move to “hijacking” and says it goes against Google’s “don’t be evil” motto.
However, after testing the new feature on my own site, it turns out the reality is somewhat less hysteria-inducing. In fact Google only adds in its own 404 page if the website fails to provide one. If Google is hijacking anything it’s the default Apache 404 page which is pretty much useless to begin with (and designed to be customized by the site owner).
What’s more, the page returned by the Google Toolbar contains links to the site’s root domain, a link to search for the page terms inurl operator and a default Google search box, which is far more helpful to the user than the default Apache 404 page.
However, others have pointed out that if a site is using meta-redirects to send 404 errors the the root domain, that redirect will be ignored by the Google Toolbar. That’s a more questionable move on Google’s part and probably does qualify as hijacking and is quite possibly evil.
The Google Toolbar would be wise to stop ignoring meta-redirects (though as a user any kind of redirect without warning is incredibly annoying — if I want to see your homepage I’ll decide that for myself thank you very much).
Still, with the exception of the meta-redirect, hijacking the 404 page isn’t exactly new. Internet Explorer has long “hijacked” the default Apache error page to provide additional information. I use OpenDNS, which does more or less the same thing when a domain can’t be found (as with the Google Toolbar and IE, OpenDNS offers the option to turn this feature off).
In the end, the custom pages served up by the Google Toolbar offer users more helpful information than the default page and might even increase the chances that person will find what they were looking for on your site.
If webmasters are really concerned with controlling every aspect of their site, then they’ll have a custom 404 page in place and the issue will never come up. If they can’t be bothered to create them, then why not let IE, OpenDNS or Google Toolbar provide something more useful?
At the end of the day the user wants to find things, that Google is offering a way to improve their experience when that information doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Let us know what you think.
