Google Spidering Encoded HTML in Urls?

Apr 24, 2008 - 2:13 pm 4 by
Filed Under Misc Google

Maybe so, just a spidering glitch, weird links, or sitemap error? I was searching this morning in Google doing some tests on Google's new Whois feature. When I plugged in a domain what popped up in the first page of the results was a weird URL including encoded ampersand and other characters in front of the shown URL for the website (aboutus.org). Once I clicked on the link I got a 404 error.

Screenshot: google spidering encoded urls

Link to Result.

Thoughts? Comments?

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google

Google Discover Tests Dive Deeper Feature

Sep 18, 2026 - 4:22 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 18, 2026

Sep 18, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Unusual Google Search Ranking Volatility, Ad Tech Monopoly Remedies, AI Contribution Publisher Payouts & More

Sep 18, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google

Google May Be More Successful In Blocking Scrapers & Tracking Tools

Sep 18, 2026 - 7:55 am
Google

Google Search Bar Results Page Testing AI Mode Button

Sep 18, 2026 - 7:51 am
Bing Search

Bing Also Asking To Verify You Are Human Before Showing Search Results

Sep 18, 2026 - 7:41 am
Previous Story: Yahoo's Q1 Profits: $542.2 Million