Dawn Theme Collection page SEO showing filter headers in google

[Antonina1]

Hi,

We just changed our template to Dawn theme. We are finding a big issue with how Google is spidering the collection pages. It is using the collection name as the html title instead of our optimized SEO title. And more alarming, it is using the filter names in the HTML description instead of our optimized description. This is the default out of the box way that Google is spidering the SEO. We need help fixing this during this important shopping season. 

[Avitanshi_17]

Hey @Antonina1,

I get how frustrating this can be, especially during a busy shopping season. Shopify's Dawn theme handles some SEO elements differently by default, but you can fix this! Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Update the Title Tags for Collections

• Go to Online Store > Themes in your Shopify admin.
• Click on Actions > Edit Code for the Dawn theme.
• In the sidebar, navigate to Sections > collection.liquid or collection.json (depending on your version).
• Look for the <title> tag. It’s probably pulling {{ collection.title }} by default.

Replace it with something like:
<title>{{ collection.metafields.seo.title | default: collection.title }}</title>

• This tells Shopify to prioritize your optimized SEO title first.

Step 2: Fix Description Issue

1. In the same collection.liquid file, find the <meta name="description"> tag.

It's probably pulling filter names or dynamic content. Update it to:

<meta name="description" content="{{ collection.metafields.seo.description | default: collection.description }}">

• This ensures Google will pick up the optimized description from your SEO settings.

Step 3: Add/Edit Metafields for SEO

• Go to Settings > Custom Data (Metafields).
• Under Collections, create metafields for seo.title and seo.description if they don’t already exist.
• Fill these in for each collection via Products > Collections > Metafields.

Step 4: Test Your Changes

• Save your changes and check the page source in your browser (Ctrl+U or Cmd+U) to confirm the updated title and meta description tags.
• Use Google’s URL Inspection Tool in Search Console to request re-indexing of your pages.

This should solve the issue! Let me know if you need help with any specific step—I’m happy to walk you through it. 😊