How to fix issues in my Google Search Console?

[CCAM]

My google search console is really messed up....how do I fix this?

Page with redirect	Website	Not Started		13,071
Alternate page with proper canonical tag	Website	Not Started		6,260
Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag	Website	Not Started		1,713
Not found (404)	Website	Not Started		899
Blocked by robots.txt	Website	Not Started		19
Soft 404	Website	Not Started		1
Server error (5xx)	Website	Not Started		1
Crawled - currently not indexed	Google systems	Not Started		3,354
Discovered - currently not indexed	Google systems	Not Started		3
Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user	Google systems	Not Started		1

[Moira]

Hey @CCAM,

Welcome to the Shopify Community!

It's important to address these Google console issues promptly as they can negatively impact your website's visibility in search results. Here are some steps you can take to fix the errors you shared:

• Page with redirect: This issue occurs when a page is redirected to another page instead of being served directly. To fix this, update the redirect to point to the correct page or remove the redirect altogether.
• Alternate page with the proper canonical tag: This issue occurs when multiple pages have the same content but different URLs. To fix this, specify a canonical URL for each page indicating the preferred URL for the content.
• Excluded by 'noindex' tag: This issue occurs when a page has a 'noindex' tag, which tells search engines not to index the page. To fix this, remove the 'noindex' tag from the page.
• Not found (404): This issue occurs when a page is not found on your website. To fix this, either restore the missing page or redirect the URL of the missing page to a relevant page on your website.
• Blocked by robots.txt: This issue occurs when search engines are blocked from crawling certain pages on your website through your robots.txt file. To fix this, review your robots.txt file and make sure that it's not blocking any important pages.
• Soft 404: This issue occurs when a page returns a 200 (success) status code instead of a 404 (not found) status code, even though the page doesn't exist. To fix this, update the page to return a 404 status code.
• Crawled - currently not indexed: This issue occurs when a page has been crawled by Google but hasn't been indexed yet. To fix this, make sure that the page is useful and relevant, and consider optimizing it for search engines.
• Discovered - currently not indexed: This issue occurs when Google has discovered a page but hasn't crawled it yet. To fix this, make sure that the page is accessible to search engines and consider optimizing it for search engines.
• Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user: This issue occurs when there are multiple versions of a page with the same content but different URLs, and Google has chosen a different canonical URL than the one specified by the user. To fix this, make sure that the canonical URL is correctly specified and that there are no conflicting canonical tags on the page.

For further guidance, refer to the help doc below:

• A Guide To Fixing Google Search Console Errors in 2023

Let me know how you get on!

[CCAM]

Thank you for responding.

A while ago when I was using the duplicate feature, it was adding "/products/copy-of-" so I redirected those to fix that. Also, I was under the impression that I should create redirects when discontinuing items, so that the 404 page not found is avoided, and redirect the customer to a similar product. Is that not the protocol?

canonical tag: I have two collections that have a lot of variations. They are charms....all the details are the same except the title. They are 9mm Italian Charms. The modular link is the same size, material etc...only the charm that is soldered on is different. How to avoid this error in this situation?

I'm unsure how any of my pages would get the 'noindex' tag. At one point I saw a ton of paid traffic hitting one particular item, using up all my budget but resulted in very low sales so I did remove that product from my google shopping ad. Is that what caused this issue?

How to find 404 page not found products?

How do I review the robots.txt file?

I appreciate your time in helping me with this.

~Korine

[CCAM]

PS, I did spend some time today reading the Google help section....which did not help.

[Moira]

@CCAM 

You're welcome! I'll answer your questions below:

• Redirects: It's a good practice to redirect discontinued products to relevant pages to avoid 404 errors. However, you need to make sure that the redirects point to the most relevant pages possible. If you redirect a discontinued product to a completely unrelated page, it may harm your website's user experience and SEO.
• Canonical tag: In your case, it's likely that Google is correctly identifying the variations of your charms as duplicate content. One way to avoid this is to use a canonical tag on each variation page to point back to the main product page. This tells Google that the main page is the authoritative page for that content.
• 'Noindex' tag: It's possible that the 'noindex' tag was inadvertently added to some pages, such as when you removed the product from your Google Shopping ads. You can use the "Coverage" report in Google Search Console to see which pages are affected and remove the 'noindex' tag if necessary.
• 404 page not found: You can find 404 errors in Google Search Console under the "Coverage" report. Look for pages marked as "404 error" or "Page with redirect". You can also use a third-party tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your website and identify any broken links.
• Reviewing robots.txt file: You can access the robots.txt file by going to yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Make sure that there are no important pages or directories blocked by the robots.txt file.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

[CCAM]

Thanks for the quick reply. 

For the 404 redirects...I sold out of some winter hats, and redirected to other winter hats. I just updated some of the charms, where I had a few individually listed, I combined them into a variation listing and redirected the singles to the new listing where they can now find the same charm in its new location. 

How can you tell if its safe to delete a redirect? I'm very unsure about doing this. What happens if you delete a redirect by accident? 

How can I hire someone there at shopify to do this stuff for me so I can source and list new product? I need help with my google accounts, regarding my business.

[Moira]

@CCAM,

It sounds like you're doing a good job with your redirects! When it comes to determining if it's safe to delete a redirect, you need to make sure that the old URL isn't receiving any traffic and doesn't have any external links pointing to it. You can check the "Links" report in Google Search Console to see if there are any inbound links to the old URL. If there are no external links and the URL isn't receiving any traffic, it's safe to delete the redirect.

If you accidentally delete a redirect, you can usually restore it by creating a new redirect with the same source and destination URLs. This should revert the changes and restore the original redirect.

If you need assistance with setting up and managing your Shopify website or Google accounts, you can consider hiring a freelancer or agency that specializes in these services. Shopify's Experts Marketplace is a great resource for finding professionals who can help you with your website design, development, and marketing needs.

[CCAM]

Thanks for your help. I did reach out to a couple of the shopify experts to see if I can get some help with this. I know that I should know these things....but I am just one person trying to keep the business afloat and I cant learn and try and fix it while continuing to source, photograph and list new product...on top of shipping and advertising lol. I need some help. Have a great day and thanks so much for taking the time to shed some light on these topics.

[Moira]

@CCAM 

You're welcome! It's perfectly understandable to seek help when you're busy running a business. With so many aspects to manage, it can be difficult to stay on top of everything. I'm glad that you reached out to some Shopify experts for assistance. They should be able to help you with your issues and take some of the workload off your shoulders. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. Good luck with your business!