Why are my core pages being switched to Soft 404 by Google?

EricIronWill · ‎06-30-2022

Recently, Google began switching many of my core pages that previously performed well in search results into Soft 404's. As a result, my core pages are no longer available in organic Google search results. Here is one of the pages they've converted into a Soft 404: https://ironwilloutfitters.com/products/footers

When testing how the pages are rendered with the Googlebot, the render is something I'm completely unfamiliar with (screenshot below).

Does anyone know what's happening here? Is my site hacked? Here is the code that Google is rendering:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html data-adblockkey="MFwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADSwAwSAJBANDrp2lz7AOmADaN8tA50LsWcjLFyQFcb/P2Txc58oYOeILb3vBw7J6f4pamkAQVSQuqYsKx3YzdUHCvbVZvFUsCAwEAAQ==_O8Wb1wpKui1ZXxloK5mvBHs2d/HWFXE4GaJpxS1ADGuf3PAQ2I8Rc4Y6u2L/yVDmKU0LAVnAkmV2XLJKHS2mFw=="><head><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><link rel="preconnect" href="https://www.google.com" crossorigin="" /><link rel="dns-prefetch" href="https://parking.bodiscdn.com" crossorigin="" /><title>Asaplabs.io</title><meta name="description" content="See relevant content for Asaplabs.io" /></head><body><div id="target" style="opacity: 1;"><style>
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.hidden-xs {
opacity: 0;
}
}
html {
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #edf7fe 0%, white 95%, white 100%);
height: 100%;
}
body {
letter-spacing: 1.2px;
color:rgb(10, 31, 64);
text-align: center;
min-height: 90%;
flex-direction: column;
justify-content: center;
display: flex;
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
}
* {
-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
-moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}
</style>
<div id="domainDisabled">
<div data-nosnippet="" style="font-size: 2em;font-weight:bold">No sponsors</div><span data-nosnippet="">ww82.asaplabs.io currently does not have any sponsors for you.</span>
</div></div><script>window.park = "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";</script><script src="/js/parking.2.91.3.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.google.com/adsense/domains/caf.js"></script></body></html>

EricIronWill · ‎07-27-2022

@Nick_Hartnack @Igorb86 Turns out one of our apps was hacked and serving this code. I forget the exact name, and it looks like it's no longer available in the Shopify App Store, but the name was something to do with "Custom JS." I found this by going through each of my apps until I found a hint that this was the app causing it. I noticed this app had mention of asaplabs.io. After deleting this app, all the code was removed. Alternatively, to find the app, you should be able to reach out to Shopify and ask them to search the code of the apps on your store for asaplabs.io. This solution has worked for others, but Shopify never got back to my repeated attempts to ask them to do this. After finding and removing the app, I was able to submit the fixes back to Google Search Console to get us back up on Google.

Here is the forum post I found from @EmmanuelFlossie that led me to finding the resolution, so HUGE thanks to him! https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-apps/warning-gmc-suspensions-due-to-malicious-software-asapl...

View solution in original post

HengamMarketing · ‎07-06-2022

Hey,
The general solution is always looking for Redirect errors as soft 404s are because of redirects most of the time.
Are you using any hosting or CDN service other than Shopify? I can see Asaplabs.io and another CDN in your code. It may be because of that.
That's all I could figure out. Let me know whether you've found a solution yet.

Hengam team,
https://apps.shopify.com/partners/hengam

EricIronWill · ‎07-06-2022

@HengamMarketing Thank you for the reply and for looking at our site. We do have a couple apps that are likely adding CDN to our code. That said, I'm not familiar with Asaplabs.io and think that is likely in there maliciously. Do you have any ideas as to how to discover what app, or otherwise, might be delivering that code to the site?

Igorb86 · ‎07-26-2022

I have the same problem as you...

I can't find the reason why, and i'm interested about this question too.

My website is:
https://camelotlinen.com/

and we have the same redirect

Nick_Hartnack · ‎07-27-2022

Hey Eric, Exactly the same as us! On the 12th June Google started to record soft 404's on our site, then over a period of a month (July) 354 pages are all returning Soft 404's. We're now invisible to Google

EricIronWill · ‎07-27-2022

@Nick_Hartnack @Igorb86 Turns out one of our apps was hacked and serving this code. I forget the exact name, and it looks like it's no longer available in the Shopify App Store, but the name was something to do with "Custom JS." I found this by going through each of my apps until I found a hint that this was the app causing it. I noticed this app had mention of asaplabs.io. After deleting this app, all the code was removed. Alternatively, to find the app, you should be able to reach out to Shopify and ask them to search the code of the apps on your store for asaplabs.io. This solution has worked for others, but Shopify never got back to my repeated attempts to ask them to do this. After finding and removing the app, I was able to submit the fixes back to Google Search Console to get us back up on Google.

Here is the forum post I found from @EmmanuelFlossie that led me to finding the resolution, so HUGE thanks to him! https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-apps/warning-gmc-suspensions-due-to-malicious-software-asapl...

Nick_Hartnack · ‎07-27-2022

That's great, Yes as of this morning we are all sorted as well. It turned out to be an app called Geo Locator Pop Ups, once deleted I went back on to Google Console and my URL's all started to have green ticks against hem (phew!)
Best wishes, Nick

Why are my core pages being switched to Soft 404 by Google?

Why are my core pages being switched to Soft 404 by Google?

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