Google Consloe Redirect indexing problems

[bill62]

I recently modified the URLs of my shopify store products in the edit SEO section of the product page. My page has not been accessed by any customers but it had started to be indexed by google. In the edit SEO area the check box "Create Redirect URL" automatically got checked so I ended up with a redirect for every product URL I changed.  I was told redirects will slow down the page and since nobody had ever visted my page I was told I did not need the redirects So I deleted all the redirects from the Navagation page. The next day I got an email from google console telling me I had a bunch of redirect errors. I assume thats because google had indexed those pages before I deleted the redirects. My question is how do I let google know that I changed up my URLS and did not use redirects? Do I delete my old site map from google console and re-submit the site map that has no redirects or is there another way?

[KieranR · Accepted solution]

If you were getting no traffic and no sales and you have no external links (backlinks) pointing from other websites to your old URLs then this doesn't matter too much. 

The Shopify /sitemap.xml structure will update automatically to include only new URLs. Google Search Console will see the new page URLs in the updated sitemap and eventually crawl/index these pages. So should be no need to delete/resubmit. 

---

@bill62 wrote:

I was told redirects will slow down the page

---

I mean - kinda. If someone tries to access a URL and hits a redirect 301 hop before the endpoint - sure that is a slower experience compared to just hitting the new URL directly. But if you don't have a redirect in place then they try the old URL they're just landing on a 404 page - which is a bad exp. It sounds like you're better with the redirects still in place tbh. 

[SEOProStaff]

Hi @bill62 ,

To update Google about your URL changes without using redirects, you should ensure that your Shopify store's sitemap.xml is updated with the new URLs, as Shopify does this automatically. Google will eventually recrawl your site, recognize the updated URLs, and adjust its index accordingly. While waiting, keep an eye on Google Search Console for crawl errors and address them as they appear.

SEOPro can assist in managing SEO more efficiently, including handling URL changes. It aids in identifying SEO issues and provides bulk optimization tools to update elements like meta titles and descriptions, ensuring your site remains optimized during changes. SEOPro helps maintain your SEO score by ensuring that all aspects of your site, including URLs, are fully optimized for search engines.

Full disclosure: We are the developer of this app.