Help Please: SEO Issues detected with /checkouts

[Clueless3]

Hi everyone,

Our Semrush account recently shows many errors for ".../checkouts/internal/preloads.js?locale=en". Does anyone know the root cause of this or is it due to Shopifys new implemented one page checkout?

Thank you

[elerfine]

Any luck with this? I have the same issue. Maybe it's a checkout app or template that we have in common. 

[Clueless3]

Nothing yet. Hoping someone knows the fix on here!

What theme are you using?

[kedora]

Same issue

[Loggo]

Same issue, very frustrating as this is a new error that has sprung up over the last 48 hours. Not aware of any change my side that has prompted it.

All help welcome.

[Lulukoh]

Try escalating with Shopify Live Chat Support. 
help.shopify.com/en 

The Shopify agent has offered to run a resync process in the backend. It'll take 4 hours and hopefully this will resolve the problem. I'll provide an update if this removed the 'issues' from Semrush.

Response from Shopify Agent:

"..as part of the troubleshooting steps, what I can do here is to run a sync process on the back-end of your site to make sure that all is sync in your admin and your website. Please be assured that this will not affect your website and will remain active. Would you like me to proceed with this?

Also, this re-sync process will take 4 hours to take full effect. Please let me know if you would like me to proceed with this."

[mmarcus15]

@Lulukoh Were you able to fix the issue after contacting Shopify?

[EinfachNurGut]

I‘m having the same issue with semrush. Any solution until yet?

[bankerlife]

I'm having the same issue. It seems to be duplicative on many pages so seems like an easy fix?

Any update if this worked? @Lulukoh

[Lulukoh]

It went away for a few months but recently came back and when I contacted Shopify again to repeat the above, it didn't resolve the problem. I'll keep trying to find solutions. The best we can do is keep contacting SemRush and Shopify to see if they can find the problem or hire a professional.

[neatproductsltd]

Hi - did you get anywhere with this ? This error is happening to our store but not showing up on gsc blocked by robots txt?

[SEOProStaff]

Hi @Clueless3 ,

It seems like the issue with ".../checkouts/internal/preloads.js?locale=en" could be related to how Shopify manages scripts for checkout pages, potentially linked to recent updates or the specific configuration of checkout processes. Since Shopify handles checkout page SEO differently from regular pages (given their dynamic nature and security concerns), it's less straightforward to directly address SEO issues in this area through standard methods.

However, for general SEO improvement and management across your Shopify store, SEOPro might offer some indirect benefits. While SEOPro primarily focuses on optimizing product and collection pages by identifying and fixing SEO issues, improving overall SEO health can positively impact your store's visibility and performance in search engines. It helps with bulk optimization of meta titles, descriptions, and alt texts, ensuring consistency and SEO-friendly content across your site.

Full disclosure: We are the developer of this app.

[KieranR]

What do the errors actually say? Screenshot from Semrush would be good to see.

[SCGames]

This has been going on since October and there's still not a single shred of evidence that were is anyone working on a fix? Shopify has fallen pretty far from what it used to be.

If they're going to wall the end user off from the checkout resources, at least optimize the code so it doesn't damage our SEO. 

[CampanulaDesign]

I agree completely. No one from Shopify has stepped into this forum to answer the question. I have the same issue - it is by far the largest issue in my SEMRush audit in terms of numbers. I can load the page and clearly see that it is not minified. Shopify cannot just restrict our access to these functions without following best practices, thereby messing up our SEO. We have other choices, and this is just another tick against Shopify in my mind. 

If they would just pay attention to customer's needs and address them (especially in the forums which would make it so they can have fewer support calls) life would get easier for everyone. I've just finished my second support chat with a "Shopify Advisor" on this topic and no one seems to get it. This thing really needs to be upgraded as an issue as it affects so many different sites.

[KieranR]

So I've done a bit of digging.

Short answer is: 

Not an SEO issue. This is just a generic warning from Semrush. However, Shopify could still look at a fix if they want to avoid confusion, not for SEO reasons.

It happens because:

1. Shopify disallows Googlebot access to /checkout/ URLs. 
2. The URL in question is a JS file sitting under /checkout/ so it gets blocked from Googlebot crawl
3. Semrush flags this as a potential issue

Some more detail

Example from Semrush

Been a while since I ran a crawl with this tool, had to find an example in the wild. This is from the "Blocked internal resources in robots.txt" Semrush report.

Not every warning an SEO tool spits out is actually bad for SEO or needs a fix, they are start points for deeper analysis and adding context.

What does preloads.js do in Shopify?

The /checkouts/internal/preloads.js file is small set of utility functions for pre-connects DNS and pre-fetches resources. Basically it helps to make the next pages and the checkout load faster by pre-loading files and warming up network connections before user clicks something.

Why is /checkouts/ blocked in robots.txt?

Because you don't need your checkout to show in Google search result pages. This is not useful to users.

Still want to fix? 

If you still convinced you need to force a "fix", this will tidy up your Semrush report but won't actually improve SEO in any meaningful way.

Add this line to robots.txt in the Googlebot group:

Allow: /checkouts/internal/preloads.js

[CampanulaDesign]

The errors I am getting are not related to it being blocked by robots.txt, but instead, I get thousands of errors because the preloads.js file is not minified.

I have checked many other Shopify stores and they all seem to have this problem, which in my case results in tons of "WARNINGS" on a SEMRush audit. Simply as a best practice, Shopify should be minifying this file.

[KieranR]

Ahh ok. Then there are actually two separate issues mentioned in this thread.

Robots txt blocking this file is not an SEO issue. 

Saving 1.2kB by minifying an async loaded script is very low priority SEO issue. You're right though it is slightly annoying. They should be minifying it.

[mte]

this fix clears warnings but brings the new ones related to 

Uncached JavaScript and CSS files /checkouts/internal/preloads.js?locale=en-GB

Unminified JavaScript and CSS files /checkouts/internal/preloads.js?locale=en-GB

[KieranR]

Right gotcha, so new errors are a bit trickier. Setting a cache header and serving a minified file are things that Shopify would need to do server side. Don't know of a fix for those.

But you could remove the file completely from {{ content_for_header }} with some script replacement liquid. That will fix the SEMrush errors because file won't be there. But it's a bit of a flakey fix 🙃

Also unintuitively, removing the file will make the 'next' page load experience slightly slower this is because DNS and page preloads speed up next page loads.

Just to sanity check, I remember I tested removing the JS script entirely. Zero impact to CWV page load time.

So again. I would suggest ignore the original flag in the SEMrush report. Those kind of reports and warnings are not absolutes, they are just the beginning of an exploration and adding context. Context which is very much missing in this case. SEMrush doesn't have any awareness of what this file is doing or why it's there.