Need help with no follow meta tag to block ?q=. They're spamming Shopify stores using /vendors?q=

Lychee88 · ‎12-28-2022

My site was hit with 12 random vendor urls using *?q=*, there are hundreds of other stores hit with these spam links as well. Google stated to stop a page from being indexed it must not be disallowed in the robots.txt file.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203#indexed_though_blocked_by_robots_txt

So I checked Shopify on how to block a page from being indexed via the meta tag in the header: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/seo/hide-a-page-from-search-engines

But I'm not sure if I should be adding this below the <head> tag:

{% if template contains 'search' %}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
{% endif %}

Or something like this?

{% if template contains *?q=*' %}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
{% endif %}

The problem is this which is in all of the spam urls: *?q=* but in another thread it was mentioned that the spammers are using search in which to spam hundreds of Shopify sites.

/vendors?q=Visit+Cheapfifa23coins.com+30%25+OFF+code%3AFIFA2023%7C+5+stars%21+one+of+the+best+sites+around+for++fifa+23+fifa+coins+in+NORWAY%21..++nv3b

/vendors?q=Twicsy+Buy+Instagram+Followers

/vendors?q=Kratom.org+Kratom+Strains

/en-no/collections/vendors?q=Twicsy+Buy+Instagram+Followers

As you can see from this search that many Shopify stores are pulling up the same spam:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%3Fq%3DKratom.org%2BKratom%2BStrains&t=brave&ia=web

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%3Fq%3DTwicsy%2BBuy%2BInstagram%2BFollowers+Shopify&t=brave&ia=web

So this is not an isolated issue.

What is the correct line of code to exclude vendors?q= ?

The weird thing is when I look at my existing Shopify created robots.txt file search is already disallowed.

Disallow: /search

TIMECAPSULES · ‎12-28-2022

CRITICAL URGENT

Shopify,

I have a similar problem .... this kratom.org I just noticed on my website under /vendors?q=Kratom.org Maeng Da Kratom. I think it may have appeared on ~ Dec 16th 2022, but I have only just noticed it. I didn't put it up on my website.

This is a epidemic for Shopify, as it seems to happening across thousands of your Customer Shopify sites, see below for search results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=kratom.org&source=hp&ei=dt6sY5jjMLXN9APZqbKACQ&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAY6...

I picked this up when I was looking at my Google Search Consule for my url. I think we need to be shown how to disable this /vendors?q= functionality as a matter of urgency.

As I said .... I think thousands of your Shopify customer websites have been impacted, but they do not know it ..... yet!

Please advise what to do to stop this and disable it.

Thanks.

casey-customs · ‎12-30-2022

It isn't really possible to stop them. I could go on your stores right now and type the name of my store in your search bar over and over again and you'd see it in your search console. They haven't made an app yet that would reach out of my screen and snatch away my keyboard before I did it 🙂

It's annoying I'm sure, but what harm is it actually doing? You can filter this out of your search console if you don't like seeing it. It has no impact on your store. My best suggestion is to focus more on selling your products and less inside of a search console chasing down a pest.

TIMECAPSULES · ‎12-30-2022

I disagree that it isn't causing harm. These additional webpages are
getting indexed, which then impacts our website SEO. I only have 3 at
present, but another guy has 12 .... it could grow to be hundreds ....

How can I disable the search bar? .... what code / process do I need to
remove the search function?

Thanks,
Brad

Lychee88 · ‎12-30-2022

Seriously, why bother responding if you're not going to offer a solution? 😒

In other similar posts THOUSANDS of these spam links caused someone's website to be monitored by Google and their traffic affected. THAT'S why I'm looking for ways to protect my store.

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/shopify-big-bug-collections-vendors-q-xxxxxx/m-p...

casey-customs · ‎12-30-2022

Just trying to set expectations 🙂 Shopify can not do anything about this. They can't stop people from typing random garbage, and they can't stop how Google interprets it. Go to Google's resources and bring the learnings there back.

Lychee88 · ‎12-30-2022

My initial post is based on others having the same issue and it seems to only be affecting Shopify stores. Still no answers.

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/shopify-big-bug-collections-vendors-q-xxxxxx/m-p...

TIMECAPSULES · ‎12-30-2022

Lychee88 - Yes your posts helped me to figure out what was going on, and
the penny then dropped. I had seen posts that keep dancing around this
problem - but not providing a solution - it seemed to be pushback on the
customers.

I am new to this forum ..... how do we get this issue escalated?

Thanks,
Brad

Lychee88 · ‎12-30-2022

Unfortunately it's rare for Shopify to answer important issues so we rely on Shopify experts that can actually provide solutions. Unfortunately some just make comments just to comment without looking into the issue on other threads to see that this is an SEO issue that needs to be solved somehow.

Shopify should put a "Disallow: /collections/vendors" in the robots.txt file since it's only affecting Shopify stores. These spammers found a vulnerability in Shopify and have taken full advantage.

All we can do is wait for someone who is knowledgeable that can point us in the right direction and bookmark the other threads in case they find a solution first.

Trevor · ‎01-10-2023

Hey, everyone.

Thank you for flagging this issue in the Community. We have raised the issue with our developers for further review. We do not have a timeline on the fix, however, I will provide an update once this has been resolved.

I would encourage you to view our top related threads on this issue that provide viable workarounds:

Trevor | Community Moderator @ Shopify
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- Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
- To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

Trevor · ‎01-11-2023

Hello, again!

Our developers have recently shipped a change that will generate a 404 page if the vendor is unknown (based on query string). It will still print out the query string, but should block it from indexing on Google. These changes will only apply to vendor pages, but our teams will investigate whether other pages may be vulnerable to this abuse.

This change is rolling out platform wide as we speak, so it may take some time for you to see these changes implemented. However, moving forward, this should help mitigate the ability spammers have with taking advantage of the query print out to advertise their spam links.

Trevor | Community Moderator @ Shopify
- Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know!
- Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
- To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

TIMECAPSULES · ‎02-10-2023

Hi,

The issue of these false web pages has stopped, thanks to the changes that were implemented. However, I still have a huge number of these "not indexed" files remaining - how can I get them off my Google Search Console (refer attached)

?

Thanks, Brad

Need help with no follow meta tag to block *?q=*. They're spamming Shopify stores using /vendors?q=