google console "Blocked due to access forbidden (403)"

[satijn]

Hi,

I have looked at various posts prior to sending mine out

Looking at google console , I have the 403 code things I have done

• my site is found on google, typing greetgrams brings it up as first on the search

-i have my sitemap submitted

-my robots.txt are ok

-my aaa is not empty

-there are no errors on google console

so just wondering what else can i do to remove the block?

Thanks in advance

Satijn

[Morris2k]

The below ansrew is providing you are using your own domain and everything is set correctly.

#1 Step make a backup of your store theme. Make the changes there first.

I believe that this is what you are after, I don’t know why Shopify Robots TXT blocks every crawler including Google. Because of security reasons blah, blah, blah… ultimately you will need to modify your robots.txt or create one in shopify’s backend (Theme > Edit Code > Templates > +add a new page >Template Type > Robots.tx add the code below)

You will also need to submit a new sitemap on Google search console. The sitemap will have to be updated as you add new products or pages.

Watch this video Tutorial.

https://youtu.be/4iB9033PwxE?si=D8gPdvEvnILjPnLO

Or go to their tutorial link

https://logeix.com/shopify-seo/robots-txt

Robots.txt code: the code below is what I am using for my site, adjust by “Allow or Disallow” the folders you want Google to crawl for indexing.

////////////////////////////////START//////////////////////////////////////

we use Shopify as our ecommerce platform

{%- comment -%}

Caution! Please read https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/seo/editing-robots-txt before proceeding to make changes to this file.

{% endcomment %}

{% for group in robots.default_groups %}

{{- group.user_agent -}}

{% for rule in group.rules %}

{{- rule -}}

{% endfor %}

{%- if group.user_agent.value == ‘*’ -%}

{{ ‘Allow: /collections/all*’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /policies/’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /collections//’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /collections/?page=*’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /page’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /blogs’ }}

{{ ‘Allow: /blogs//tagged/’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/vendors*?q=’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/types*?q=’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/*?constraint’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/*?filter’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/*?pf_’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/*?view’ }}

{{ ‘Disallow: /collections/*?grid_list’ }}

{%- endif -%}

{%- if group.sitemap != blank -%}

{{ group.sitemap }}

{%- endif -%}

{% endfor %}

////////////////////////////////END//////////////////////////////////////

/////Sitemap

Submitting a sitemap from shopify it’s very easy.

Just go to Google search console > just enter > sitemap.xml and hit enter.

Video tutorial

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/seo/find-site-map

/// 404/403//// Redirects///

If you have changed an URL, it will create a broken link, create a redirect from the old url to the new url.

From your Shopify admin, go to Content > Menus.

Click View URL Redirects.

Click Create URL redirect.

In Redirect from, enter the old URL that you want to redirect visitors from.

In Redirect to, enter the new URL that you want to redirect visitors to. To redirect to your store’s home page, enter /.

Click Save redirect.

Tutorial link

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/menus-and-links/url-redirect

I hope this helps.

[LitExtension]

Hi Satijn,

If you have thoroughly checked that your AAA file is fine and found no errors in the robots.txt file, you can try the following two solutions:

1. Verify server access permissions (403 Forbidden Error)

• Check the .htaccess file: If you are using Apache, review your .htaccess file to see if any lines are unintentionally blocking Googlebot.

• If such lines exist, remove or modify them to allow Googlebot access.

• Check firewall settings or Cloudflare (if applicable): Some firewalls, such as Cloudflare or Sucuri, may mistakenly block Googlebot. Check the logs or temporarily disable the firewall to see if it resolves the issue.

2. Verify if Googlebot is blocked by hosting security

Some hosting providers may automatically block Googlebot, mistaking it for a malicious bot. Check your server logs to see if any requests from Googlebot are being denied.

You can also verify by running the following command: “Host googlebot.com”

If Googlebot is blocked, contact your hosting provider to grant access.

Once the issue is resolved, go to Google Search Console → URL Inspection, and select Request Indexing to prompt Google to recheck your site.

[Morris2k]

Eeeerr… Shopify websites don’t have .htaccess file??? (that’s wordpress)

please don’t confuse the thread.

[satijn]

Thanks for such a detailed explanation, Havent tried it yet, waiting for a friend who is more savy than me to do it, but we will follow your instructions and post here if it went okay