Google Search console - battle

SEO
1

Hi, my store has been online since December, but I seem to be having an uphill battle with Google Indexing it. The store has approx 100 products, and I have around 20 blog posts, but only around 80 pages are indexed. I’ve submitted sitemap.xml, I’ve researched and “fixed” issues, I’ve ocassionally requested indexing, but it seems to be taking an age to get the full site indexed. Some pages are saying there are errors, or invalid, or failed validation, but the pages are templated so they are the same (structurally) as others that are indexed. I’m very confused by it all. This is my first foray into Shopify, but I’ve been a developer for years so I understand most of it, just not the expert / detail level, that a lot of you guys seem to understand. Do you have any tips / tricks / advice / links that can point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

The store URL is https://slashstar.store/

2

You don’t need every single product indexed on Google, especially if you have similar items, duplicate content, or out of stock. Not all products are actively searched for, and don’t need to be indexed. Judging by your store, I’m not surprised. Many similar shirts, would be considered duplicate content.

Prioritize. Best sellers. Unique content. Active products.

Do not index: thin content. Products with little or no description. Duplicates. Old products not longer for sale.

3

Cool, thanks for the response. I appreciate it’s extremely niche, hence the content might appear to be duplicate to someone not in the niche market.

Every shirt has a unique description and will have meaning to the relevant dev.

I’m a bit confused by the “Prioritize. Best Sellers. Unique content. Active products.” line? Every product is unique, every product is active, there are no best sellers as I’m not geting much traffic as yet.

I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

4

Hi, @SlashStar
From what you’re describing, this looks like a case where Google is discovering your pages but being selective about which ones it chooses to index based on content quality and internal signals.

  1. Improve product pages (high impact)
  • Add 150- 300 words of unique content per key product
  • Avoid duplicate/manufacturer descriptions
  • Add FAQs or use-case sections to make pages more unique
  1. Fix internal linking (very important)
  • Link 2-3 products from each blog post
  • Add “related products” on product pages
  • Make sure products are accessible within 2–3 clicks from homepage

  1. Check indexing issues in Search Console

    For pages marked “Crawled - not indexed” or errors:

  • Use URL Inspection ⇒ check Google-selected canonical
  • Ensure pages are indexable (no noindex tags)
  • Avoid duplicate titles/meta across products
  1. Prioritize and request indexing properly
  • Pick your top 20-30 important products
  • Improve them first (content + links)
  1. Strengthen overall signals
  • Keep updating blog content and linking to products
  • Try to get a few external backlinks (even basic ones help)

This is mainly a content quality + internal linking issue . Once you improve uniqueness and linking, Google will naturally start indexing more of your pages without repeated manual requests.

If you’re looking to streamline the process a bit, tools like Google Search Console by MP can help with sitemap submission and indexing requests, though the main improvements will still come from content and internal linking. Its completely optional to use.

Disclaimer : We are the developer of the tool.

Hope this helps!

5

Hi @Website_Speedy , thank you for the response. I’ll take a look in detail and work on your suggestions. I really appreciate the time you have spent helping. Thank you.

6

@SlashStar , Exactly..

" The store has approx 100 products, and I have around 20 blog posts, but only around 80 pages are indexed. "

Still, you have issues, I think, and your pages are not showing on Google SERP, if possible, please share a screenshot of the issues… Otherwise, you can share with us your Google Search Console access, and then I will help you.

image
image1464×721 46.6 KB

8

Hi @mastroke , Really appreciate you taking the time to reach out on this. I’ve attached a few screen shots of some of the issues, but it’s mostly this sort of thing at the moment. Of course some of the pages are not indexed due to the Shopify robots.txt, which is fine, but the product and blog pages are concerning. What sort of additional information would be helpful? Thanks again,

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.30.15
Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.30.151094×601 26.9 KB

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.28.21
Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.28.211277×865 44.3 KB

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.27.49
Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.27.49987×690 47.9 KB

Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.27.15
Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 12.27.15984×556 36.6 KB

9

What’s the status of your sitemap?
How many pages were discovered from the sitemap?

Potentially, you may have not enough crawl budget, or it’s being spent on something “unexpected”.

If you believe some important pages are not indexed, you can request indexing manually.

Also – check the Performance-> Search results: Queries / Pages – what Google sees as relevant queries for your site and what pages are its favorites?

This should give you ideas about what content to add.

10

@slash It’s very hard to identify the issues; some pages are not indexed according to Google Search Console, but it’s visible on Google SERP, like the example below, which looks like something’s missing, maybe - correct ( Robots.txt and sitemap file ) or manually index the pages on Google Search Console..

Screenshot 2026-05-06 at 2.41.51 PM
Screenshot 2026-05-06 at 2.41.51 PM1269×768 88.9 KB

Got the solution.. You have blocked many pages ( blog, collections, etc.) with robots.txt file ( https://slashstar.store/robots.txt … it’s a problem with ROBOTS.TXT file…

Screenshot 2026-05-06 at 2.46.02 PM
Screenshot 2026-05-06 at 2.46.02 PM1419×810 104 KB

11

It’s a normal default Shopify robots.txt which does not block anything it should not.
The lines selected with green markings are here since 10 years ago and prevent crawling of collections and blogs pages which are filtered with 2 tags,
multiple filters or have non-default sort.

Should not prevent indexing at all.

12

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have not touched the robots.txt file here, I have made the assumption that Shopify are the experts on this stuff and have left well alone. I did a bit of research before going live and the general consensus was to let Shopify do their thing here!

13

Thank you for the response. I’ve always had concers about manually requesting indexing for fear of overdoing it and getting blocked. I’ll check it out. I’m getting “some” query impressions and its saying that there are a few pages getting impressions and the odd click, but really not many at all.

14

Yes.. But disallow means, indicatee to google, not index.. You can try manually.. But it will not work.. If your have doubt..then you can join the google search console weekly meeting with John https://youtube.com/@googlesearchcentral?si=L5Tl5FC7i6PvygX4

15

If I remember properly, there is a limit of how many URLs you can ask to index manually, so, do not be afraid – it will not let you abuse the functionality.

Do not worry about the robots at all – it is normal configuration which worked for years even when editing robots was impossible in Shopify and did not prevent thousands of stores from being indexed.

But do make sure your sitemap is accepted and processed. If not – resubmit.
Can submit “sub-sitemaps” temporarily as well.

16

Hi @SlashStar 100% indexing is not guaranteed, and 80 indexed pages out of ~120 total is not automatically a problem.

A few things to check:

First, make sure the pages are actually worth indexing. Google will often ignore thin, duplicate, or low-value pages even if the template is fine. Same structure does not mean same indexability.

Second, in Search Console, look at the exact reason for each excluded page. “Crawled - currently not indexed,” “Discovered - currently not indexed,” “Duplicate,” and “Alternate page with proper canonical” are all different problems. The fix depends on which one you are seeing.

Third, check canonicals carefully. On Shopify, product pages, collections, blog posts, and tag pages can create a lot of duplication signals. A page can be valid in the browser but still be treated as a duplicate by Google.

Fourth, internal linking matters more than repeated indexing requests. If pages are buried or only reachable through weak paths, Google may crawl them slowly or not prioritize them.

Fifth, I would inspect:

  • sitemap coverage
  • robots.txt
  • canonical tags
  • noindex tags
  • duplicate collection/product URLs
  • thin content on product pages
  • internal links from the homepage, collections, and blog posts

If the pages are structurally the same as indexed pages, then the difference is usually not the template itself. It is usually the page-level signals: content uniqueness, internal links, canonicals, or duplication.

The best next step is to take one example page that is “invalid” or “failed validation,” inspect the URL in Search Console, and compare it with one indexed page. That usually shows the issue fast.

If you want a practical Shopify-specific direction, I would start here:

  • Google Search Console URL Inspection
  • Shopify canonical tag behavior
  • Shopify sitemap structure
  • internal linking from collections and blog content
  • duplicate content caused by filtered URLs and tag pages

Hope this helps :saluting_face:

17

Coming from a developer background, I totally get the frustration. When GSC
shows “errors” or “failed validation,” your instinct is to debug it like code.
However, Shopify SEO is often more about “Google’s logic” than actual technical
faults.

Here is a quick breakdown to help you navigate this:

  • The “Variant” Filter: Most of those “excluded” or “error” pages are likely
    product variants (URLs ending in ?variant=…). Google deliberately ignores
    these to avoid duplicate content, indexing only the main product URL. This
    is actually a good thing!
  • “Crawled - currently not indexed”: This is common for templated sites. It
    means Googlebot visited but decided the content was too “thin” or similar to
    other pages to bother indexing yet. Try adding 2-3 unique sentences to your
    product descriptions to give them more “value” in Google’s eyes.
  • Technical Conflicts: Since you’re a dev, double-check your theme.liquid for
    any accidental noindex tags. Also, ensure you don’t have Multiple Meta Tags
    (a common conflict between Shopify’s native settings and SEO apps), which
    can confuse crawlers.
  • Trust the Search, Not the Report: GSC reports often lag by days or even
    weeks. Use the search operator site:yourstore.com in Google to see what is
    actually live. You might find more pages are indexed than the report
    suggests.
  • Speeding it up: Don’t wait for the sitemap alone. Use the URL Inspection
    tool to manually request indexing for your top 10 most important pages.
    Also, ensure your homepage links directly to your blogs and collections to
    boost internal link equity.

SEO is a waiting game (usually 3–6 months for full traction), but if you want to
automate the technical heavy lifting and fix these indexing issues faster,
SearchPie is a great solution for Shopify stores. It handles the technical
optimization and indexing requests so you don’t have to keep manually
troubleshooting GSC.

Good luck with the store!

18

@LitExtension Really appreciate your response. Thank you. I will take on board your suggestions.

19

@PieLab Thanks for the information. This is useful stuff, thank you.