A Shopify store owner submitted their sitemap to Google Search Console, which shows a “success” status but reports 0 discovered URLs. Bing immediately discovered all URLs, suggesting the issue is Google-specific.
Troubleshooting attempts:
Removing and re-adding the sitemap had no immediate effect
Multiple users report experiencing the same issue around the same timeframe
Suggested solutions include:
Waiting 1-2 weeks for Google to parse the sitemap (patience appears critical)
Verifying Googlebot is accessing sitemap.xml through server logs
Using URL Inspection Tool to manually submit individual pages
Submitting child sitemaps (products, pages, collections, blogs) with the ?from[...] suffix before resubmitting the parent sitemap
Building initial backlinks through social profiles and directories
Checking for technical issues: robots.txt conflicts, nofollow links, JS blocking, or CDN/WAF interference
Resolution: The original poster confirmed Google eventually discovered URLs after waiting over a month from the last submission date, suggesting patience is often the primary solution when technical issues are ruled out.
Summarized with AI on October 28.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
Following Shopify’s instructions, I’ve been trying to submit my sitemap to Google Console. On the Sitemaps overview page, the status is a success. However, the Discovered URLs column reads as 0.
Does anybody know why this is and what I should do? On the Shopify help pages, it just says that you should only submit the domain page so my submitted sitemap is: https://akindcloth.co.uk/sitemap.xml
Any ideas or help much appreciated. I’ve been reading so much about SEO and indexing and crawling!
Google usually finds the sitemap itself automatically even if it’s unlisted in GSC. On non Shopify stores you can prove this through log file analysis. So I wouldn’t freak out over this issue.
Also, when did you add it to GSC. I’d usually give it a couple days to let it parse the sitemap and show it in GSC.
The sitemap was submitted, and ‘last read’ on the 28 Feb so I guess it hasn’t even been a week yet! I worry as Bing discovered all the URLs immediately. Here’s hoping it is just Google taking their time, and my site will be found somehow. I’m just getting very confused and overwhelmed with the whole SEO thing!
Hmm weird. Maybe I’m missing something or there’s a more obvious answer here that someone else can drop in, but I don’t know off the top of my head sorry.
If it were me I’d just start throwing things against the wall:
head over to Google communities (community forums)
reach out to Shopify support
try under a different domain/property in GSC - ie at the “domain” property and at https://naked-domain.com
try adding a different “Full” user in GSC, and then use
try un-verifying and removing the GSC property, leaving it a few days, re-verifying and re-adding the sitemap see what happens
change the sitemaps (add a new page/product/collection) and re-submit
try submitting the sub-sitemaps see what happens
try setting up a dummy Shopify trial store in the same GSC account - compare what happens
change verification method - if it’s HTML or file verification, change to DNS or vice-versa. Then re-try adding sitemap.
Google it
Kinda one of those unstructured “how to problem solve” things. My own approach is generally: look, test, check if worked, if not try something else, and repeat. I’m sure eventually you can get it going.
I have already tried a few of your suggested ideas too, my general self testing methods! Thought I’d ask on here in case someone had a familiar experience, or I was doing something wrong before I go to Shopify directly. Thank you for your responses KieranR, it is much appreciated.
Hi indiangoodtimes, afraid not! The only answer I can seem to find is “to wait” which is frustrating. So far, Google have only found 38 pages through crawling. Sigh! Still searching for any solution, waiting to see if Google will get back in touch with me. Will post any updates here!
Ask Shopify to verify logs and see that sitemap.xml is being correctly accessed by Googlebot. Or you can create a more complex setup with something like CloudFlare O2O on a paid plan and check logs yourself with LogFlare.
Are they orphan pages? What about creating a straightforward human sitemap page with just a dump of a ScreamingFrog crawl, listing all the internal links, get that page crawl requested, give it a few days does that do anything?
Not JS content blocking standard crawling right? You haven’t got heaps of nofollow links? Not running any funky proxy, WAF or CDN stuff in front of Shopify? No robots redirect or sitemap redirect customization that’s breaking it from working normally right?
^ if you’re just saying no, no no to the above, then how do you KNOW how have you actually checked?
Some more ideas over here:
Throw up a few Google Ads with some spend? I have no proof this works other than anecdotally, but try it
Get a few elementary backlinks sorted eg - social media profiles, business directories. Get over that initial bump and get a handful of backlinks that Google can see.
Just wanted to update everyone! Google Search Console has finally found some URLS, hurrah! It took over a month since the last submitted date for Google to start finding them. I guess patience is the key.
Thank you for all the advice. It has been truly appreciated.
For those having the same problem, I’d suggest going through the advice KieranR gave too, to ensure there aren’t any other issues, otherwise I think it is just a waiting game unfortunately.
Make sure you used your HOMEPAGE for your sitemap you paste into google search console.
https://www.abc123.com in google search console. When you copy and add the sitemap code from google into your SHOPIFY store, make sure you input the Sitemap code into THEME.LIQUID and that code needs to be exact, pasted into your code like mine. NO SPACE before the Open Bracket <…
It can take time for search engines to crawl your site. After updating the content of a page or adding a new page, you can submit the URL of individual pages (e.g. mystunningwebsite.com/about) directly to search engines. This increase the chances of your new content showing up in search results
For Example Create a Site map for https://www.ABC123.com/AAAAA then https://www.ABC123.com/BBBBBBB then https://www.ABC123.com/CCCCCC
For everyone struggling with this issue: Try to submit the children sitemaps (for products, pages, collections and blogs) including the suffix ?from[…] . Google should find URLs now. Next, submit the parent sitemap /sitemap.xml again. This should lead to Google finding all your URLs.
