Please someone tell me if this makes sense , my store can’t take being slammed by Google anymore. Am I correct the issue is that our auto generated sitemap.xml includes these bad urls. What if built my own tidy sitemap and sent that to Google instead.
Topic summary
Shopify store owners discovered spam pages being indexed by Google through exploited URL parameters, primarily affecting /collections/vendors?q= and /search?q= endpoints. Malicious bots create fake URLs by appending spam queries (often FIFA coin advertisements) that get indexed when external sites link to them, despite robots.txt blocking.
Root Cause:
The vulnerability stems from Shopify themes displaying search queries as page titles on zero-result pages instead of returning 404 errors. Google indexes these pages when external spam sites create backlinks, ignoring robots.txt directives.
Community Solutions Implemented:
- Add noindex meta tags to vendor/search pages with zero results
- Modify theme.liquid to prevent spam text in titles
- Update collection-content.liquid to display 404 messages for empty vendor queries
- Use Google Search Console’s temporary removal tool for bulk URL removal
- Avoid Google Disavow tool (recommended only for manual penalties)
Shopify’s Response:
After community pressure, Shopify deployed fixes making /collections/vendors?q= pages return 404 status. Similar fixes were implemented for search pages and web-pixels-manager spam. However, new variants continue emerging (e.g., /collections/all/ spam).
Current Status:
The /vendors?q= issue is largely resolved. Affected stores report gradual deindexing over weeks, with SEO rankings recovering. Store owners should verify noindex implementation and ensure robots.txt doesn’t block crawlers from seeing 404/noindex responses.