Urgent SEO Optimization Issues on my Shopify Store

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Topic summary

Urgent SEO problems on a Shopify store: thousands of pages unindexed for months, new pages not being recognized by Google, an Ahrefs health score of 1/100, and numerous broken images/404 errors. A screenshot is attached, but details are not elaborated.

Recommended actions: verify site structure (headers, meta tags, image alt text), fix 404s via redirects, review robots.txt to ensure important pages aren’t blocked, and submit an updated sitemap in Google Search Console (GSC). An SEO audit app (SEOPro; developer disclosed affiliation) is suggested for identifying and bulk-fixing issues.

Context and nuance: many non-indexed URLs may be non-critical “noise” due to Shopify canonicalization (indicating the preferred version of duplicate pages). The Ahrefs score may be heavily influenced by minor, site-wide issues; investigate before assuming major impact.

Open questions and next steps: share specific unindexed URLs and error details; use GSC’s URL Inspection to check indexing reasons; trace sources of broken images/links and fix or redirect; review what indexing attempts were made and their outcomes.

Status: no resolution yet; awaiting diagnostics and specific examples.

Summarized with AI on December 13. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello,
I’m reaching out because I’m currently experiencing significant issues with my Shopify store that are severely impacting its SEO performance.

In the process of optimizing my store, I’ve found a multitude ofproblems that I’m struggling to resolve. Here are the main concerns:

  1. There are thousands of pages that are not being indexed by Google, and this has been the case for several months. It’s crucial for my business that these pages are discoverable via search engines.
  2. New pages that I’ve created are not being recognized by Google, despite multiple attempts to have them indexed.
  3. When using Ahrefs to analyze my website’s SEO health, I received a score of 1/100, which is extremely concerning.
  4. There are multiple error messages related to broken images and 404 errors, among other issues.

I’m finding it difficult to pinpoint the reasons for these issues and would greatly appreciate your guidance. Could you provide assistance or direct me to resources that can help me understand and resolve these problems?

I understand that troubleshooting these issues may take time, but due to their impact on my business, any prompt assistance would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your time and support.

Best regards,

Capture d’écran 2023-06-06 à 14.38.57.png
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1 Like
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Hi @RDLB ,

I’m sorry to hear about the SEO challenges you’re facing with your Shopify store. The issues you’ve described, such as pages not being indexed by Google, broken images, and a low SEO health score, can be daunting but are fixable with a systematic approach.

First, ensure your site is well-structured and that you’re using correct SEO practices, such as proper use of header tags, meta tags, and alt texts for images. Make sure to address any 404 errors by setting up redirects where necessary.

Regarding your unindexed pages, it could be helpful to review your robots.txt file to ensure you’re not accidentally blocking search engines from crawling important pages. Also, submit an updated sitemap to Google Search Console if you haven’t already.

For the broken images and low health score indicated by Ahrefs, you could benefit from an app like SEOPro, which can run an SEO audit on your Shopify Products and Collections, identifying and helping you to fix these types of issues. It also offers bulk optimization tools, which could save you time in resolving these errors.

Full disclosure: We are the developer of this app.

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  1. There are thousands of pages that are not being indexed by Google, and this has been the case for several months. It’s crucial for my business that these pages are discoverable via search engines.
    Are they actual products, collection and blog pages that you’re referring to here? If not this might not be a huge concern. Shopify themes usually canonicalize well so often you see a lot of ‘noise’ in terms of unnecessary pages that aren’t indexed - and often, they don’t need to be be. Need specific examples and error detail to see if this is likely to be a problem for you.

  2. New pages that I’ve created are not being recognized by Google, despite multiple attempts to have them indexed.
    What attempts have you made? How are you checking they are indexed? What does GSC say when you inspect those specific un-indexed URLs?

  3. When using Ahrefs to analyze my website’s SEO health, I received a score of 1/100, which is extremely concerning.
    It’s mildly concerning. Need to investigate each issue that Ahrefs is using to weight that score, and diagnose appropriately. They may be applying a lot of weight to something that is not actually that bad when you add context. It could be something like a broken image tag to an icon that is technically “broken” on every page, but is really a minor thing and if you fix it won’t do anything for actual SEO performance. Or it could be a major, but worth a quick explore before becoming seriously concerned.

  4. There are multiple error messages related to broken images and 404 errors, among other issues.
    These are usually easy to fix. Find the example pages, find out what pages are pointing at them. Fix the broken links. Or redirect as a hack-fix option.