Crawling and indexing
Shopify builds the sitemap, canonical tags and robots.txt for you, so the first check is that your theme, apps and settings don't work against them.
Submit the sitemap
Shopify generates sitemap.xml at the root of your domain, with your products, collections, pages and blog posts, and updates it on its own. Submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Leave robots.txt alone unless you need to
Shopify's default robots.txt is set up for SEO. You can change it with a robots.txt.liquid template, but Shopify warns that a mistake can cost you all your traffic.
Check private mode is off
While a store is in private mode, every page is hidden from visitors and search engines. Check it is off after launch.
Read the Pages report
In Search Console, check which pages are indexed, which are not and why. Every product and collection you sell should be indexed.
Duplicate product URLs
Shopify can show the same product at /products/name and inside a collection at /collections/name/products/name, so link to the first address everywhere and let the canonical tag do the rest.
Find the collection links
Shopify's own docs say a product page inside a collection has the same content as the product page, on a separate URL. A theme builds those links with Liquid's within filter, for example in its product cards.
Link to the canonical address
Change the theme's product cards to link to /products/name. Google says to link to the canonical URL rather than a duplicate.
Keep the canonical tag
Shopify adds canonical tags on its own, and Theme Store themes must include one. Check that your theme and apps haven't removed or changed it.
Filtered collection pages
Filters and sorting can turn one collection into many near-identical URLs, and Google advises stopping the crawl of those URLs if you don't need them in search.
Check what's already blocked
Shopify's default robots.txt keeps some filtered collection pages from being crawled, such as tag combinations matched by the rule Disallow: /collections/*+*.
Block the rest in robots.txt
Google's advice for faceted navigation is to disallow the filter URLs you don't need indexed in robots.txt. Test any change before it goes live.
Make real pages for filters people search
If shoppers search for black running shoes, give that filter its own collection with its own title, intro and URL, instead of a filter URL.
Structured data that matches the page
Shopify themes can output Product and Article structured data with Liquid's structured_data filter, and Google's rule is that markup must describe what the page actually shows.
One Product block per product page
The structured_data filter outputs a Product, or a ProductGroup when the product has variants, with brand, price, currency and availability. If an app adds a second block, merge the two into one.
Match the visible page
Google's guidelines say not to mark up content readers can't see. The price, availability and reviews in the markup should be the ones on the page.
The fields merchant listings need
For products shoppers can buy on the page, Google requires a name, an image and an offer.
Don't count on FAQ rich results
Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on May 7, 2026. Answer shoppers' questions on the page because it helps them, not for a Google feature.
Test before and after each change
Run product, collection and article pages through Google's Rich Results Test and fix every error.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
Google rates a page's Core Web Vitals as good when its main content loads within 2.5 seconds, it responds to input within 200 milliseconds and its layout shifts by 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of visits.
Measure real visits
Core Web Vitals are scored on how pages perform for real visitors, not in a lab test. Interaction to Next Paint replaced First Input Delay as one of them on March 12, 2024.
Count your app scripts
Every app that loads code on every page adds work for the browser. Remove apps you don't use, and load the rest only on the pages that need them.
Size images for the screen
Serve images at the size they display, with width and height set, so the page doesn't jump while they load.
Treat theme scores as a start
Theme Store themes must average at least 60 for performance and 90 for accessibility in Lighthouse when Shopify reviews them. The apps and content you add change those scores.
301 redirects for every changed URL
Every URL you change or delete needs a 301 redirect to its closest new page, and Google recommends keeping redirects for at least one year.
Use Shopify's URL redirects
Add redirects in the admin under Content, then Menus, then URL redirects, one at a time or by importing a CSV file. A store can have up to 100,000 redirects, or 20,000,000 on Plus.
Redirect only broken URLs
Shopify applies a redirect only when the old URL no longer loads a page. If it still loads, delete or rename that page first.
Send each URL to its closest match
Google warns against redirecting many old URLs to one unrelated page, such as the home page. Send each to the product, collection or article that replaced it.
Avoid chains
Point old URLs straight at their final address. Google suggests no more than 3 hops in a chain.
Know the fixed paths
Shopify doesn't let you redirect its fixed paths, such as /products and /collections.
Collection and product content
Collection and product pages match what shoppers type: a category, a product type or a problem to solve. Give each page one search to answer, and write for it.
One search per page
Map your keywords to collections and products, so two pages never compete for the same search.
Titles and meta descriptions
Shopify takes up to 70 characters in a page title and suggests keeping it to 60, and it recommends about 160 characters for a meta description. Google may rewrite either one.
Alt text on images
Shopify lets you set alt text for product images, collection images and blog post images. Describe what each image shows.
Your own words
Write product descriptions yourself instead of copying the manufacturer's, and answer what shoppers ask about size, materials and delivery.
Collection intros
A short intro above the products and a buying guide below them help the page answer the search behind it.
Internal links
Internal links show search engines which pages matter, so every product should link to its collection, every collection should be reachable from the menu, and guides should link to the products they mention.
Link to canonical URLs
Google says that linking consistently to your canonical URLs helps it understand which address you prefer.
Breadcrumbs
Show the path from the home page to the collection to the product, as links.
Related products and collections
Link sideways to related items, so shoppers and crawlers find more of the catalog.
No orphan pages
Link every product and collection you sell from at least one other page.
AI search signals
Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, so the same SEO work counts, while ChatGPT and Perplexity find pages with their own crawlers, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
Let AI search crawlers in
OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot. Both are separate from crawlers that collect training data, such as GPTBot.
Check Shopify's AI channels
Shopify's agentic storefronts let shoppers find and buy your products in AI channels such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta. They are on by default for eligible stores, so check them in your admin.
One description everywhere
Use the same name, description and facts about your brand on your site, in your markup and on every profile and listing.
Structured data that matches the page
Google lists structured data that matches the visible text among its best practices for AI features.
Treat llms.txt as optional
llms.txt is a proposal for a plain-text file that helps AI agents use a site. Google says these files aren't needed for Google Search and don't change rankings.
