Shopify
How to get Shopify product & collection pages indexed
Shopify ships a nested sitemap automatically — the work is getting new products crawled quickly.
https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Shopify automatically generates a sitemap index at /sitemap.xml that links out to per-resource sitemaps for products, collections, blog posts, and pages. You can't edit it, but it stays current as your catalog changes. For stores, the real challenge is speed: new and seasonal products need to be crawled fast, and large catalogs have crawl-budget pressure.
Where your sitemap lives
At yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml — a sitemap index pointing to sitemap_products_1.xml, sitemap_collections_1.xml, and so on. Submit the top-level /sitemap.xml in Google Search Console; Google follows the nested ones.
Shopify-specific gotchas
- Only your primary domain's sitemap should be indexed. If you have multiple domains pointing at the store, set one primary so the others 301 to it.
- Draft or hidden products (and products not in the Online Store sales channel) are excluded from the sitemap — that's intended.
- Shopify supports an editable robots.txt.liquid; if someone customized it, make sure it isn't disallowing collections or products.
- Variant and faceted/filter URLs (?variant=, tag filters) can create near-duplicates — rely on Shopify's canonical tags, which point to the clean product URL.
- Large catalogs: prioritize new and high-margin products for direct submission instead of waiting for Google to crawl deep collection pagination.
Step by step
- Set your primary domain in Settings → Domains so all traffic and indexing consolidate on one host.
- Verify the domain in Google Search Console and submit https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
- Confirm products you want indexed are active and in the Online Store sales channel.
- When you launch new products or collections, push those URLs through the Indexing API so they're crawled in hours, not weeks.
Point IndexerNow at your sitemap, then push new and updated URLs through Google's Indexing API and IndexNow on your own account and quota — no plugin, no code.
Connect your Search Console and indexFrequently asked
Where is the Shopify sitemap?
At yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. It's a sitemap index that links to separate sitemaps for products, collections, blogs, and pages. Shopify generates and updates it automatically; you can't edit it.
Why aren't my Shopify products indexed?
Common causes: the product is a draft or not in the Online Store sales channel (so it's excluded from the sitemap), you have multiple domains splitting signals, or Google just hasn't crawled the new product yet. Make the product active, consolidate to one primary domain, and submit the URL.
Can I edit the Shopify robots.txt?
Yes — Shopify supports a robots.txt.liquid template you can customize. For most stores the default is fine; only edit it if you need to block specific paths, and double-check you haven't blocked products or collections.