If you are an online seller or work with an online retail business, it is very possible that you are using Shopify. Shopify is a convenient platform to make your eCommerce business run online.
However, as we explore in our top SEO tips for scan the guidelines , and you are responsible for staying on top of your online store's search visibility.
In this guide, we'll take a look at an important element of Shopify website SEO: where to shop.
We'll explain the differences between HTML and XML Shopify SiteMaps, how to create or find a shopping sitemap, and how to submit your sitemap to Google.
We'll also explore how a website audit tool can help you maintain your site and catch any mistakes.
What are Shopping XML and HTML SiteMaps?
Shopify SiteMap is a guide for your shopping website. Without a sitemap, Google is just as good at finding sites around your department store without a store directory.
There are two types of sitemaps:
XML SiteMaps: Search engines use these to navigate your website. HTML Sitemaps: You will upload these for users, but Google loves to see them too.
Let's explore each type further.
What is a shopify XML sitemap?
Your XML sitemap is the most important to your SEO. It stores a list of all important pages for Google to find and crawl. Google also uses XML SiteMap to understand your website structure.
XML sitemaps written in Extensible Markup Language and C on iss is a text file that holds all URLs. It can also include additional information (called metadata) about specific pages, such as when they were last updated, their level of importance, and whether they exist in other languages.
This bonus information is especially useful to search engines as it immediately allows them to learn about any changes.
let's see
This example from Sitemaps.org :

As you can see in Figure 123, this sitemap includes:
main URL (
information about when the file was last modified ( ) information about how often the page is updated ( ) information how important this page is within the site ( ) details in other languages ( ) this is important o note while having a strong site Maps, does not guarantee Google's attention. However, including one can increase the likelihood that search engines will crawl and index your pages and the higher chances that they will show up in the SERPS.
What about HTML SiteMaps?
HTML sitemaps are more for the benefit of site users than search engines. HTML SiteMaps help users find what they want quickly, which can lead to faster and faster sales.
Doesn't mean they aren't important for SEO. google tells us
"Provides a sitemap file that links to important pages on your website" and "a page (sometimes called a site index or sitemap page) that provides a human-readable list of links to those pages."
Google wants website owners to use both
An HTML site might look something like this:
Typically, a link to an HTML SiteMap can be found in the header or footer of an online store, giving users easy access to:

Are Shopify SiteMaps important?
Maps are important for website navigation and SEO.
Without an HTML sitemap, your customers are pretty much lost in your online store and less likely to find the products they are looking for. Without an XML sitemap, Google will have a hard time crawling the URLs on your site to find the information it needs to rank you in SERPS.
XML SiteMaps are especially important for large sites. Google T can take a long time to crawl a large website, a sitemap will speed up the process. New sites, sites with orphaned pages, and sites with lots of images or videos can also benefit from XML locations.
If your internal links are not large, Google can use SiteMap as a guideline for crawling the site instead of relying on your links.
Since XML locations are more important to SEO, we'll shift our focus here. view our
Benefits of HTML Sitemaps
Learn more about how HTML SiteMaps can benefit your SEO and your users.
How to Create a Sitemap When Shopping We've created a sitemap and why it's important for your website. Let's take a look at how to create an XML sitemap for the ShopIfy Store. The great thing about creating a shopping XML sitemap is that you don't have to do any heavy lifting. If you have a Shopify website, Shopify will automatically generate a sitemap for you. Your file will contain the following links: Product Product Image Page Collection Blog Post
Files are also automatically updated when you add new content, such as web pages, new products, collections, images or blog posts.
However, your sitemap will be different based on your Shopify account type:
In a basic account, your store's main domain will serve up a sitemap file, discoverable by search engines. As with any other account, Shopify offers an additional international domains feature that lets you create country-specific domains. If you use this feature, all your functional power comes with a sitemap, available for search engines.
If you have a Shopify website, congratulations – you already have a sitemap too!
How to Find Your Shopify SiteMap
Finding your shopping site map is easy. All you have to do is type your URL into the browser search bar and add /sitemap.xml at the end. Your sitemap will open up. Here's our guy:
You might be wondering if you can change and customize the shopping XML sitemap. The short answer is no: you cannot edit your sitemap or upload your own sitemap directly through the platform.
There is a workaround. Shopify allows you to block certain pages from being crawled if you don't want Google to see them. You just need to unload in your robots.txt file. Let's break it down for you:
Open your Shopify Admin. Go to the online store and choose a theme. Select a topic to edit. Go to Actions, and Edit Code. Click on the theme.Liquid layout file and make your changes below
. The changes you want to make will depend on what you want to exclude. To exclude search templates use this code:
{% if template contains "search" %}
{%ENDIF%}
b. To exclude a specific page, use this code (just make sure to replace "replace" with "page handle - you wish to exclude" with your actual page handle!):
{% if hands contains 'page handle – you – WANT-to-ourtude' %}
{% ENDIF %} Click Save. That's all there is to it! You've customized your Shopify XML SiteMap to stop Google from crawling every page. How to Submit a Sitemap to Google Search Console
In order for Google to find, crawl and index your sitemap, you first have to submit it.
Submitting your sitemap requires two main steps: verifying your site, and then submitting your site to Google Search Console. How to Verify Your Site Using the Google Search Console Submitting a Shopify Sitemap to Google, you will first verify the owner of your shopping site: Navigate to the Google Search Console. Go to the left sidebar and click Add Property. When the Select Attribute Type dialog box appears, enter Domain into URL Prefix. Click Continue. Select the HTML tag in the Verify Ownership section and copy it to the clipboard:Then go to your Shopify admin, click on Marketplace, then Themes:Select the topic to edit, then click Actions and Edit Code:
Now you need to paste your meta tags to the topics you publish in the near future or current topics. Go to layout and select {/} theme.liquid: Once there, you'll see your XML data: 
turn up
mark, and insert a newline directly next to it. Paste the meta tags (copied in step 5) into this new line:

Go back to the Google Search console and click Verify.
You are done! You should get this verification confirmed, and then you can start using our next step: Submitting your Shopify SiteMAP to Google Search Console.
H3: How to submit Shopify SiteMap to Google Search Console
Go to Google Search Console Go to the left sidebar and navigate to SiteMaps:

Find Add a new sitemap and enter SiteMap.xml into the text field:
Click Submit. That's it! Google can now directly access your Spotify SiteMap.xml file. Keep in mind that if you're using international domains, you'll have to do this a few times for each domain.
Important note: If your website is password protected (i.e. you haven't made it accessible to it, website readers like Google cannot access this if he made it public.
Shopify has this covered
.
Basically, if you're not ready to go public with your site, you can always disable your password to give Google access, then re-enable it later after you're working on the site.
How does the SEMRUSH website audit tool help?
Once your place is all set, how do you manage to stay in it? Making sure your key pages are organized is critical for good eCommerce SEO - sometimes it can be stressful to keep it to the max, especially when you're running a site with so many product pages like this . Fortunately, Semrush is here to help. There are six specific XML sitemap issues that you can use in your case and clean up your site using our site audit tool . Checks for the existence of your SiteMap.xml, looks for formatting errors, finds any incorrect pages, and outlines the readability of your sitemap.
After setting up your project, navigate the project dashboard and click on the Site Audit option.
Pay attention to your theme report. Here is the topic report of concern:
[No.
Krabb Sex HTTPS Internal Links
1. This section helps you ensure that every page of your website is accessible to Google's search engine robots. Making sure there is no uh is really important here, it's easy to find out. Just click on the blue part of the page on the map to see the relevant URL:
You can see your unique data PageViews, crawl depth and number of issues for a specific URL to see where you can screw:
Once you find these problems, you can start fixing them.
2. HTTPS implementation
In the HTTPS Implementation section, you'll find more information about your sitemap. Just look at the site architecture:
If you've recently changed from HTTP to HTTPS on your site, check that all links in your sitemap have also changed.
. Fortunately, you have website audit tools that can help you spot all these problems. Find and fix sitemap errors 
Use a website audit tool
Try for free→
Try for free→ 

3. Internal Links In Internal Links you will find more information about internal links. If there are any errors, we can point you to the location of the error occu rs in your sitemap, so you can fix it: The tool will also show you the sitemap problem in more detail: Orphaned pages are especially a problem because they are unrelated Yes, that means you can't pass them through any other page on your site. Even if they are listed in your sitemap, search engines may not index them. If the tool tells you this is something to look at, it's definitely a good idea to add more internal links. Time to benefit from your Shopify SiteMap As we've discussed, keeping your Shopify SiteMap on top is great for your SEO - and with website auditing tools, it's super easy. Go ahead and give it a shot - you'll stand out anyway without knowing it!
