So you’ve recently launched a new Shopify store, and you couldn’t be more excited. Finally, you can start making a living by selling products online.
Fantasizing about how you’ll spend the money from your first sales, you do a Google search for your store.
You can’t wait to see how your Shopify store will look in official search engine results. The page loads, and to your disappointment, your store is nowhere to be found.
That’s when you start to panic. “Why is my Shopify store not showing up on Google?”
There are a few reasons why your store isn’t showing up on search engines. One of the most common is that your store is too new and has yet to be indexed. Other reasons include that you’re still on the free trial or that you haven’t used any SEO strategy.
If you’re worried about why your store isn’t showing up on Google, don’t panic. The good news is that you’re in the perfect place. In this post, we’ll cover common reasons why your store isn’t appearing in search results. We’ll also provide fixes for each of these problems.
Your Site Hasn’t Been Indexed Yet
If you launched your Shopify store hours ago, then it’s too early for search engines to notice it. Search engines such as Google work by performing regular index scans for new pages. Yet, this process can take some time for more recent pages.
If you suspect that Google has yet to index your page, then there is a way to find out for sure. Here’s how to find out:
- In the Google search field, type in site:yourshopifystoreURL.com. Don’t type that exactly, but replace the middle with your Shopify store URL.
- If pages from your store show up in the search results, then you know that Google is indexing your site.
That’s the sure-fire way to know for sure if Google notices your store. If your store is indexed but isn’t showing up on the first results page, you have a different problem.
Conversely, if you run the test and find that Google hasn’t indexed your page, that’s why it hasn’t been showing up. Wait a few days and then rerun the test search. Once your page is officially indexed, try searching for your store again. If you show up on Google, then you’re good to go. If not, then you need to try some other solutions.
If you want to speed up the indexing process, there is a way to do so. Simply submit your sitemap to the Google Search Console. From there, the staff at Google will immediately index your page to start showing up in results.
Your Online Store Has a Password
If you have a password set up to access your online store, you won’t appear in search engines. The reason is pretty straightforward; it’s for privacy. If you only want a select few to shop from your store, then a password is helpful.
However, if you don’t want to use a password for your store, but it is anyway, you’ll need to remove it. Here’s how:
- From the Shopify admin page, go to Online Store > Preferences
- In the Password Page section, make sure that Enable Password Page is unchecked
- Hit Save to enable your changes
Once your password gets removed, try Googling your Shopify store again. If the password was your only issue, then you should see your store on the results pages.
You’re Still on the Free Trial
Shopify has a fantastic 14-day free trial that anyone can use. During that trial period, you can create a fully functional online store. The only catch is that your store will not show up on search engines until the free trial is over.
So if you notice that your page is absent from Google, check to make sure that you’re not still on the free trial. To solve this issue, simply sign up for a Shopify membership plan. We recommend going with the Shopify Basic Plan at $29 per month.
You Haven’t Properly Migrated an Existing Store
That could be the culprit if you created your store on another platform and then migrated it to Shopify. To show up on Google for your Shopify store, you’ll need to get rid of all the old redirects. Once you do that, your store will begin to show up on search results pages.
Your SEO Strategy is Poor or Nonexistent
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s how you rise in Google rankings. Search engines such as Google use complicated algorithms to rank search results.
SEO techniques involve manipulating those algorithms in your favor. To do so, you can use:
- Data-driven keyword research. A keyword is what users enter into Google’s search bar. An example would be ‘affordable guitars.’ If you sell guitars on Shopify, you can try to rank for that keyword. That means interjecting it organically into your sales copy. Don’t limit yourself to a few; write out a long list of relevant keywords. From there, select the ones that you have a chance of being able to rank high.
- Optimized metadata. Lots of newbies to SEO neglect their metadata. Instead, they only place their targeted keywords in their content. That’s a huge mistake, as Google will look at your metadata first. It would be best if you sprinkled your target keywords into your URL, meta descriptions, and title tags.
- Regular blog posts. Blogging will do a lot to increase your ranking potential. Google loves blogs that are informative and have lots of authoritative links. A pro tip is to pepper in external links to other top-rated pages on Google. That will make you appear more authoritative in the eyes of the algorithm.
Why Is My Shopify Store Not Showing Up On Google? ( quick video )
Closing Thoughts
There you have some of the answers to, “Why is my Shopify store not showing up on Google?” Your store is either too new, password-protected, on the free trial, or has a poor SEO strategy. Now that you know why you aren’t showing up in the results, it’s time to focus on fixing your issues.
For more great content to help you develop your Shopify strategies, check out the rest of the merchant posts on the site. If you want to see a list of our top recommended Shopify apps visit this link here.
