Search engines discover most websites by following links, so a new store will usually be found eventually. Submitting your site yourself speeds that up, tells search engines exactly which pages exist, and, most importantly, gives you free tools that show how your store performs in search.
Before you start
- Your store is live: on Shopify, the online store password is removed.
- Your own domain is connected and set as primary (how to connect it).
- You know where your sitemap is. On Shopify it's always
yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
Google Search Console
- Go to Google Search Console and sign in with a Google account.
- Add a property. A Domain property covers every version of your site (www, non-www, http, https) and is verified with a DNS TXT record at your domain provider. A URL prefix property can also be verified with an HTML tag.
- Once verified, open Sitemaps and submit
sitemap.xml. - Use URL inspection on your home page and key collections and request indexing.
On Shopify, you can add the HTML verification tag in theme.liquid, but DNS verification avoids touching the theme and survives theme changes.
Bing Webmaster Tools
- Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Choose Import from Google Search Console if you've already set that up. It copies sites and sitemaps in a few clicks.
- Or add your site manually, verify it and submit the sitemap.
Bing's index also feeds other search services and some AI assistants, so it's worth the few minutes.
What to watch after submitting
| Report | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Performance | Searches you appear for, impressions, clicks, positions |
| Page indexing | Which pages are indexed and why others aren't |
| Sitemaps | Whether the sitemap was read and how many URLs it found |
| Core Web Vitals | Speed and stability for real visitors |
| Shopping / Merchant listings | Product structured data issues |
Common problems
- "Discovered – currently not indexed": Google knows the page but hasn't crawled it yet. Improve internal links and content quality, then wait.
- "Duplicate, Google chose different canonical": normal for Shopify product URLs inside collections; the main product URL is the canonical.
- "Excluded by noindex tag": check whether an app or theme setting added it.
- Sitemap "Couldn't fetch": usually temporary; check the store isn't password-protected.
Next steps: our Shopify SEO checklist and SEO guide.
Frequently asked questions
How long until my site appears in Google?
Often a few days to a few weeks for a new site. Submitting a sitemap and getting a few links from other sites helps search engines find it sooner.
Do I have to pay to be listed in Google?
No. Organic listing is free. Paid placements are ads, which are separate.
Why is my page not indexed?
Common reasons are a password-protected store, a noindex tag, a page Google considers a duplicate, thin content, or simply that Google hasn't crawled it yet. Search Console's page indexing report shows the reason.
Author
Uğur KeskinFounder @ShopiuzmanFounder of Shopiuzman. He builds, migrates and grows Shopify stores for brands in Türkiye, Europe and the US, and leads the development of our apps on the Shopify App Store.
