Shopify robots.txt example: Managing your Shopify store’s robots.txt file is crucial for SEO success. This guide will provide a detailed Shopify robots.txt example to help you optimize your site’s crawl efficiency and content visibility.

What is Robots.txt?

Robots.txt is a file located at the root of your site that tells search engines which parts of your site they can crawl and index. Managing this file correctly can prevent search engines from accessing duplicate content or sections of your site that are not relevant to the public.

How to Edit Robots.txt on Shopify

To begin editing your Shopify robots.txt, follow these steps:

1. Open your Shopify Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Online Store > Themes.
3. In the Live theme section, click Actions > Edit code.
4. Click “Add a new template,” then select robots.txt under “Create a new template for.”
5. Click “Create template.” This will open a new robots.txt.liquid file where you can make your changes.

Customizing Your Shopify Robots.txt

Here’s a Shopify robots.txt example for adding new rules to an existing group:

liquidCopy{% for group in robots.default_groups %}
  {{- group.user_agent }}

  {%- for rule in group.rules -%}
    {{ rule }}
  {%- endfor -%}

  {%- if group.user_agent.value == '*' -%}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/all*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/vendors*?*q=*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/types*?*q=*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*?*constraint*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*/*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*?*filter*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*?*pf_*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*?*view*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/*?*grid_list*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /collections/?page=*' }}
    {{ 'Disallow: /blogs/*/tagged/*' }}
  {%- endif -%}

  {%- if group.sitemap != blank -%}
    {{ group.sitemap }}
  {%- endif -%}
{% endfor %}

This Shopify robots.txt example blocks certain query parameters and pages that you typically wouldn’t want search engines to waste crawl budget on, such as filtered collection pages and pagination.

Why Customize Robots.txt?

Customizing your Shopify store’s robots.txt can significantly impact your site’s SEO by:

• Managing crawl budget more effectively.
• Preventing search engines from indexing duplicate or thin content.
• Enhancing the visibility of your main content in search engine results.

Understanding and customizing the robots.txt for your Shopify store is essential for maintaining an effective SEO strategy. This Shopify robots.txt example should help you get started with optimizing your site for better search engine visibility.

If you need Shopify SEO help or other digital marketing services, feel free to contact us. We’re here to help you optimize your Shopify store for the best possible performance in search engines.