Shopify automatically generates a sitemap at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. For many merchants, this is where the sitemap story ends: it exists, it was submitted to Google at some point, and no one has thought about it since.

The problem is that Shopify's default sitemap is a blunt instrument. It includes everything. Product pages, collection pages, pages, and blog posts are all included by default, regardless of whether those pages are valuable, canonical, or worth Google crawling. And conversely, some pages you might want Google to know about are not automatically included, or are included in a way that creates signals you did not intend.

Getting your sitemap right does not directly improve rankings, but it removes friction from Google's crawling and indexation process. For stores with large catalogues, frequent product changes, or ongoing content production, a well-managed sitemap is a meaningful SEO lever.

What Does Shopify's Auto-Generated Sitemap Actually Include?

Shopify's sitemap.xml is a sitemap index: a file that points to several child sitemaps, each covering a different content type.

The default child sitemaps are:

sitemap_products_1.xml: all products
sitemap_collections_1.xml: all collections
sitemap_pages_1.xml: all pages (About, Contact, policies, etc.)
sitemap_blogs_1.xml: all blog posts (if you have a blog)

Each of these is generated automatically and updated when content is added or removed.

What is typically missing:

Faceted navigation URLs (collection pages filtered by colour, size, price): Shopify generates these dynamically but does not include them in the sitemap. This is often correct behaviour, as faceted URLs can create duplicate content, but it is worth being aware of.
Variant-level pages: Shopify does not include individual variant URLs in the sitemap.
Pages set to noindex: Shopify will include pages in the sitemap even if they have a noindex meta tag in some configurations. A page in the sitemap with a noindex tag sends conflicting signals to Google. Audit for this.

How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google and Bing

Google Search Console:

Log in to Google Search Console for your property
Navigate to Sitemaps in the left menu
Enter sitemap.xml in the "Add a new sitemap" field and click Submit
Google will crawl the sitemap index and follow each child sitemap

Shopify's sitemap is at the root domain, so the full URL is https://yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. If you are using a custom domain, use that. Do not submit the myshopify.com version.

Bing Webmaster Tools:

Submit your sitemap via Bing Webmaster Tools at www.bing.com/webmasters. This ensures Bing indexes your store, which feeds into ChatGPT search citations and Grok. The process mirrors Google: add the property, verify ownership, then submit the sitemap URL.

IndexNow:

Bing supports IndexNow, a protocol that notifies search engines immediately when pages are created or updated. On Shopify, the easiest way to implement IndexNow is via a third-party SEO app like Yoast SEO for Shopify or Plug in SEO, both of which support IndexNow pings on product and page updates.

How to Identify Indexation Gaps Using Your Sitemap

The most useful exercise is to compare your sitemap's page count against Google's indexed page count.

Step 1: Check your sitemap's product count. Open yourstore.com/sitemap_products_1.xml in a browser. Count the number of product URLs listed (or view source and count the <url> entries).

Step 2: In Google Search Console, navigate to Pages. Look at the "Indexed" count.

Step 3: Compare. If you have 500 product URLs in your sitemap but only 320 indexed in Search Console, there are 180 products Google has not successfully indexed. Investigate the Pages report's "Not indexed" reasons for specifics.

Common indexation gap causes:

Crawl budget exhaustion: Google has crawled some of your pages but not all, typically on large catalogues with many thin or low-quality pages
Duplicate content: Multiple URLs pointing to effectively identical content (variants, filtered collections, staging URLs that were indexed by mistake)
Noindex tags on pages that should be indexed: A theme update or app may have added noindex tags to pages unintentionally
Canonicalisation issues: A page's canonical tag points elsewhere, telling Google to index a different URL

Excluding Low-Value Pages from Your Sitemap

Not every page deserves to be in your sitemap. Including low-value pages dilutes crawl budget and can signal to Google that your site contains a higher proportion of thin content than it actually does.

Pages typically worth excluding:

Policy pages (Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Refund Policy): These exist for compliance, not for search. They rarely rank, have no unique informational value, and take up crawl budget without contributing to organic traffic.
Tag pages: If your theme creates browsable /collections/all/products?tag= URLs, these are often thin, duplicate pages. Check whether they are being included and consider adding noindex tags to them.
Empty collections: Collections with zero or very few products create thin pages. If you have empty collection pages, either populate them or add noindex tags.
Pagination pages beyond page 2: /collections/all?page=5 has very limited SEO value. Most merchants do not need Google indexing deep pagination pages.

Shopify does not currently provide a native interface for excluding specific pages from the auto-generated sitemap. Your options are:

Add a noindex meta tag to the page (this tells Google not to index it, though the page may still be in the sitemap)
Use a third-party SEO app with sitemap customisation (Yoast SEO for Shopify, Plug in SEO, Schema Plus) to exclude specific page types

Third-Party Apps for Sitemap Customisation

Shopify's native sitemap customisation options are limited. If you need more control, these apps add meaningful functionality:

Yoast SEO for Shopify (from $19/month) is the most comprehensive SEO app for Shopify and includes sitemap customisation as part of a broader SEO toolkit. You can exclude specific pages, collections, and blog posts from the sitemap, and the app handles noindex/canonical management for the pages you want to exclude.

Plug in SEO (free tier available, paid from $29.99/month) includes a sitemap manager that allows exclusion of specific content types and individual pages. It also checks for common sitemap errors automatically.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs, £259/year) is a desktop crawl tool, not a Shopify app, but it is invaluable for auditing your sitemap. You can crawl your sitemap directly to verify all URLs return 200 status codes, check for redirected or 404 URLs listed in the sitemap, and identify noindex conflicts.

Common Sitemap Errors and How to Fix Them

Error	Cause	Fix
URL in sitemap returns 404	Product deleted without redirect	Create a 301 redirect from old URL to nearest replacement
URL in sitemap returns 301 redirect	URL structure changed	Update the sitemap URL or set up a direct link to the canonical destination
Noindex page in sitemap	Conflict between sitemap inclusion and noindex meta tag	Remove from sitemap via an SEO app, or remove the noindex tag if the page should be indexed
Sitemap not accessible	Custom domain SSL issue or wrong URL submitted	Verify the sitemap is accessible at `https://yourstore.com/sitemap.xml`
Sitemap over 50,000 URLs	Very large catalogues exceed the sitemap entry limit	Shopify automatically paginates (sitemap_products_1, sitemap_products_2), but check this is working

Checking Indexation Coverage in Search Console

Beyond the basic count comparison, Search Console's Pages report (formerly Coverage report) gives you granular data on indexation status.

Check these specific segments:

"Crawled, currently not indexed": Google has visited these pages but chosen not to index them. This is usually a quality signal: thin content, near-duplicate of another page, or a page Google does not consider valuable enough to index. Review these URLs and either improve the content or add noindex tags to remove them from your crawl queue entirely.

"Discovered, currently not indexed": Google knows these pages exist (from your sitemap or internal links) but has not yet crawled them. On a new store or after a large batch of new products, this is normal. On an established store, a large "discovered, not indexed" list suggests crawl budget issues.

"Page with redirect": A page in your sitemap that redirects to a different URL. Update the sitemap to point to the final destination URL directly. Redirected URLs in a sitemap waste crawl budget and are a quality signal against your site.

Review the Pages report monthly. Any new categories of issues that appear after a theme update, app install, or bulk product import should be investigated promptly.

Key Actions to Take Now

Open yourstore.com/sitemap.xml and verify it is accessible and lists the expected child sitemaps.
Submit the sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools if this has not been done or has not been done recently.
Compare your sitemap product count to Google's indexed page count. Identify the gap and investigate reasons in the Pages report.
Review your sitemap for policy pages and other low-value content. Add noindex tags or use an SEO app to exclude them.
Run your sitemap URL through Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) to identify any 404s, redirects, or noindex conflicts.
Set up IndexNow via your SEO app to ensure new products and updated pages are flagged to Bing immediately on publication.
Schedule a monthly 10-minute check of the Pages report in Search Console to catch new indexation issues before they compound.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Shopify update the sitemap automatically when I add or remove products? Yes. Shopify regenerates the sitemap automatically whenever products, collections, pages, or blog posts are added, updated, or deleted. You do not need to re-submit to Google after each change; Google will recrawl on its own schedule. For urgent indexation of new pages, use Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool to request indexing manually.

Should I worry about the sitemap for a small store with fewer than 100 products? For very small stores, the sitemap is less critical because Google can discover all pages through normal crawling. However, submitting the sitemap to Search Console is still worthwhile because it gives you the Pages report data, which is useful regardless of store size.

Why does Google Search Console show fewer indexed pages than I have in my sitemap? This is common and has several causes: pages not yet crawled (new content), pages Google judged as low-quality or thin, duplicate content where Google chose a different canonical, or technical issues like noindex tags. The Pages report in Search Console lists the specific reason for each un-indexed URL.

Can I add custom URLs to Shopify's sitemap? Not natively. Shopify's sitemap only includes the standard content types it generates automatically. To add custom URLs (for example, a landing page built with a page builder that generates a non-standard URL structure), you would need a third-party SEO app that can inject additional URLs into a custom sitemap, or submit those URLs individually via the URL Inspection tool in Search Console.

Shopify Sitemap Optimisation: How to Help Google Index Your Most Important Pages