Finally, Shopify site owners can edit their robots.txt files

Shopify now allows site owners to edit their robots.txt files, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke announced via Twitter on Friday. For Shopify sites, the robots.txt file can be edited through the robots.txt.liquid theme template.

Why we care

Robots.txt files tell search engines which pages of your site they can access. While this is a basic feature, some SEOs and Shopify merchants have been waiting years to receive this capability. “Robots.txt was our most requested SEO feature and we believe opening up access to edit this file will enable store owners to take control over how their content is crawled,” Jackson Lo, SEO lead, growth at Shopify, told Search Engine Land. Now, Shopify store owners can edit their robots.txt files to disallow certain URLs from being crawled, add extra sitemap URLs, block crawlers and so on.

More about Shopify SEO

Many businesses have turned to Shopify to get their digital storefronts up and running, especially as the pandemic forced local businesses to find alternative ways to generate revenue. If you’re considering building your e-commerce site with Shopify, please read our article “Shopify tradeoffs: What to consider before selecting your next e-commerce platform,” and if you’re already a Shopify site owner, check out the following resources:

• Shopify SEO Guide: How to increase organic traffic to your store
• Google unveils its Shopping Graph, an expanded Shopify integration and more shopping features at I/O
• Replay: The ins and outs of Shopify SEO

About The Author

George Nguyen

George Nguyen is an editor for Search Engine Land, covering organic search, podcasting and e-commerce. His background is in journalism and content marketing. Prior to entering the industry, he worked as a radio personality, writer, podcast host and public school teacher.