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Indexed though blocked by robots.txt

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Hello, 

It's been a while since I've been facing this issue and there seems to be no solution. I've submitted a sitemap of my website to Google Search Console which was successful, but every time I request Google to index my website, it always ends up with a warning "Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt" meaning the site isn't indexed by Google. (My site is https://mastercarsreview.com/)

Did anyone face such problem? How did you fix it?

Thank you so much in advance. I really need help in this. (I've sent several emails to both squarespace and google, nothing changed)

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  • Solution

This is completely normal, and you can ignore the message. Your site has been indexed by Google.

Squarespace use a robots.txt file to ask Google not to crawl certain pages because they’re for internal use only or display duplicate content. For example, you would not want them to index the /config/ url that you use to administer your website.

For more detailed information see Understanding Google SEO emails and console errors.

About me: I've been a SQSP User for 18 yrs. I was invited to join the Circle when it launched in 2016. I have been a Circle Leader since 2017. I don't work for Squarespace. I value honesty, transparency, diversity and good design ♥.
Work: I founded and run SF.DIGITAL, building Squarespace Extensions to supercharge your commerce website. 
Content: Views and opinions are my own. Links in my posts may refer to SF.DIGITAL products or may be affiliate links.
Forum advice is free. You can thank me by clicking one of the feedback emojis below. Coffee is optional.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just leave them because that’s not going to hurt your site in any way. In this case, what new GSC is reporting is what’s happening with your site and giving you some information to improve your site. They are blocked by the robots.txt file and the Google bot respects robots.txt and does not crawl those pages but they will be indexed in a scenario when those URLs could be linked to from other pages on your site. In this situation Google will index if they are linked to from external url source as well. Better to click the "Fix Coverage issues".

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  • 11 months later...
  • 2 years later...
42 minutes ago, EQLIFESUE said:

What if it is a page you want indexed, as it is a sales page

Hi Sue. I appreciate this can be confusing but it is working correctly. You don't want this link indexed.

This is because the link you've quoted (the one that ends with /sunshirts/sunshirts?tag=Sunshirt) is a link to the products tagged "Sunshirt" on the sunshirt page.

Squarespace asks Google not to crawl this URL because the same content will be indexed on the sunshirts page (but without the tag) at https://www.equestrianlifestyle.ca/sunshirts. If it were indexed a second time it would be considered duplicate content, and this doesn't help SEO.

I hope this makes sense.

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Edited by paul2009

About me: I've been a SQSP User for 18 yrs. I was invited to join the Circle when it launched in 2016. I have been a Circle Leader since 2017. I don't work for Squarespace. I value honesty, transparency, diversity and good design ♥.
Work: I founded and run SF.DIGITAL, building Squarespace Extensions to supercharge your commerce website. 
Content: Views and opinions are my own. Links in my posts may refer to SF.DIGITAL products or may be affiliate links.
Forum advice is free. You can thank me by clicking one of the feedback emojis below. Coffee is optional.

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