Home Page NOT INDEXED in Google (previously was) - need some help please

v157.b
site https://www.cliponearrings.net.au

site resolves as expected, no issues, currently 686 pages are indexed for the site (importantly all products, articles etc.) EXCEPT the home page url (domain) - there are no manual actions or Security issues in Google Search Console - Google returns a 404 page not found

Google suggests either a robots text *noindex is in place OR there is a noindex instruction in the header as the reason for not being able to index the url

If Indexing allowed? is "No", that means your site is returning a "noindex" tag or header that prevents Google from indexing the page and showing it in Google Search results. You'll have to remove this tag or header from the page before Google will index it.

The robots.txt does not have any noindex instruction in it BUT when viewing Page Source it shows this > <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" /> (see below) - this does NOT show on any other page on the site (hence 686 pages are indexed) this may be the culprit but have no idea why that instruction content would be there?

So needless to say I am stumped in respect to how to resolve this - can anyone offer some insight as to where I should look / what the issue is?

thanks in advance,
Mike

this means no backlinks to that domain url are being recognised and the site is not showing in search at all including site: search

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html dir="ltr" lang="en">
  <head>
<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-390611117"></script>
<script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag('js', new Date());
    gtag('config', 'G-390611117');
</script>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Clip on Earrings | Australia | Clip Earrings</title>
  <meta name="keywords" content="earrings,clip on earrings,clip earrings,clip-on earrings,australia" />
  <meta name="description" content="Dazzlers clip on earrings offers the best range of quality clip earrings in Australia for non pierced ears with great prices and great customer service" />
  <meta name="author" content="Clip On Earrings" />
  <meta name="generator" content="shopping cart program by Zen Cart®, https://www.zen-cart.com eCommerce" />
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, user-scalable=yes"/>


  <base href="https://www.cliponearrings.net.au/" />
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.cliponearrings.net.au/" />

robots.txt
User-agent: *
Sitemap: https://www.cliponearrings.net.au/sitemapindex.xml
Disallow:

have you tried with disabled robots.txt?

searching Developers Tool Kit I get this result - the only result;
/home/dazzlers/cliponearrings.net.au/dazzlers/login.php
Line # 70 : <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"/>

deleting that line does not change anything - not that I expected it to but am willing to try anything.

site host could not find anything their end that would create this issue

Thanks for replying - yep, made no difference

Do you have a robots.txt in your main folder?

The robots meta tag is set by this code in \includes\templates\YOUR_TEMPLATE\common\html_header.php

<?php if (defined('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP') && in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",constant('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP'))) || $current_page_base=='down_for_maintenance' || $robotsNoIndex === true) { ?>
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
<?php } ?>

Do you have those lines?

Edit: If you do, what is the content of the ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP define at the bottom of \includes\languages\english\YOUR_TEMPLATE\meta_tags.php

Hello Simon,

many thanks for responding - yes those lines are present - this is the content of the ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP define at the bottom of \includes\languages\english\YOUR_TEMPLATE\meta_tags.php

// Define which pages to tell robots/spiders not to index
// This is generally used for account-management pages or typical SSL pages, and usually doesn't need to be touched.
  define('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP','login,logoff,create_account,account,account_edit,account_history,account_history_info,account_newsletters,account_notifications,account_password,address_book,advanced_search,advanced_search_result,checkout_success,checkout_process,checkout_shipping,checkout_payment,checkout_confirmation,cookie_usage,create_account_success,contact_us,download,download_timeout,customers_authorization,down_for_maintenance,password_forgotten,time_out,unsubscribe,info_shopping_cart,gv_faq,gv_redeem,gv_send,popup_image,popup_image_additional,product_reviews_write,ssl_check,shopping_cart,no_account,order_status');

So I did put the site into 'down for maintenance' a while back when installing a new program update - is it at all within the realms of possibility that when that was turned off afterwards that it for some reason or other did not remove the problematic line from the header??

cheers,
Mike

in Page Source I have noticed a difference between one other 1.5.7b site and this problematic one - it is in the Structred Data script whereby the i.d. (domain name) is missing as well as a couple of other elements (see below).

Clutching at straws as the script is below the <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" /> which the bot would read first then exit - but trying anything at this stage.

There seems to me to be a 'rogue' file corrupting the header - problem is how to isolate it?

treeoflifejewellery.com (v1.5.7b)

<script title="Structured Data: schemaBreadcrumb" type="application/ld+json">
{
       "@context": "http://schema.org",
          "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
"itemListElement": [
      {
      "@type": "ListItem",
   "position": 1,
       "item": {
           "@id": "https://www.treeoflifejewellery.com/",
          "name": "Home"
               }
       }
                    ]
}
</script>

##########_

cliponearrings.net.au

<script title="Structured Data: schemaBreadcrumb" type="application/ld+json">
{
       "@context": "http://schema.org",
          "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
"itemListElement": [

                    ]
}
</script>

Not tooo sure about this but in \includes\modules\pages\index\header_php.php lines 99-104 there is provision for a noindex to be added if certain conditions are met.

Check your settings for

Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Categories - Always Show on Main Page = 0
Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Main Page - Opens with Category = [blank]

as I think an entry for a non-existent category might cause the issue.

simon1066:

Not tooo sure about this but in \includes\modules\pages\index\header_php.php lines 99-104 there is provision for a noindex to be added if certain conditions are met.

Check your settings for

Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Categories - Always Show on Main Page = 0
Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Main Page - Opens with Category = [blank]

as I think an entry for a non-existent category might cause the issue.

Interrogating the home page with browser dev tools gives a 404 - this ties in with the code I referenced in header_php.php, so my uncertainty is looking less certain!

(especially as I have just replicated it in my ZC v1.5.8a install, using Always Show on Main Page = 1 & Opens with Category = 999 )

The page genuinely contains the following tag:

 <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

This is the entire indexing issue and you need to correct it ASAP or your rank will tank.

My guess is that includes/templates/your_template/html_header.php has been changed and broken.

Look for the code

 <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

and examine the block, the entire code for this area should look like

<?php if (defined('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP') && in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",constant('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP'))) || $current_page_base=='down_for_maintenance' || $robotsNoIndex === true) { ?>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
<?php } ?>

~Melanie

simon1066:

Interrogating the home page with browser dev tools gives a 404 - this ties in with the code I referenced in header_php.php, so my uncertainty is looking less certain!

(especially as I have just replicated it in my ZC v1.5.8a install, using Always Show on Main Page = 1 & Opens with Category = 999 )

Simon, you are an absolute Champion !!!! ... as we would say in Australia 'your blood is worth bottling' :) making those two changes did the trick - great pick up;
Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Categories - Always Show on Main Page = 0
Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings > Main Page - Opens with Category = [blank]

my settings previously were 1 and 0 respectively - on my other sites without the issue they are 0 and 0

This must be something specific to 1.5.6 /7 /8 versions?? as I upgraded this site from 1.5.5f to 1.5.7b back in early July and the settings in 1.5.5f were 1 and 0 respectively without any issues.

So the home page has been 404 and non indexed since then (about 10 weeks) - no wonder orders dried up and ranking disappeared and backlinks were non existent!

I am not a developer (pretty obvious) and most zenners are, however it makes me wonder if others have had / are having / or may have in the future the same issue
and not realize it until the damage is done - like I said, in prior versions this was not an issue.

If you have the ear of the likes of DrByte or mc123456789 or any others that are involved in the development team of zen-cart then maybe you could alert them to this potential 'frailty'. I'm not sure if there is a process for reporting this type of thing, if there is maybe give me a heads up on that process and I will do it.

Again, many many thanks - you may have saved the business for which I am grateful.

cheers,
Mike

many thanks Melanie for replying - I had certainly taken a look at that but there was no fix within that area - please take a look at the reply from simon1066 and my response back to him - he solved the issue and I personally think it uncovers a 'potential frailty' in version 1.5.7b and quite possibly all versions after v1.5.5f

again, thank you.
cheers,
Mike

What php version is being seen by your site? Can be found in the admin by selecting the link named version. The php version is expected in the upper part of the window on the left side.

mc12345678:

What php version is being seen by your site? Can be found in the admin by selecting the link named version. The php version is expected in the upper part of the window on the left side.

php 7.1.33