Google Merchant Center issue: Unable to view store on desktop

[30knees]

Is anybody else also suffering from this unable to view store on desktop issue? https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/12158123?hl=en

I’m using a module to send product URLs to Google Merchant Center (Datakick).

The feed outputs variant URLs such as:

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product?combination=143

When this link is opened, the shop performs a 301 redirect to:

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product#/72-size-large

This means the query parameter ?combination=143 is replaced by a hash fragment. I don't know whether this is the problem or whether it's something else.

[30knees]

A different question:

What URL do you provide to Google, the first (like it is for me) or the second:

The feed outputs variant URLs such as:

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product?combination=143

When this link is opened, the shop performs a 301 redirect to:

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product#/72-size-large

 

[datakick]

Parameters behind # are for client use only. Request to the server never contains those parameters, server never sees them and can't react to them.

When you open urls

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product#/72-size-large

or

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product#/whatever

your server receive the very same request - https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product

It does not know what combination you are requesting. Javascript will later parse the hash parameters, and will modify the product page to display the wanted combination if it's found. This also means that initial page render shows different combination, and only a few milliseconds later the page is 'adjusted'

When you provide ?combination=xxx parameter, server knows upfront what you want to display, and can returns page with combination already selected (if your theme supports this, of course). The page already contains correct pricing information, product name, reference code etc -- this is important for web crawlers.

This means that you need to provide urls with standard query parameters (after ?) to google

[30knees]

Thank you for the explanation. That means the feed is providing the correct URL, i.e. 

https://www.example.com/en/products/84/sample-product?combination=143

However, Google complains (at least, this is what the ad agency is saying) about the redirect that then happens to the URL with the # and is unable to index the page. I get a lot of errors saying that the page is not accessible to Googlebot.

If this behaviour is standard, I don't understand how Google can be having problems because of the redirect from the URL with the ? to the one with the #. This would mean that all thirtybees/Prestashop users are having problems.

Which would mean the ad agency is wrong in thinking that's the reason why Google can't index.

[datakick]

There is no redirect. Javascript code simply changes the url (removing ?combination=xxx and replacing it with # hash parameters), but the page is not actually reloaded. 

[30knees]

I see, thank you. I wonder what then is causing the Google issues of: 1) redirects with a 403 and 2) no desktop page available. These problems are inconsistent amongst all products.

[30knees]

Update: I turned off the datakick Bad Bot module and Varnish. Both shouldn't impact Googlebot but it looks like one of the two measures fixed the problem.