What to Do If Shopify Blocks a Broken Link Scan

Sometimes Shopify stops a Link Manager broken link scan before it can check your pages. This article explains what happens when Shopify blocks a scan, how to fix it with a crawler access signature, and answers common questions.

What happens

AI crawlers now visit online stores far more than they used to. To protect stores, Shopify limits how often automated tools can load pages. When a tool goes over the limit, Shopify answers with a 429 Too Many Requests error instead of the page.

The broken link scan is an automated tool, so the same limit can apply to it. The limit only applies to automated visits. Your customers can still browse your store as usual.

When Shopify blocks a scan, the scan shows fewer pages than your store has. You might see a scan that finished with only one or a few pages scanned, and one of these warnings shows in Link Manager:

Shopify blocked this scan on the scan's results page, when the scan couldn't check any of your pages.
Shopify blocked part of this scan on the scan's results page, when some pages couldn't be checked. The warning tells you how many.
Shopify blocked your site scan on the Home page, when a scan stayed blocked after Link Manager tried it again.

Link Manager also does these things on its own:

It waits and tries again. When Shopify limits a page, the scan waits and loads it again a few times before it gives up on that page.
It runs the scan again later. When a scan couldn't check any page, Link Manager runs it again after 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour. Scheduled scans get one more try 4 hours later. The scan shows as running until a try gets through or the tries run out.
It doesn't report blocked pages as broken. A page that Shopify blocked isn't a broken link, so it isn't in your scan results or your page counts.

How to add a crawler access signature

A crawler access signature is a key you create in your Shopify admin that tells Shopify you allowed Link Manager to scan your store. With a signature, your scans go straight to your store and Shopify lets them through.

Follow the steps in setting up a crawler access signature. It takes about two minutes. Your next scan uses the signature automatically, so run a new scan after you save it.

The warning in Link Manager also tells you the state of your signature:

Add a crawler access signature: you don't have one yet. Set one up with the steps above.
Your crawler access signature has expired: signatures last 90 days. Create a new one in Shopify and paste it into Settings.
Shopify didn't accept your crawler access signature: create a new signature in Shopify and paste both values again. Make sure you pick your primary domain.
This happened even though the scan used your crawler access signature: contact our support team and we'll look into it.

FAQs

What is a 429 error?

429 is the code a website sends when it gets too many requests in a short time. It means "slow down", not "page not found". Link Manager treats it differently from a 404, which is a real broken link.

Does this affect my customers or my search ranking?

No. Shopify limits automated tools. Shoppers can still visit your store, and the limit doesn't change how your pages work.

My scan checked only a few pages, but there's no warning. Why?

There are two other common reasons:

Your store is password-protected. Add your store password in Settings under Store password, or remove the password in your Shopify admin under Online Store > Preferences.
The scan reached your plan's page limit. The scan stops when it has checked as many pages as your plan allows. You can see the limit on the Plans page.

Do I need to do anything if the scan works without a signature?

No. A signature is optional, but it makes scans more reliable, so it's a good idea to add one if a scan was ever blocked.