Sitemaps and indexing Manage sitemaps and indexing with Claude Cowork
Managing sitemaps and indexing with Claude Cowork means handing Anthropic's delegated-work agent a review of which Shopify resources StoreSEO has excluded from the sitemap or set to noindex or nofollow, getting one summary back, and approving any flag change or HTML sitemap setup in the conversation.
Last updated: October 2026
Set up Claude Cowork for StoreSEO
Skip this if Claude Cowork is already connected. The full guide, with the alternatives, is on the Claude Cowork page.
- 1
Add StoreSEO as a custom connector
In Cowork, open Customize, then Connectors, choose + Add and then Add custom connector. If you already added StoreSEO to your Claude account, look for it in that list first. Use this URL.
URLhttps://mcp.storeseo.com/mcp
- 2
Approve your store and check it
Sign in when the browser opens: pick your Shopify store and approve access. Then start a task and ask this first, so you know the connector works before you delegate real work.
PromptUse StoreSEO to show me my store's SEO score breakdown.
How does this work in Claude Cowork?
In Cowork you describe the task rather than steer it call by call. A good one reads go through my products, collections, pages and blog posts, list everything that is noindex, nofollow or excluded from the sitemap, and tell me which look unintended. Cowork opens a StoreSEO session with storeseo_start and then calls storeseo_list_resource_sitemaps once per resource type, paging as needed, because the tool lists one type at a time. You come back to a single report grouped by resource type, with the flags per resource and a short note on each flag that looks out of place, such as a live collection set to noindex.
Fixes come after that report. You pick the resources and Cowork asks for your yes before each storeseo_update_resource_sitemap call, naming the resource and the flag, since noindex takes a page out of search results. The tool changes one resource per call, so a long list becomes a series of calls, each followed by a re-list so the final numbers match the store. For the HTML sitemap, Cowork reads the current settings, generates the page, lists your menus with their edit links and leaves the menu step to you in Shopify admin.
Because Cowork can run scheduled tasks, the useful recurring version of this job is a check, not a fix. A weekly task can list noindex and excluded resources and tell you what changed since last time, which catches a flag set by accident in the StoreSEO app or by a teammate. Nobody is in the conversation when a scheduled run executes, so the schedule has to be report-only.
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You: Review my store for pages that are noindex or out of the sitemap and give me one report.
- storeseo_start read-only
- storeseo_list_resource_sitemaps read-only
- storeseo_list_resource_sitemaps read-only
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Claude Cowork: Products: two noindex, both drafts. Collections: Autumn Edit is noindex and excluded, which looks unintended. Should I turn both flags off for Autumn Edit?
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You: Yes, Autumn Edit only.
- storeseo_update_resource_sitemap needs approval
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Claude Cowork: Done. Autumn Edit is back in the sitemap with noindex off, and I re-listed collections to confirm.
What to ask Claude Cowork
Use StoreSEO to list every product, collection, page and article that is noindex, nofollow or excluded from the sitemap, and group them by type with a note on any that look unintended.
Every Monday, use StoreSEO to list resources with noindex set and tell me which are new since last week. Do not change, generate or delete anything.
Work through the noindex pages I approve below, one at a time, asking me before each change, and give me a final list of the current flags.
- Which of my products are set to noindex or excluded from the sitemap?
- Exclude the product Gift Card Test from the sitemap and set it to noindex.
- Set up an HTML sitemap for my store and tell me which menu to add it to.
- Are any of my blog posts set to nofollow?
- Remove noindex from the page About Us.
What StoreSEO does: sitemaps and indexing
StoreSEO controls two things here: per-resource sitemap flags (left out of the XML sitemap, noindex, nofollow) and an HTML sitemap page. The agent lists flags, changes them one resource at a time and walks you through the HTML sitemap setup.
- 1
List the flags
The agent lists products, collections, pages or articles with their sitemap, noindex and nofollow flags, filtered as you ask.
- 2
Change one resource
After your yes it sets the flags on one resource, which writes the matching Shopify metafields.
- 3
Re-read before reporting
Flags can also change in the StoreSEO app, so the agent re-lists before telling you the current state.
- 4
Create the HTML sitemap
It reads the HTML sitemap settings, then generates and enables the page.
- 5
Add it to a menu
It lists your navigation menus with their edit links; you add the sitemap link to a menu in Shopify admin, then the agent marks setup complete.
Sitemaps and indexing reference
| Flags per resource | Excluded from sitemap, noindex, nofollow |
|---|---|
| Resource types | Products, collections, pages and articles |
| Where flags live | Shopify metafields on the resource |
| HTML sitemap steps | Generate and enable, add the link to a menu yourself, mark complete |
| HTML sitemap settings | Replaced wholesale on update; read first |
| Menus | Listed with edit links; the menu you choose is not stored |
| Plan | Every active plan |
Rules Claude Cowork follows
- A noindex flag removes a page from search results, so the agent names the resource and waits for your yes.
- The agent re-lists flags in the same turn before telling you their current state.
- Adding the sitemap link to a menu is a step you do in Shopify admin; no tool does it.
- HTML sitemap settings are read before every update, because an update replaces them.
In Claude Cowork
A scheduled Cowork task runs without you in the conversation, so nobody can say yes to a noindex change. Keep the scheduled version to storeseo_list_resource_sitemaps and the other reads, and write in the task prompt that it must not call storeseo_update_resource_sitemap or storeseo_update_html_sitemap. Apply fixes from an interactive Cowork task instead, where you can approve each one. StoreSEO also needs to be added under Customize, Connectors inside Cowork, and on Team and Enterprise an owner adds it first.
What runs without asking. Reads such as SEO scores, store listings, settings and Google reports run straight away. Generating a preview spends AI credit but writes nothing, and StoreSEO tells the agent to say what a generation will cost before it runs one. Applying content, optimizing images, changing settings, publishing llms.txt or agents.md, writing a product description and deleting anything wait for your yes in the conversation. That yes is an instruction the agent follows, not a lock on the server, so your client's own tool-approval setting is the hard stop.
Questions
Can a scheduled Cowork task fix noindex flags by itself?
It should not be set up that way. A scheduled run has nobody to give the yes StoreSEO tells the agent to wait for, so use a scheduled task to list and report flags and make the changes in a task you are present for.
Why does Cowork list resources more than once in a sitemap review?
storeseo_list_resource_sitemaps lists one resource type at a time, covering products, collections, pages or articles. A store-wide review therefore needs one call per type, plus more calls when a type has several pages of results.
What is the difference between excluding a page from the sitemap and noindex?
Excluding a resource leaves it out of your XML sitemap, so crawlers are not pointed at it. Noindex tells search engines not to show the page in results even if they find it. StoreSEO sets each flag separately per resource.
Can the agent add the HTML sitemap to my menu?
No. The agent generates the HTML sitemap and lists your menus with their edit links, and you add the sitemap link to a menu in Shopify admin. Then the agent can mark setup complete.
Do sitemap tools need a paid plan?
No. The sitemap tools work on every active StoreSEO plan.
Why does the agent check the flags again before answering?
Sitemap flags can also be changed in the StoreSEO app outside the conversation, so an earlier listing may be stale. Re-reading in the same turn keeps the answer accurate.
Keep going
Sitemaps and indexing with other agents
More Claude Cowork guides