Shopify redirects: 301s without losing rankings

Shopify redirects are permanent (301) redirects you set up in Online Store > Navigation > URL redirects, or import from a CSV for many at once. Add one whenever a URL that people or Google know about stops working: a deleted product, a renamed handle, or every URL from an old platform when you migrate. A redirect sends visitors and most of the old page's ranking signals to the new URL.

This guide covers how Shopify redirects behave, when to add them, and how to handle a migration. It is part of the SEO for Shopify guide, and redirects are one of the technical items in the Shopify SEO checklist.

How Shopify redirects work

• They are 301s. Shopify does not offer temporary (302) redirects in the admin.
• They only fire when the old URL has no page. If a live product still exists at the old address, Shopify shows the product and ignores the redirect. Delete or rename the old item first.
• They match the path. You enter the old path (/products/blue-mug) and the target (/products/blue-mug-350ml or a full URL).
• Handle changes can create them for you. When you edit a URL handle in the Search engine listing section, keep the redirect checkbox ticked and Shopify adds the redirect automatically.

When to add a redirect

• A product is discontinued for good. Redirect it to the replacement product or the collection it belonged to. Do not send everything to the home page; Google treats that much like a missing page.
• You rename a product, collection, page or blog post handle. Keep the checkbox ticked.
• You merge two collections. Redirect the one you remove to the one you keep.
• You fix an old link that other sites point to. Search Console and backlink tools show external links to pages that now return 404; how to check backlinks covers the free ways to find them.

When not to: a product that is temporarily out of stock. Leave it live with a note and a back in stock signup, so the page keeps its rankings.

Adding redirects

One at a time

1. Go to Online Store > Navigation and click URL redirects.
2. Click Create URL redirect.
3. Enter the old path in Redirect from and the new path or URL in Redirect to.
4. Save, then open the old URL in a private window to check it.

Many at once

From the URL redirects page, choose Import and upload a CSV with two columns, Redirect from and Redirect to. You can also export your existing redirects there to review or edit them in bulk.

Migrating to Shopify

Shopify's URLs are fixed (/products/, /collections/, /pages/, /blogs/), so almost every URL changes when you move from WooCommerce, Magento or another platform. The redirects decide whether you keep your traffic.

1. List every old URL that matters. Export URLs from the old sitemap, Search Console's Performance report (pages with clicks or impressions), and a backlink tool (pages with external links).
2. Map each old URL to its closest new one. Product to product, category to collection, article to blog post. Use a spreadsheet with Redirect from and Redirect to columns.
3. Strip the domain from the old paths. Shopify wants /shop/blue-mug, not https://oldstore.com/shop/blue-mug.
4. Import the CSV after the products and collections exist on Shopify.
5. Point the domain to Shopify, then test. Crawl the old URL list and confirm each one returns a 301 to a live page.
6. Submit the new sitemap and watch Search Console for a few weeks. Fix new 404s as they appear in the Pages report. The Shopify sitemap guide covers submitting it.

Old URLs with query strings (/product.php?id=42) may need care. Test a few before importing thousands.

Mistakes that lose traffic

• Redirecting everything to the home page. Google treats irrelevant redirects like missing pages.
• Chains. A redirects to B, which redirects to C. Point A straight at C, and update old redirects when targets move.
• Redirecting to a page that later gets deleted. Review the redirect list when you clean up products.
• Leaving internal links on old URLs. Redirects catch visitors, but your menus, blog posts and product descriptions should link to the new address directly.

Checking redirects

A site audit finds internal links that hit redirects or 404s, and redirect chains. zaDojo's site audit does this for Shopify stores and supports Shopify's crawler access signatures, so a large store can be crawled without being rate-limited. The main Shopify guide shows how to set that up.

Questions people ask

Are Shopify redirects 301 or 302? 301 (permanent).

Why is my Shopify redirect not working? Usually because a page still exists at the old URL. Shopify only redirects URLs that would otherwise return 404. Delete or rename the old item, then test again in a private window.

Is there a limit on Shopify redirects? Stores can hold a very large number of redirects, enough for typical migrations. For very large migrations, a redirect app can help; see Shopify SEO apps. Clean out redirects pointing to pages that no longer exist.