Shopify Redirects Guide

Redirects are an essential part of managing a dynamic website, especially an online shop. Whether you're reorganising your product offerings, migrating from another platform, or simply updating URLs, setting up redirects ensures a smooth customer experience and preserves your site's SEO performance. In this guide, we'll dive deep into the topic of redirects, why they matter, and how you can efficiently manage them on Shopify.

What Are Redirects?

A redirect is a method of sending users and search engines from one URL to another. This is commonly done when the original URL no longer exists or has been replaced.

There are several types of redirects, with the most common being:

• 301 Redirects: These are permanent redirects that indicate the original URL has moved permanently to a new location. This type of redirect transfers the SEO value from the old URL to the new one.
• 302 Redirects: These are temporary redirects used when a URL is moved temporarily and will eventually revert to the original.

When you, or a Google bot visits a website, the website's server sends a message to your browser to let it know whether it can load the page or not. These messages are called status codes,and they are hidden in the code of the website and let the browser know if the page loaded successfully, if there's an error, or if the page has moved.

In Shopify, 301 redirects are the ones that are used by default, because they permanently redirect traffic from one page to another, ensuring customers and search engines can find the updated content.

Why Are Redirects Important?

Redirects play a crucial role in maintaining a seamless user experience and preserving your website's search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts. Here’s why they matter:

1. Preserving SEO Value: When a page URL changes, any SEO rankings associated with the old URL could be lost. Setting up a redirect ensures that the "link juice" (or SEO value) transfers to the new URL, helping maintain your rankings.
2. Improving User Experience: Redirects prevent visitors from encountering 404 error pages. Instead, they are seamlessly directed to the relevant page, which minimises bounce rates and enhances the shopping experience.
3. Ensuring Link Continuity: Redirects help ensure that any external links pointing to the old URL continue functioning and direct users to the right page, preserving valuable referral traffic.

We've seen redirects overlooked time and time again by merchants, leading to SEO issues. My advice is: it's not as complicated as it looks - keep an eye on Search Console to identify errors, and make sure you're redirecting any 404 pages each month.

James Lane, CEO at Radiant

When Do You Need to Set Up Redirects on Shopify?

There are several situations where setting up redirects in Shopify becomes necessary. Let’s explore the most common scenarios:

1. Removing Products or Collections

When you remove products or collections from your Shopify store, visitors may still attempt to visit these pages via direct links, bookmarks, or search engine results. Without redirects, they will encounter a 404 error page. Setting up redirects ensures visitors are sent to a relevant alternative page, such as a related product or collection.

2. Migrating from Another Platform

Migrating to Shopify from another e-commerce platform usually results in different URL structures. For example, a product URL on your previous platform may look entirely different from how Shopify generates URLs.

Setting up redirects from your old URLs to the new ones will ensure that any inbound traffic from old links is not lost and continues to flow seamlessly to your new Shopify store. This is an extremely important area of migration, as if not done right, redirects may cause significant loss to traffic and revenue.

3. Updating URL Structures or Product Names

As your business evolves, you may need to update your URL structures or product names to better reflect your offerings. For example, changing "best-winter-coat" to "top-winter-jacket" would require a redirect to ensure that any old links continue to work. Without a redirect, both customers and search engines could lose track of the updated content.

How to Create Redirects in Shopify

Shopify makes it easy to create URL redirects through its built-in tools. There are two primary methods for setting up redirects in Shopify.

Method 1: Using Shopify’s URL Redirects Tool

Shopify has a simple tool that allows you to create individual URL redirects directly from the admin dashboard.

1. Go to the Shopify Admin: Log in to your Shopify admin panel.
2. Navigate to "Online Store": In the left-hand menu, click on "Online Store," and then select "Navigation."
3. Select "URL Redirects": On the "Navigation" page, click on "URL Redirects."
4. Create a New Redirect: Click "Create URL Redirect" at the top right of the page.
5. Enter the Old and New URLs: In the "Redirect from" field, enter the old URL path (e.g., /old-product). In the "Redirect to" field, enter the new URL (e.g., /new-product).
6. Save: Click "Save" to create the redirect.

Method 2: How to Automatically Create Redirects in Shopify When Editing Products or Collections

In addition to using the URL Redirects tool and manual code, Shopify offers a default method for setting up redirects directly when editing products or collections. This is one of the simplest and most convenient ways to manage redirects when making updates to your store’s content.

Shopify makes it easy to set up a redirect automatically when you're editing the URL handle of a product or collection. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to Your Product or Collection: In your Shopify admin, navigate to the product or collection you want to edit.
2. Scroll to the "Search Engine Listing Preview" Section: On the product or collection editing page, scroll down to the "Search engine listing preview" section. Here, you'll see the current URL for the product or collection.
3. Edit the URL and Handle: Click the "Edit website SEO" link in this section. You can now update the URL handle to reflect the new name or structure.
4. Check the Redirect Option: After changing the URL handle, Shopify will automatically show a checkbox that says, “Create a URL redirect.” By leaving this box checked, Shopify will set up a redirect from the old URL to the new one automatically. This ensures that any links pointing to the old URL will still work.
5. Save Changes: Click “Save” to apply the changes. Shopify will now redirect users from the old URL to the new one without you needing to set up a manual redirect.

Example:

Suppose you change a product's URL from /winter-coat to /best-winter-jacket. In that case, Shopify will automatically redirect anyone who tries to visit the old URL /winter-coat to the new URL /best-winter-jacket, as long as you leave the "Create a URL redirect" box checked.

This method is the quickest and easiest way to manage redirects when you're simply updating a product or collection's URL and don't need to handle complex redirect scenarios.

Method 3: Manual Redirect Setup via Liquid Code (Advanced)

For more complex redirects or situations where bulk changes aren't possible through the admin panel, you can implement custom redirects using Shopify's Liquid code. This method is more advanced and requires familiarity with Shopify’s theme files and coding. We don't recommend using this method unless you are confident that this is the best way for you to set up a redirect.

1. Access Theme Editor: Go to "Online Store" > "Themes" > "Actions" > "Edit Code."
2. Find the Theme.liquid File: In the theme editor, locate the theme.liquid file under the "Layout" section.
3. Insert Redirect Code: You can add custom redirect logic using Liquid. For example, you can use the following snippet:

liquid

Copy code

{% if request.path == "/old-product" %}

? <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=/new-product" />

{% endif %}

1. Save Changes: Save the changes, and the redirect will be applied when users visit the old URL.

How to Create Bulk Redirects in Shopify

If you have a large number of URLs to redirect, creating them one by one can be time-consuming. In such cases, you can use Shopify apps or external tools to create bulk redirects efficiently.

Method 1: Shopify Admin CSV Upload

Shopify allows you to upload a CSV file with bulk redirects, streamlining the process for larger migrations or updates.

1. Prepare a CSV File: Create a CSV file with two columns – "Redirect from" and "Redirect to." Each row should represent a different redirect.

Example:

Redirect from

Redirect to

/old-product-1

/new-product-1

/old-collection

/new-collection

1. Go to the Redirects Section: In your Shopify admin, navigate to "Online Store" > "Navigation" > "URL Redirects."
2. Upload CSV: Click on "Import" and upload the CSV file with your redirects.
3. Confirm and Apply: Shopify will process the CSV file and automatically create the redirects.

Method 2: Using Shopify Apps for Bulk Redirects

If you have more complex requirements or need additional features, Shopify apps can simplify the process of creating bulk redirects. These apps usually allow you to do the following:

• Automate the creation of large numbers of redirects.
• Import redirect lists from CSV files.
• Manage and edit existing redirects in bulk.
• Set-up redirect patterns and groups.

Conclusion

Shopify redirects are essential for maintaining your store's SEO value, ensuring a smooth user experience, and keeping traffic flowing to the right places. Whether you're removing outdated products, migrating from another platform, or restructuring your URLs, redirects help keep everything connected.

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create individual or bulk redirects on Shopify with ease. Don’t let broken links or 404 errors impact your store’s performance—take control with effective redirects!