How to Create URL Redirects in Shopify

A Shopify URL redirect sends a request for an old path to a path that exists. Shopify issues that as a permanent redirect. The shopper, and usually Google, ends on the destination instead of the 404 template.

In Shopify Admin

1. Go to Online Store, then Navigation.
2. Open URL redirects.
3. Choose Create URL redirect.
4. In Redirect from, enter the old path only, such as /products/winter-jaket. Do not paste the full domain.
5. In Redirect to, enter a live path, such as /products/winter-jacket, or pick a product or collection if the form offers it.
6. Save.

Request the old URL on the storefront. You should land on the new page, not on the 404 template. If you still see a 404, the from-path does not match what the browser requested, including a locale prefix or an extra folder.

From a 404 you have already seen

If 404Guard has the path, open it and choose Create redirect. Suggested destinations are ranked with a match score against your current products, collections, pages, and articles. Search destination if the suggestion is wrong. Type a path if you already know it. Details are in Create a redirect.

Rules that prevent a mess

• Redirect to the closest live page, not the homepage. A homepage redirect saves the click and throws away the reason the person came.
• Do not chain three hops if you can point at the final URL. 404Guard warns when the destination already redirects and offers Use final destination.
• Do not point A at B and B at A. 404Guard blocks that loop. Shopify will not make it a good experience if you build it by hand either.
• After the redirect exists, fix internal links that still publish the old path. The redirect covers bookmarks and search. The menu should be correct on its own.

Redirects stay in Shopify if you later uninstall 404Guard. Delete them in Navigation when you no longer want them. See Shopify 301 redirects explained for what the status code means.