How to fix 404 errors on Shopify
A 404 on Shopify means a shopper landed on a URL that no longer exists — a deleted product, a renamed collection, or an old link from a previous platform. Every 404 is a lost sale and lost SEO equity. Here's how to fix them on Shopify, both manually and automatically.
Why 404 errors happen on Shopify
- A product or collection was deleted or set to draft, but old links (Google, emails, other sites) still point to it.
- A product or collection handle (URL slug) was changed. Shopify usually auto-creates a redirect for handle changes, but not for deletions.
- You migrated to Shopify from another platform and the old URL structure (e.g. /catalog/, .html) no longer exists.
- An app or theme change altered URLs, or an external site linked to a typo'd URL.
How to fix 404 errors on Shopify, step by step
- 1
Open URL Redirects in your Shopify admin
Go to Online Store → Navigation, then click 'View URL Redirects'. This is Shopify's built-in redirect manager.
- 2
Create a redirect
Click 'Create URL redirect'. In 'Redirect from', enter the old broken path (e.g. /products/old-handle). In 'Redirect to', enter the live page it should go to (e.g. /collections/replacement). Save.
- 3
Bulk-import many redirects with a CSV
For a migration with dozens or hundreds of broken URLs, use the 'Import' button on the URL Redirects page and upload a CSV with 'Redirect from' and 'Redirect to' columns. A redirect map generator can build this file for you.
- 4
Test each redirect
Visit the old URL in an incognito window and confirm it 301-redirects to the correct live page. Shopify redirects are 301 (permanent), which passes SEO ranking to the new URL.
Automatically rescue every 404 on Shopify
Manually finding every broken URL is the hard part — you only see 404s you happen to notice. Redirect Mapper installs a small snippet on your Shopify 404 template that detects 404s in real time, matches the broken URL to the closest live product or collection from your sitemap, and redirects the shopper automatically. You get a log of every 404 and its match, which you can export as a CSV to build permanent Shopify redirects.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — when you change a product or collection handle in the admin, Shopify usually offers to create an automatic URL redirect from the old handle to the new one. But it does not create redirects when you delete a product, unpublish it, or migrate from another platform, so those still need to be handled manually or automatically.