How to Set Up Redirects in Shopify (Without Breaking SEO)

If you migrated to Shopify, redirects are not optional.

Your old URLs are still out there: indexed in Google, linked from other sites, bookmarked by customers, and sitting in email campaigns you'll never update.

The goal is simple: every important old URL should 301 to the best matching new URL.

Here's how to do it in Shopify without accidentally creating a mess.

What you should do (high level)

1. Build a list of your old URLs (usually from your old sitemap + crawl).
2. Map each old path to the correct Shopify path.
3. Add redirects in Shopify (single or bulk).
4. Verify results at scale (don't rely on spot checks).

For a complete walkthrough of steps 1–4, see the Shopify migration SEO checklist.

Where redirects live in Shopify

In your Shopify Admin:

Content → Menus → URL Redirects
(or just search “URL redirects” in the admin search)

That screen is Shopify's built-in redirect manager.

It supports:

• creating individual redirects
• importing redirects in bulk via CSV
• exporting existing redirects

Important: Shopify redirects are path-based

Shopify's redirect tool generally works with paths, not full URLs.

That means you'll enter:

• From: /old-page
• To: /new-page

Not:

• https://example.com/old-page

Also: be consistent about leading slashes.

✅ /collections/beard-oil
❌ collections/beard-oil

Creating a single redirect (quick fixes)

Use this when you're patching a handful of known issues.

1. Go to URL Redirects
2. Click Create URL redirect
3. Set:
   • Redirect from: /old-path
   • Redirect to: /new-path
4. Save

Shopify creates a 301.

Bulk redirects (the right way for real migrations)

If you migrated a store with more than ~50 pages, bulk import is the only sane option.

After importing, validate your Shopify migration to confirm every redirect lands where it should.

Step 1: Create your CSV

Your CSV should have two columns:

• Redirect from
• Redirect to

Example:

Redirect from,Redirect to
/old-product.html,/products/new-product-handle
/old-category,/collections/new-collection-handle
/blog/old-post,/blogs/news/old-post

Step 2: Import it

1. Go to URL Redirects
2. Click Import
3. Upload CSV

Shopify will process it and show any row-level errors.

Common redirect mistakes (that actually hurt you)

1. Redirecting everything to the homepage

This is the classic "make the 404s go away" move.

It also tells Google: "this content doesn't exist anymore."

If a product was deleted, redirect to:

• the closest matching product, or
• the most relevant collection

Not the homepage.

2. Creating redirect chains

Example:

/old → /intermediate → /final

Chains slow down users and confuse crawlers.

Your goal: one hop.

/old → /final

For a deeper look, read how to detect redirect chains during a Shopify migration.

3. Forgetting old system URLs

Older platforms generate ugly URLs like:

• .html product URLs
• /store/p/1234/whatever.html
• ?categoryId=...

These are usually still indexed.

If you don't redirect them, they become long-tail traffic leaks.

4. Redirecting to a URL that itself redirects

Even if Shopify allows it, it's still a chain.

Always redirect to the final destination.

How to verify redirects after you add them

Shopify's UI doesn't tell you whether your redirects actually behave correctly in the real world.

You need to test:

• old URL returns 301
• it resolves to the right new URL
• it lands on 200
• it isn't part of a chain
• it isn't throttled or timing out

You can spot-check a few manually, but for a real migration you need an audit.

This is exactly what Cutover is built for:

• it crawls your old URLs
• follows redirects
• detects chains
• flags missing pages
• and shows you what needs attention (with screenshots if you want)

For a step-by-step walkthrough, see how to verify redirects after a Shopify migration.

A practical workflow that works

If you want a simple system:

1. Export old URLs (sitemap + crawl)
2. Create redirect CSV mapping old → new
3. Import into Shopify
4. Run a redirect audit after launch
5. Fix misses, re-run until clean

That's the difference between "we launched" and "we migrated successfully."

Final thought

Redirects aren't glamorous, but they're where migrations win or lose.

Do them in bulk, keep them one-hop, and verify them at scale.

If you want a quick sanity check, run a migration scan and see exactly which URLs are leaking.