Creating and managing URL redirects

When you update or remove a URL on your Shopify store, setting up a redirect ensures customers can still find the content they’re looking for.

For example, if you delete a product page, you can create a redirect that sends visitors to a related product instead, preserving both user experience and SEO value.

Table of Contents

  1. Key Considerations Before Creating URL Redirects
  2. How to Create a URL Redirect in Shopify
  3. Understanding Redirects and Subfolder Behavior
  4. Managing and Editing Your URL Redirects

Key Considerations Before Creating URL Redirects

Before setting up any URL redirects in Shopify, keep the following limitations and guidelines in mind:

  • Restricted URL prefixes: You can’t redirect URLs that begin with certain Shopify-reserved paths, including: /apps, /application, /cart, /carts, /orders, /services, and /shop.
  • Fixed system paths: URLs that use default Shopify paths like /products, /collections, or /collections/all cannot be redirected.
  • Only broken URLs can be redirected: Redirects only work if the original URL is broken (e.g., returns a 404 "Page Not Found"). If the URL still loads a valid page, the redirect will not be applied.
  • Redirect limits:
    • Standard stores: Can create up to 100,000 redirects.
    • Shopify Plus stores: Can create up to 20 million redirects.
  • Customer account URLs are excluded: Redirects are not supported for pages in the customer account menu.

How to Create a URL Redirect in Shopify

Shopify allows you to create URL redirects to guide visitors from outdated or broken links to new destinations. Redirects can use either:

  • Relative URLs (e.g., /collections/shirts) — for pages within your store’s domain
  • Full URLs (e.g., https://www.example.com/collections/shirts) — for redirects to external websites

💡 Tip: Use relative URLs when redirecting within your primary domain. URL redirects take effect immediately once saved.

Adding Liquid to URL Redirects

Shopify also supports Liquid variables in both the Redirect from and Redirect to fields. Keep in mind that full validation cannot be performed when using Liquid.

Steps to Create a URL Redirect

  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Content > Menus.
  2. Click View URL Redirects.
  3. Click Create URL Redirect.
  4. In the Redirect from field, enter the old URL (e.g., /old-product).
  5. In the Redirect to field, enter the new destination URL (e.g., /collections/shirts). Use / to redirect to the homepage.
  6. Click Save Redirect.

Troubleshooting URL Redirects

If your redirect isn’t working right away, try these steps:

  • Double-check both URLs for typos.
  • Ensure the Redirect from URL doesn’t point to an active page.
  • Confirm the Redirect from path isn’t a restricted or fixed Shopify path.
  • Clear your browser cache or test the redirect on another device or browser.

Understanding Redirects and Subfolder Behavior

When you create a URL redirect in Shopify, it automatically applies to all language or market-specific subfolders you've set up using Shopify's international sales tools.

Example:

Suppose your primary market is the United States, and your store is located at example.com. You also serve customers in Canada through a subfolder at example.com/en-ca. If you discontinue a product—like a blue t-shirt—you might delete its URL: /products/blue-t-shirt, and then set up a redirect to /collections/t-shirts.

After the redirect is created:

  • U.S. customers who try to access /products/blue-t-shirt will be automatically sent to example.com/collections/t-shirts.
  • Canadian customers accessing example.com/en-ca/products/blue-t-shirt will be redirected to example.com/en-ca/collections/t-shirts.

Custom Redirects for Markets

If needed, you can still set up market-specific redirects manually—for example, redirecting Canadian visitors to a different collection or product page tailored to their region.

Managing and Editing Your URL Redirects

Shopify makes it easy to manage your URL redirects through filters, bulk editing, import/export options, and more. Here's how to organize, edit, and maintain your redirects efficiently:

Filter Redirects by Date

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Content > Menus.
  2. Click URL Redirects.
  3. Click Date added, then select your desired date range from the dropdown.

Save a Redirect Filter

  1. Navigate to Content > Menus > URL Redirects.
  2. Apply a filter (e.g., by date or search term).
  3. Click Save filters.
  4. Name your filter and click Save filters again.

Your saved filter appears as a new tab for quick access.

Delete a Redirect Filter

  1. Go to Content > Menus > URL Redirects.
  2. Select the filter tab you want to delete.
  3. Click Saved > Remove tab > Remove.

Rename a Redirect Filter

  1. From Content > Menus > URL Redirects, choose a saved filter.
  2. Click Saved, edit the tab name, and click Save filters.

Edit Redirects Individually

  1. In Content > Menus > URL Redirects, click the redirect you want to change.
  2. Make your updates.
  3. Click Save redirect.

Edit Multiple Redirects (Bulk Actions)

  1. Go to Content > Menus > URL Redirects.
  2. Select multiple redirects.
  3. Click Edit redirect, make your changes, and click Save.

For more on bulk edits, see Shopify’s Bulk actions guide.

Export URL Redirects

  1. From Content > Menus > URL Redirects, click Export.
  2. Choose which redirects to export and select your preferred CSV format.
  3. Click Export URL redirects.

Import URL Redirects

You can import redirects using a CSV file. Download a sample CSV as a template if needed.

  1. Go to Content > Menus > URL Redirects.
  2. Click Import.
  3. Click Add file and upload your CSV.
  4. Review the data, then click Import redirects.
  5. Click Close once finished.

Delete Redirects

You can delete single or multiple redirects.

  1. Navigate to Content > Menus > URL Redirects.
  2. Select the redirects you want to remove.
  3. Click More actions > Delete selected redirects.
  4. Confirm by clicking Delete.

Conclusion

Shopify makes it easy to manage redirects, which is a key part of Shopify SEO best practices to maintain rankings. For advanced management, check out our Quick Redirects app—it allows bulk importing, custom filters, and URL export. Don’t miss our companion article, How to Rebuild Your URL Structure Post-Migration, for tips on mapping old to new pages and preserving SEO value.

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