Broken Shopify 404 Links and How to Fix Them

When site visitors encounter broken 404 links on your Shopify store, they hit a dead end, causing them to instantly leave the site and increasing bounce rates.

Search engines can’t crawl 404 pages either, so their rankings are at risk of disappearing. And if external websites are linking to one of the pages that return a 404 error, you’re losing out on site authority.

In this guide, we’ll explain why 404 pages happen and how to fix broken links on your Shopify store to prevent losing potential customers and protect your SEO.

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What is a broken link on Shopify?

A broken link on a Shopify store is a link that points to a page that no longer exists. If a user clicks the link, they will find a 404 error page that looks like a dead end.

Broken links can appear in your navigation menus, blog posts, or even search engine results if you don’t fix them quickly. Users can also find it on external websites that link to the page, social media, email campaigns, or even user bookmarks.

Why are there broken links on my Shopify website?

If your Shopify store has broken links, it may be because of deleted pages or poorly managed redirects.

Deleted product or collection pages

When you delete collection pages or product pages, internal links to those pages are still present in various places on your website. For example, users may click a link to a deleted product page through a blog post where you added it or find it in search results. Some users may also have bookmarked your page in their browser.

This isn’t just a Shopify store problem. A study by Ahrefs found that the most common reason for links getting lost is that the destination page itself is dropped (47.7%), followed by the link being removed from the referring page (34.2%).

Out-of-stock products

If a certain product is discontinued or goes out of stock and you remove the page without redirecting the link, 404 errors become unavoidable. Make sure to regularly monitor your inventory and create redirects to alternative pages.

Changed URL handles

If you change the URL handle of a page without creating a redirect, it will return a broken link. While auditing Shopify stores for broken links, we’ve noticed that this issue isn’t that common ever since Shopify added an automatic option to create a redirect while editing URL handles.

Draft pages

In cases when you don’t delete a page but unpublish an existing one, you will still get a broken link unless you create a redirect.

Plugin conflicts

In rare cases, multiple Shopify 404 links can result from app conflicts. Try uninstalling an app you recently installed to check whether the issue persists. If you find an app that causes broken links but need to use it, contact their support team for help.

Using custom code

Merchants who use custom code may also find multiple broken Shopify links. If you’ve added the code yourself, restore your store from a backup or create a backup and delete the part of the code you suspect caused the 404 errors.

And if coding isn’t your strong point, we highly recommend consulting a developer.

Theme changes

When you switch to a new Shopify theme, it can introduce broken links if the theme handles URLs differently. It’s important to create a theme backup before applying theme changes. If your new theme contains broken links, fix them before publishing the new version.

External links to outdated URLs

If you add external links to your website, they may also return 404 errors on your Shopify website. That’s because the external website could have changed the URL without creating a redirect or simply deleted the page.

In such cases, all you need to do is remove the external link from your content or find an alternative to link to.

How to find broken links on Shopify?

You can find broken links in Shopify using Google Search Console, free online tools, or a Shopify app that manages broken links.

Method 1: Get a report in Google Search Console

You can use Google Search Console to identify which pages Google has seen but which no longer have a valid link. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Go to Indexing > Pages and check only the Not indexed tab.
3. Now, scroll down the page until you find the Why pages aren’t indexed tab.
4. Click the Not found (404) error.
5. Click on the Export tab and press Download CSV to get the broken page data in bulk.

Keep in mind that this will only work if you’ve already connected the console to your website.

Method 2: Use a free online tool to locate broken links

You can find free online tools or browser extensions to monitor your website for broken links. For online tools, you’ll only need to insert your site link. Here’s how to do it with a browser extension:

1. Install a free browser extension like TinySEO on Chrome.
2. Open the page you want to analyze.
3. Open the extension, click Links > Scan status.
5. Find the URLs that return the 404 code.

Method 3: Use a Shopify link manager

If you’re using Shopify SEO apps, some of them offer regular broken link reports and redirect rules to fix broken links automatically. Check whether any of your apps offer this functionality or consider installing one.

How to fix broken links on Shopify

You can fix broken links on Shopify one by one or you can use a sample CSV template to upload redirects in bulk.

Fix broken links manually

If your website encounters a few broken links, you can easily fix them using Shopify’s features. Here’s how:

1. In Shopify Admin, go to Content > Menus > URL redirects.
2. Click Create URL redirect and add the link to redirect and the destination link.
3. Save the changes.

Fix broken links in bulk

If you have too many broken links to manage them one by one, you can import redirects in bulk by using Shopify’s own CSV template. Here’s how:

1. In Shopify Admin, go to Content > Menus > URL redirects.
2. Click Import and press on the “sample CSV template” hyperlink to download it.
3. Fill in the sample template with “Redirect from” and “Redirect to” links. Save the file.
4. Go back to the Shopify Admin import window. Click Add File and then Upload file.
5. Review the import details and click Import redirects.

Why should I fix broken links on Shopify?

Fixing broken links on your Shopify store is crucial for SEO, sales, and the user experience. According to data by Pew Research, 23% of new web pages have at least one broken link. So, here are the exact reasons why fixing 404 errors are important:

• Lower sales. When users encounter a broken link page, they can instantly leave without making a purchase. If you’d redirect the deleted page to a relevant collection page, users could explore other options and potentially purchase a different product.
• SEO issues. Search engines crawl and index your site, and if links return 404 errors, this may negatively impact your Shopify store’s SEO. You may lose rankings for those pages and link equity pointing to them. 
• Poor user experience. When site visitors have to wait 3+ seconds for the page to load and encounter a broken link, they’ll likely leave instantly. This increases the bounce rates, lowers user trust, and loses you potential customers.
• Broken backlinks. If other sites link to a page that no longer works, you lose out on site authority that they would pass to you. Site authority is one of the aspects that search engines use to judge your site’s trustworthiness, which can impact rankings across your store.

Tips for managing Shopify broken links and redirects

Broken links don’t have to cost your store sales and visitors. Here are a few tips we’d recommend following when managing broken links and redirects:

• Create redirects when deleting pages. Make it a practice to always create a redirect as soon as you decide to delete a page. This prevents overlooked broken links that could cost you customers.
• Avoid creating redirect loops. Redirect loops happen when a URL redirects to another page, which then redirects to the original URL.
• Avoid redirect chains. Redirect chains mean that there’s a sequence of redirects that happen before reaching the destination link.
• Create a custom 404 page. If site visitors encounter a regular 404 page, they will leave a site because it looks like a dead-end. However, if you create a custom 404 page that matches your store’s design and includes links to relevant sections, like the search bar or your top collections, visitors may follow them instead of leaving.

For example, Amazon uses dog pictures and states “We couldn’t find that page,” urging you to use the search bar or go to the homepage.

Final thoughts

Broken links can negatively affect your Shopify store’s sales and user experience. It can also impede your SEO efforts, causing you to lose important ranking positions.

To prevent this, you have to fix broken links by creating a redirect to pages that work. You can do this through the Shopify Admin, by going to Content > Menus > URL redirects. However, make sure you manage broken links correctly and prevent redirect loops or chains.

If you don’t know whether your site has broken links, you can detect them using Search Console, free online tools, or Shopify apps with broken link reports.

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About the author

Kristina Jaruseviciute

Kristina is a Content Lead at TinySEO responsible for informing and educating readers on all things Shopify-related. She covers a broad range of topics around SEO, AI visibility, website performance, and conversion rates to help merchants stand out in a competitive landscape.