How to Create and Manage 301 Redirects with Shopify

Roughly 5,000 monthly searches on Google are for “301 redirect Shopify” according to RankIQ.

Shopify is among the most popular ecommerce platforms with something like 1.75 million active shops using the platform in 2022. Shopify also makes it easy to work with 301 redirects.

301 Redirects

A 301 redirect is HTML code to permanently divert one URL — one page on a website — to another. The “301” refers to the “Moved Permanently” HTTP status code.

These permanent redirects help preserve backlinks — and thus organic search rankings — and direct visitors to the correct page.

Hence 301 redirects are essential for ecommerce stores because they help ensure that shoppers and search engines alike can find the most up-to-date page for any product, blog post, or feature.

As an example, Atlas Resell Management, which sells used dental equipment, recently migrated from a Drupal Commerce store to Shopify. The new site required hundreds of 301 redirects, all of which were managed in Shopify.

Atlas Resell Management migrated from Drupal Commerce to Shopify. The process included hundreds of 301 redirects.

I’ll address in this article the practical task of working with 301 redirects in Shopify. This adds to our coverage on the topic:

• “SEO: Building a 301 Redirect Strategy,”
• “301 Redirects May Save Your SEO,”
• “SEO: Retaining Performance on Site Migrations,”
• “SEO: Catchall Redirects Are a Bad Practice,”
• “Strategies for Discontinued Inventory Pages.”

301 Redirects in Shopify

To create a 301 redirect in Shopify, head to the admin area, click “Online Store” and then “Navigation.”

In the Shopify administration site, URL redirects are in the “Navigation” section.

From there, find the “View URL redirects” link in the upper right corner. When the page opens, the green “Create URL redirect” button is prominent.

The Shopify interface is clear on each step of the 301 redirect creation process.

On the actual 301 redirect page, enter the “from” path (the old page or product URL) and the “to” path (the new page or product). Then click “Save” to create the redirect. I’ll call this the “individual redirect page” in the sections below.

Enter the old URL (“Redirect from”) and the new (“Redirect to”).

Repeat this process for each redirect. But know that Shopify limits redirects that include /apps, /application, /cart, /carts, /orders, /shop, or /services. There are also restrictions on fixed Shopify paths: /products, /collections, /collections/all.

Bulk Upload 301 Redirects

Shopify’s redirect form, while simple, is impractical for a lot of redirects at once. Atlas Resell, above, had hundreds of 301s to create when it migrated from Drupal.

The good news is that Shopify allows for bulk uploads. A company can upload its 301 redirects as a comma-separated values file with two self-explanatory columns:

• Redirect from
• Redirect to

The import link is on the same pages as the aforementioned green “Create URL redirect” bottom.

The import link is initially on the same screen as the green create URL redirect button.

After creating a single 301 URL redirect, the page format changes, and the “Import” link appears on the upper right side of the page, which displays a table of all redirects.

After creating a URL redirect, the import link is shown in the upper right of the page, which shows a table of all of the store’s redirects.

Shopify displays a simple tool in a modal to upload the CSV file, and just like that, a business can upload hundreds of redirects at once.

This modal is how a store administrator can upload a properly formatted CSV file of 301 redirects.

Manage 301 Redirects in Shopify

Having set up 301 redirects for a Shopify store, a store administrator will occasionally need to manage them, such as:

• Find a specific URL redirect,
• Edit a redirect,
• Delete the redirect,
• Export a list of redirects.

To find a specific redirect, search for it on the URL redirect page. Search results are filterable by the creation date — handy for finding old redirects— and can be saved.

Shopify permits the searching and filtering of URL redirects.

To edit a specific 301 redirect, click the URL from the table on the main URL redirect page — this is the individual redirect page described above. Shopify will then open the original redirect form. Make the change and save.

From the same individual redirect page, a simple click will delete the URL redirect. (Shopify helpfully asks for confirmation before it deletes.)

The red-outlined “Delete redirect” button is at the bottom of each individual URL redirect page.

Finally, exporting a list of URL redirects from Shopify is sometimes necessary. The export link is on the main URL redirect page next to the “Import” link described above.

Redirects and Shopify

301 redirects are an important part of managing any website. Shopify makes setting up redirects easy, and the platform’s bulk upload feature is a lifesaver when it comes to larger projects.