How to Recover Traffic from Deleted Products: Shopify’s Built-In 301 Redirects

You’ve taken a seasonal collection off sale, removed sold-out products, or changed a page URL. From your perspective, the product has simply disappeared from your catalog. But the old URL can continue to exist outside your store: it may be saved in customers’ bookmarks, used in advertising campaigns, referenced in external publications, or still appear in Google search results.

When someone follows one of these links, instead of reaching the page they were looking for, they’re met with a 404 Not Found error.

This is more than just a technical issue. If an old page is still receiving traffic from search, advertising, or external links, you could be losing potential customers. Instead of leaving the old URL as a dead end, you can redirect it to a relevant, active page.

And Shopify already has a built-in URL redirects tool for this — you don’t need to install a paid app just to manage basic redirects.

Where to Find Shopify’s Built-In URL Redirect Tool

Shopify keeps URL redirect management within your store’s menu settings. To access it:

1. In Shopify Admin, go to Content → Menus.

2. Click View URL redirects.

3. You’ll see a list of your store’s existing redirects.

From here, you can create individual redirects, edit existing rules, delete redirects, and import large numbers of URLs using a CSV file.

How to Set Up a 301 Redirect in 1 Minute

Let’s say you’ve removed a product:

/products/old-jacket

But the URL has already been indexed by Google and is still being used in an advertising campaign or referenced in external publications.

Instead of sending visitors to a 404 page, you can redirect them to a relevant, active URL.

1. In the URL redirects section, click Create URL redirect.

2. In the Redirect from field, enter the old URL that is no longer available.

   Use only the path relative to your domain:

   /products/old-jacket

   There’s no need to enter the full URL:

   https://yourstore.com/products/old-jacket

3. In the Redirect to field, enter the active page where you want visitors to land.

   For example:

   /collections/jackets

   or the URL of a similar product:

   /products/new-jacket

4. Click Save redirect.

Where Should You Redirect a Discontinued Product?

The main rule is simple: redirect visitors to the most relevant page available.

If the product has been replaced by a newer model, redirect visitors to the new product.

If there’s no direct replacement but a relevant collection is still available, use the collection instead.

For example:

Discontinued product
/products/old-jacket

↓

New model
/products/new-jacket

or:

Relevant collection
/collections/jackets

Avoid automatically redirecting every discontinued product to your homepage. Visitors who clicked an old product link expect to find that product or something closely related — not a completely different page. The closer the destination matches the visitor’s original intent, the more useful the redirect will be.

How to Import Hundreds of Redirects Using a CSV File

If you’ve removed dozens or hundreds of products at once, you don’t have to create every redirect manually.

Shopify allows you to import URL redirects in bulk:

1. Go to Content → Menus → View URL redirects.

2. Click Import.

3. If needed, download the sample CSV template.

4. Fill the file with the URLs you want to redirect.

5. Enter the old path in the Redirect from column.

6. Enter the new URL in the Redirect to column.

7. Save the CSV file.

8. Upload it using Upload file.

This is particularly useful after a major catalog update, store migration, or restructuring of your URL architecture.

4 Common Redirect Mistakes to Check Before Publishing

1. Redirect Loops

Don’t create a redirect chain where pages send visitors back to one another.

For example:

/products/product-a → /products/product-b

and at the same time:

/products/product-b → /products/product-a

The browser won’t be able to reach a final destination and will return a redirect error.

2. Redirecting to a 404 Page

Before saving a redirect, make sure the destination URL actually exists.

There’s no point creating:

/products/old-jacket → /products/new-jacket

if /products/new-jacket has already been removed or is unavailable.

Ideally, the destination should be an active page that closely matches the content and intent of the original URL.

3. Using a Full URL Instead of a Relative Path

In the Redirect from field, you don’t need to enter:

https://yourstore.com/products/old-jacket

Use:

/products/old-jacket

4. Trying to Redirect an Active URL

Shopify URL redirects are designed for redirecting broken URLs. If the old URL still loads an active page, a redirect won’t work as expected.

Always check the status of the old URL first.

Do You Need to Redirect Every Discontinued Product?

No. Not every discontinued product URL necessarily needs a redirect.

If a page is genuinely no longer needed and has no meaningful traffic or external links, its removal does not automatically create an SEO problem.

A redirect is more useful when the old URL:

• receives organic search traffic;

• is used in advertising campaigns;

• has external backlinks;

• has been saved in customers’ bookmarks;

• is referenced on social media or other external publications;

• has a relevant replacement page.

In these cases, a redirect can help preserve valuable traffic and guide visitors to relevant content.

When removing products in bulk, it’s worth checking which old URLs are still receiving visits or have external links before deciding which redirects you actually need.

What If There’s No Replacement for the Discontinued Product?

It depends on what you want visitors to find instead of the old product.

Is there a newer version of the product?
→ Redirect to the new product.

Is the product no longer available, but there’s a relevant collection?
→ Redirect to the collection.

Is there a similar product or category?
→ Use the most relevant available page.

Is there no suitable destination?
→ Don’t create an artificial redirect simply to eliminate the 404.

The goal of a redirect isn’t just to remove an error. It’s to preserve a useful path for the visitor.

Why 301 Redirects Matter When Restructuring Your Store

Removing products and changing URLs are normal parts of running an online store. The problem arises when old URLs continue to be used after those changes.

When a URL that once generated traffic simply disappears, the visitor journey ends there. If there’s a relevant replacement page, a permanent redirect can guide visitors to content that better matches what they were originally looking for.

That’s why, before making major changes to your catalog, it’s worth identifying the URLs that will be removed or changed, mapping them to their new destinations, and preparing the necessary redirects.

The Bottom Line

Shopify already includes a built-in tool for managing URL redirects:

Shopify Admin → Content → Menus → View URL redirects

You can use it to create individual redirects or import them in bulk using a CSV file — without installing a separate app just for basic URL redirect management.

If you’re removing products, restructuring collections, or migrating your store, don’t overlook valuable old URLs. First identify which pages are still receiving traffic or external links, then redirect them to the most relevant active pages.

Removing Products, Restructuring Collections, or Updating Your Store?

IceStoreGroup can provide an express store audit to review your URLs, identify potential breaks in the customer journey, flag problematic pages, and assess your redirect structure.

Message us on Telegram: @icestoregroupshopify — we’ll help you clean up your store structure without unnecessary apps.