eCommerce migration to Shopify:

Ensure Redirects are working 

- Complete guide 2023

You are migrating your old eCommerce website from Magento, BigCommerce, WordPress, etc. to Shopify. In the latest steps, one of the important things is to ensure redirects can work well before your new eCommerce goes live.

Here's why. 

What are redirects?

Redirects send users from one URL to another. The first URL is the one the user clicked, typed in, or requested. The second is the new destination URL. 

Redirections work pretty much the same way for search engines. They send search engines from one particular URL to another. Website owners often set up redirects for broken pages that contain duplicate content or were moved to new URLs. This way, users and search engines access the most relevant or current page.

When you're moving to a new site, remember to implement redirects to maintain search engine rankings and avoid ending up with unhappy users. 

Here’s an example: 

Say you migrated or deleted a page but didn’t put a redirect in place. Users will receive a 404 error response from the server. This is one of the causes of poor user experience.

Typically, 404 pages display an error message. Like this:

To conclude: That’s not good for the user experience. A 404 might cause visitors to leave your site. Proper redirects prevent 404 errors. And that helps users find the pages they’re looking for. 

Our solution

To make sure the old URLs, which are indexed by Google or saved by customers, are still available after migrating the old system to Shopify. The best way is to redirect everything with a 301 redirect.

URL redirects

URL redirects can be used to redirect traffic from one web page to another. When you change a URL on your Shopify store, you can create a URL redirect to ensure your customers can still find what they're looking for.

For example, if you delete a product, then you can set up a URL redirect so that when customers enter the URL for that product, they're redirected to a similar product on your store.

How to create 301 redirects in Shopify - Complete guide 2023

Step 1: You need to export the list of URLs from the current eCommerce site and replace them with the new Shopify URLs

Export these 2 lists of URLs from the current eCommerce site:

  • From google analytics: Export the list of top-ranking URLs from GA4/UA.

  • From the current eCommerce system: The list of URLs from sitemap.xml.

You can find the standard format Excel here: LINK

With those lists, replace the current domain with the Shopify domain in all URLs by using the “Find and Replace” feature in Excel.

E.g. www.variux.com/home → www.variux.myshopify.com/home

*You can check it in the sheet Step 1

The list of top-ranking URLs from GA4/UA.

The list of URLs from sitemap.xml.

Step 2: Test new Shopify URLs with Screaming Frog and filter out 404 URLs

You can use the Screaming Frog SEO Spider for free (and paid) to check for broken links (the HTTP response ‘404 not found error’) on your website.

Detailed instructions can be found here (video). With 2 lists of URLs replaced with Shopify domains, use the "Upload" button to upload each list of Shopify URLs, start the crawl and check.

After testing the Redirect status code, if you find any 404 URLs, export the 404 lists and follow the next step. 

*You can check it in the sheet Step 2

Step 3: Remap incorrect Shopify URLs

List down the correct Shopify URLs to replace 404 Shopify URLs

There are 3 types of URLs you need to focus on:

Type 1 - Product URLs

Check to see what product those 404 URLs are directing to on Shopify, and whether that product is still available for sale when moving to Shopify.

  • If they still exist, check the product URL in Shopify and Magento to see if there is a mapping with each other. If not, fix it with the correct Shopify link.

  • If they don't exist, make a note and filter them out of the Shopify URLs list.

Type 2 - Page URLs

Add /pages/xxx after https://chutingstar.myshopify.com

For example https://chutingstar.myshopify.com/pages/contacts

Type 3 - Blog URLs: 

With the blog site, including blogs/blog-category/blog-name, you need to export blog posts by category, filter blog posts by category, and edit URLs for the correct format. 

We suggest using Matrixify to export them.
*You can check it in the sheets Step 3

Step 4: Import Correct Shopify URL Redirects

Go to Online Store → Navigation → View URL redirects to import the correct URL redirects list

*Download the standard format import file in Sheet Step 4.

Create an import file with data already in sheet 404 URLs. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15xr6RWjpThdz_dnyAhM8qG4HQlZWoPQewbu4dkcWRsw/edit#gid=901711008


Click Import.