Shopify SEO migration: moving a store without losing search traffic

What changes when you land on Shopify

Shopify fixes the first segment of several URL types. Products sit under /products/, collections under /collections/, pages under /pages/ and articles under /blogs/. You can control the slug that follows but not that prefix. If your old store used something else, every one of those URLs changes, and every change needs a redirect.

A product can also be reached through a collection path, for example /collections/kitchen/products/blue-ceramic-mug. Shopify's themes normally add a canonical tag pointing to the main product URL, but you should check that your theme does. Filter and tag combinations can create more thin addresses, and they are worth reviewing before launch.

None of this is a reason to avoid Shopify. It is a reason to plan the move as an SEO project instead of a design project. For a longer look at the platform itself, read our Shopify SEO page.

The pre-launch plan

1. Crawl and exportCrawl the old store. Export every indexed URL, plus top pages by clicks and impressions from Google Search Console and by revenue from your store reports.
2. Decide what survivesGroup URLs into keep, merge and retire. Out-of-stock products with backlinks are usually redirected to the closest category rather than dropped.
3. Build the redirect mapA sheet with old URL, new URL and reason. Shopify can import redirects from a CSV file, so the sheet doubles as the upload.
4. Carry content acrossProduct titles, descriptions, headings, alt text and meta fields should arrive with the product. Rewrites can come later, after traffic is stable.
5. Recreate technical signalsCanonicals, structured data for products and reviews, hreflang if you sell in several markets, and the XML sitemap Shopify generates.
6. Test on the development storeCrawl the staging build, compare against the map, check 200 and 301 status codes, then remove the password page at launch.

A redirect map, in miniature

Here is what the first rows of a real map look like. The patterns will differ by platform, but the logic is the same.

Avoid redirect chains. If an old URL already redirects somewhere, point it directly at the final address.

Launch week

• Switch the domain at a quiet time and keep the old host reachable long enough for DNS to settle.
• Confirm only one version of the site is primary and the others redirect.
• Remove the storefront password. This is the most common launch-day error.
• Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and check the property covers the final domain.
• Spot check fifty redirects by hand, then crawl the whole old list and check for any that do not return a 301 to a 200.
• Make sure analytics and purchase tracking fire once, using the steps in our GA4 setup guide.

Our broader website migration checklist covers non-store sites in the same level of detail.

What to expect afterward

A temporary dip is normal after any replatform, because Google has to recrawl and reprocess every address. The depth and length of the dip depend on how complete the map was and how much changed besides the URLs. We cannot promise a figure.

Related work, stated plainly

We built the Shopify store for Belvra, a one-product skincare brand, and worked with Blume, a USA skincare brand, on its Shopify ecommerce presence. Neither was a replatform migration, so we are not presenting them as migration results. They are examples of Shopify builds. Blume's case study reports a 35 percent higher conversion rate and 50 percent more traffic over a four-month project; those figures are the client project's, not a forecast for yours.

For a migration quote, use the contact page. You get a fixed quote after a short call.