Manage redirects using SEO Manager, Is it worth it?

How to Manage Shopify Redirects #

Before diving into the guide for SEO Manager Shopify app redirects, let's clarify what redirects are and how we can implement them without any app. Learn more about common UX problems in Shopify stores.

Shopify provides the ability to add redirects - you can go to Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects. Here you can add the old URL and the new URL.

You can import redirects using a CSV file. Here is the template for the CSV file that you can download from our website to add all your redirects and upload into Shopify.

Manage Redirects Using SEO Manager #

SEO Manager is a Shopify app that provides various SEO-related features. While it offers many capabilities, we will focus specifically on the redirects feature.

It provides 3 types of redirects:

• Wildcard Redirects
• Out of Stock Redirect
• Broken Links Redirect

Wildcard Redirects in SEO Manager #

Wildcard redirects, also known as pattern redirects, let you automatically redirect multiple URLs that follow a specific pattern to a new location. While standard Shopify redirects require exact URL matches, wildcard redirects are more flexible - they can redirect groups of similar URLs based on patterns you set up.

Shopify doesn't natively support wildcard redirects, so they work a bit differently than regular redirects. When someone tries to visit a URL that doesn't exist in your store, the system checks if there are any wildcard redirect patterns that match. If it finds a match, it automatically sends the visitor to the new destination URL.

Components of a Wildcard Redirect

A wildcard redirect has two main parts, just like regular redirects - the 'redirect from' and 'redirect to' fields.

For the 'redirect from' field, you'll need to include an asterisk (/) in the part of the URL that should match any text. For example, if you want to catch all URLs that start with '/old/', you'd enter /old/.

The 'redirect to' field works similarly to regular redirects. You can either redirect to a path on your site (like /collections/all) or to a full URL on another website.

Common Applications of Wildcard Redirects

Here are some everyday situations where wildcard redirects are more useful than standard redirects:

Handling Deleted Product Pages: When you remove a product from your store, visitors to that product page will see a 404 error. With wildcard redirects, you can automatically send them somewhere helpful instead. For example: Redirect from: /products/* Redirect to: /collections/all This sends visitors to your main collections page.

Managing Broken Links: You can catch all broken links and redirect them to a specific page by creating a wildcard redirect with /* in the 'redirect from' field.

Out of Stock Redirects in SEO Manager #

Out of Stock Redirect The Out of stock redirect feature, included in SEO Manager, allows you to redirect the customer to another page when the product they're looking for is out of stock.

When this feature is enabled, if a product is no longer available (i.e. when all variants are out of stock), the customer will be redirected to the URL that you specify.

Here's how you can enable it for a product:

1. In the SEO Manager app, go to Edit SEO:

2. Access the SEO edit page for the product you wish to edit at Product > select a product to edit SEO:

3. Next to Out of stock redirect, click Enable:

4. Fill out the URL the customer should be redirected to, then click Save:

You must enter a complete URL.

In most cases, it's a good idea to redirect to the collection page that the product belongs to, or a similar item.

When more stock is added to the product, the redirect will stop working and the product page will be shown.

Broken Links Redirect in SEO Manager #

Meet Gracie, the Artificial Intelligence SEO assistant designed to maximize your Shopify capabilities! In order to use this tool, select Broken Links from the homepage:

Once you're there, you'll be able to see information about the current broken links that have been tracked by SEO Manager. Any time a customer hits a 404 page with the app installed, we track that URL and bring it into the app so you can quickly and easily action that broken link.

Managing broken links in bulk

You can select multiple broken links using the radial buttons on the left, or select all by using the top radial button shown below. Once selected, you can accept the suggested URL or delete the broken links from SEO Manager (if you feel like they don't need to be redirected, e.g. a mistyped URL):

SEO Manager also allows you to configure many page redirects at once, via Import. Bulk redirects are added to a CSV (spreadsheet) file and uploaded to our system. SEO Manager will then create redirects for your store.

Here's how you can do it:

1. In the SEO Manager app, go to Broken Links:

2. Click the Import button at the top.

3. In the popup that opens, download the template provided by SEO Manager.

4. The template contains two columns, path, under which you will fill out the path of the broken link, and target, under which you will fill out the path to the new working link. Make sure to save your file after filling out the information.

5. Back to the SEO Manager app, upload the CSV file and click Import.

6. Once your redirects finish processing, they can be found under the Redirects tab.

Managing broken links individually

You can also individually create redirects for each broken link by clicking on the pencil icon to the right of the link. Once clicked, you'll be prompted to add in the new URL.

Broken Link Discovery

Once a broken link has popped up, you can discover the source of the 404. Select the discovery tool on the right-hand side of the desired broken link.

Redirects importance for SEO #

As a conclusion, we would like to add that redirects are important to keep your links healthy and alive.

It has a huge impact on your SEO, but at the same time, you don't need to rely completely on the app and automatically create redirects. You need to understand what you are doing.

First of all, have your SEO health of the website checked using our Shopify SEO Audit and review our SEO checklist before working on the redirects.

Shopify Website Diagnostic #

If you are looking for a Shopify website diagnostic, we can help you with that. Our team of Shopify experts can provide you with a detailed report on your website's performance, SEO, and security. We can also help you with any issues you might be facing and provide you with recommendations on how to improve your website.

Ensuring your store has an effective search bar is also important. Many users prefer to search for products directly. A missing or hard-to-find search bar can lead to missed sales. According to AddSearch's blog, a significant number of users prefer using search bars to find products.

Apps can slow down your Shopify website, make it look disjointed, and negatively impact user experience. They often load at different times and don't integrate seamlessly with the theme, making the site appear like a collection of mismatched parts. According to Shopify's community, using too many apps can affect site performance.

Using a video on your landing page can increase conversion rates by 80%, and testimonials or social proof can also have a significant impact. To fully optimize your landing pages, consider using A/B testing as part of your CRO strategy. This allows you to test different elements and determine what works best for your audience. Learn more about the impact of video on landing pages.

It’s also important to note that many businesses spend much more on acquiring traffic than on converting it. For every $92 spent on customer acquisition, only $1 is spent on conversion optimization. This imbalance can hurt your store’s growth, and focusing on CRO is a cost-effective way to increase conversions without spending more on traffic.

One of the biggest factors that impact conversions is site speed. According to Google's research, the probability of bounce increases by 32% when page load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds.

Many businesses struggle with CRO due to rapid changes in technology. About 25% of companies cite this as their biggest barrier, while others find it hard to understand online customer behavior or identify areas for improvement. This is where conversion rate optimization tools and regular testing become vital. Despite the benefits of CRO, fewer than 0.11% of websites actively use CRO tools like A/B testing. Learn more about technology adoption barriers.

Okay, this is not our favorite part, but we have to do it. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and tedious work to make the website faster because we do a full SEO checkup, check the network requests, check the images, check the scripts, check the fonts, check the CSS, check the HTML, check the server response time... not a very pleasant work, right? According to Google's PageSpeed Insights, server response time impacts SEO.

Landing pages play a critical role in improving conversion rates. Companies that increase their number of landing pages from 10 to 15 see a 55% increase in leads. Additionally, landing pages with a single call-to-action (CTA) can boost conversions by 371%. This highlights how important it is to have a clear and concise message for visitors. Learn more about optimizing landing pages.