How to Find and Repair Broken Internal Links on Shopify?

Fix broken internal links on Shopify with SC Easy Redirects to improve navigation, boost conversions, and keep customers flowing through your site.

3 minutes, 55 seconds

How to Find and Repair Broken Internal Links on Shopify? image

Internal links are the roads that lead customers from your blog posts to your product pages. When these roads are broken, your conversion rate drops, and search engines get lost.

Whether you are a wholesaler with deep product catalogs or a brand with a busy blog, keeping your internal linking structure clean is vital. This post shows you how to find these hidden dead ends and fix them instantly.

Quick Answer

You fix broken internal links on Shopify by identifying URLs within your own content (menus, descriptions, blogs) that point to deleted pages and update them or create a 301 redirect. The most efficient way is using an automated redirect manager like SC Easy Redirects to catch these errors in real-time. This repairs your site navigation, improves user experience, and keeps customers in your sales funnel.

What is a Broken Internal Link?

Unlike an external link from another site, an internal link is a hyperlink on your own website that points to another page on your same domain which no longer works.

Who Needs to Audit Internal Links?

Content Heavy Brands: Stores with 50+ blog posts or extensive How-To guides.
Wholesale Portals: Sites with complex navigation menus and dealer resource pages.
Inventory-Dynamic Stores: Brands that frequently rotate products in and out of stock.

Why Repairing Internal Links Matters for Shopify Stores

Higher Conversion Rates: Ensures customers can actually reach the checkout.
Better User Experience: Prevents the frustration of clicking a Buy Now button that leads to an error.
Increased Time on Site: Keeps users clicking through related products and articles.
SEO Siloing: Helps Google understand the relationship between your pages.
Reduced Support Tickets: Fewer customers complaining that the link doesn't work.

How to Set Up an Internal Link Audit

Step 1: Scan Your Site Navigation

Check your main menu, footer, and sidebar. These are the most clicked internal links. If you’ve renamed a collection recently, these links are often the first to break.

Step 2: Install an Error Tracker

Install SC Easy Redirects. The app’s Automatic 404 tracking will flag every time a user clicks a broken link inside your descriptions or blog posts, giving you a hit list of what to fix.

Step 3: Apply Live Redirects

For links that you can't easily edit (like those buried in thousands of old blog posts), use Live Redirects. This tells Shopify to instantly send any traffic from the old internal URL to the new relevant page without you having to manually edit every single post.

Step 4: Use Patterns for Recurring Errors

If you changed a URL structure (e.g., from /products/old-name to /products/new-name), set up a Redirect Pattern. This automatically catches any internal link following the old format and repairs it.

Step 5: Test the Buyer Flow

Act as a customer. Click through your Related Products and Featured Collections. Ensure the Statistics and Analysis in your redirect manager show that users are being successfully diverted away from 404 pages.

Easy Redirects Examples and Use Cases

The Massive Migration Fix

Business: The Mower Shop
Problem: Migrated 15,000 pages to Shopify. Manually updating internal links across 15k pages was impossible.
Solution: Implemented SC Easy Redirects to manage the massive volume of URL changes.
Result: Process became "super simple," and they avoided losing customers during the transition.

The Long-Term Store Maintenance

Business: Hardlotionstore
Problem: After 6 years on Shopify, hundreds of internal links in old blog posts were pointing to discontinued products.
Solution: Used the app to set up permanent 301s for all retired items.
Result: Maintained a clean site for over half a decade, ensuring old content still drives sales.

Best Practices for Link Management

Fix the Most Hit 404s first using your app's statistics.
Always redirect broken product links to the most similar current product.
Update your main navigation menu directly rather than relying on a redirect.
Use descriptive anchor text (e.g., View Wholesale Pricing) instead of Click Here.
Audit your Thank You and Order Confirmation emails for broken links.
Use a 7-day free trial of a pro tool to clean up your site history quickly.

Summary

Broken internal links are silent sales killers. By auditing your menus and using automated redirects, you can turn dead ends back into high-traffic pathways.

If you want help setting this up, you can try SC Easy Redirects.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

+ Does Shopify automatically redirect when I change a product handle?

Shopify offers to create a redirect when you change a URL, but it doesn't track 404s from deleted pages or help you manage bulk changes effectively.

+ How do I find which internal links are broken?

The easiest way is using the 404 Tracker in SC Easy Redirects, which logs every time someone hits a dead link on your site.

+ What happens if I change a URL and don't redirect it?

Anyone who clicks an old link will see a 404 error, and Google will eventually remove that page from its search results, costing you traffic.

+ Will automated redirects slow down my site?

No, high-quality apps like SC Easy Redirects are built to handle redirects efficiently without impacting your store's loading speed.

+ Can I fix broken links in my bulk product descriptions?

Yes. Instead of editing every product description, you can simply set a redirect in the app for the broken URL, and it will work everywhere that link appears.