How to Fix Shopify 404 Errors Before and After BFCM 2026

Quick answer

To fix 404 errors on Shopify around BFCM, find every broken URL, then create a 301 redirect from each one to the closest relevant live page. SC Easy Redirects automates this: its AI matches each 404 to the best product, collection, page or blog post and creates the 301 redirect, and you can approve strong matches in bulk. Expired Black Friday pages, sold-out products and changed URLs can all be redirected far faster than matching each one by hand. For BFCM, SC Easy Redirects is 30% off for 3 months.

Introduction

Black Friday is November 27, 2026, and Cyber Monday is November 30. Between now and then, most Shopify stores will launch new landing pages, rename collections, retire old offers and sell out of bestsellers. Each of those changes can leave behind a broken link.

A broken link sends shoppers and search engines to a 404 page, which costs you sales during your busiest weeks and weakens your SEO afterwards. The fix is a 301 redirect, but creating them one by one is slow, especially when you are busy with a sale.

This guide explains where BFCM 404 errors come from, how to fix them manually or with an app, and how SC Easy Redirects uses AI to do the matching for you. It ends with a BFCM offer to get the app at a lower price.

What is a 404 error on Shopify, and why does it hurt SEO?

A 404 error is the message a website returns when a URL does not lead to any page. On Shopify, it appears when a product is deleted, a collection or page is renamed or removed, or someone clicks a link that has a typo or points to an old address.

A 301 redirect is the standard fix. It is a permanent redirect that sends visitors and search engines from the old URL to a new, relevant one.

Leaving 404s unfixed causes three problems:

• Lost sales: a shopper who clicks a sale link, an ad or an old email and lands on a dead page often leaves.
• Wasted SEO value: links from other sites and past search rankings pointing to the old URL stop helping you.
• Lower crawl efficiency: search engines spend time on dead pages instead of the pages you want them to index.

These problems are bigger during BFCM, when you are paying for traffic and every click counts.

Where do BFCM 404 errors come from?

Most BFCM 404s come from five everyday sale tasks:

1. Expired sale pages. You create a landing page or collection for "Black Friday 2026" and delete it afterwards. Old ads, emails and social posts still link to it.
2. Sold-out or discontinued products. Bestsellers sell out and you delete or archive the product page.
3. Renamed collections and changed handles. A new collection name or URL handle changes the address that old links point to.
4. Store restructures. You merge collections, move pages or rebuild navigation before the sale.
5. Campaign and ad links. A paused promotion or an old ad points to a page that no longer exists.

The common thread is that the old URL keeps getting clicks after the page is gone. A redirect turns each of those clicks back into a visit to a live page.

Manual redirects vs SC Easy Redirects: which should you use?

You can create redirects by hand in Shopify under Online Store > Navigation > View URL Redirects, and that works well if you only have a handful of broken links. An app saves time when you have dozens or hundreds, or when you need to react quickly during a sale.

How does SC Easy Redirects fix 404 errors automatically?

SC Easy Redirects detects broken URLs in your store and uses AI to choose the right destination for each one. When products are deleted or URLs change, it analyzes your whole store and recommends the best-matching product, collection, page or blog post for every broken URL.

Here are the features that matter most during BFCM:

• AI Redirects: AI recommendations for each 404, drawn from every page in your store, so you do not have to hunt for the right destination.
• Confidence threshold and Auto Approval: set a confidence level to approve strong matches automatically, and review the rest. You can also approve confident recommendations in bulk after a migration or big catalog change.
• Easy 404 Fix: send 404 errors to one page you choose, such as your BFCM landing page or a main collection, as a quick safety net.
• Automatic 404 detection and email alerts: the app finds broken pages for you and emails you when new 404 errors appear, so you can fix them before the next wave of traffic.
• CSV import and wildcard rules: import 301 and URL redirects in bulk, or redirect whole paths with wildcards, for example when you retire an entire sale collection.
• Live page and subdomain redirects: redirect active store pages and subdomain URLs for sales, campaigns and restructures. Use this to send an old sale URL to your current offer.
• Grouping, filtering and statistics: group and filter your redirects and review statistics so you can see what is working.

How to set up your BFCM redirects step by step

Follow this plan to cover both the weeks before the sale and the cleanup afterwards.

Before Black Friday (now to November 26)

1. Install SC Easy Redirects and let it detect existing 404 errors in your store.
2. Turn on email alerts so you hear about new broken URLs as they appear.
3. Review the AI recommendations. Set a confidence threshold, auto-approve the strong matches and check the rest by hand.
4. Add an Easy 404 Fix safety net that sends any remaining 404s to your BFCM landing page or main collection.
5. Test a few old URLs in your browser to confirm they land on the right page.

After Cyber Monday (December 1 onwards)

1. Redirect expired sale pages. Use a wildcard rule or a CSV import to send retired sale URLs to a relevant live page, or to your evergreen sale page.
2. Redirect sold-out and discontinued products to the closest alternative or their collection.
3. Check new 404 alerts and your redirect statistics each week for the first month.
4. Keep one evergreen sale URL for next year so you do not have to create new pages to redirect.

BFCM offer: get SC Easy Redirects for 30% off for 3 months

This BFCM, you can get SC Easy Redirects for 30% off for 3 months. Use it to clean up your 404 errors before Black Friday and to redirect your expired sale pages and sold-out products afterwards.

How to claim it:

1. Claim the offer here.
2. Install SC Easy Redirects on your Shopify store and let it detect your 404 errors.
3. Follow the steps above to set up your redirects before the sale starts.

Get 30% off SC Easy Redirects for 3 months and set up your redirects before the sale starts.

This is an exclusive BFCM offer for new users!

Bottom line

404 errors are easy to create during BFCM and easy to ignore, but each one is a lost visit and a small SEO leak. Fix them in two stages: clean up what is already broken before Black Friday, then redirect your expired sale pages and sold-out products after Cyber Monday.

SC Easy Redirects takes most of the manual work out of both stages by detecting 404s, recommending the right destination with AI and letting you approve matches in bulk.

Take advantage of the BFCM offer of 30% off for 3 months.