RuffRuff 予約販売 helps reduce lost sales opportunities caused by out-of-stock items, upcoming product launches, and restock waiting periods.
It lets you launch pre-orders on your own Shopify store with surprising ease, letting you register an unlimited number of pre-order products and accept an unlimited number of pre-orders. It can also restrict customers from ordering pre-order and regular products together, and can send restock notifications when the arrival date is undetermined.
It also includes many unique features not found in other pre-order apps, such as "Pay Later," which lets you collect payment before the product ships.
Redirects are one of the important elements of running a website. They're needed in a variety of situations, such as moving or relaunching a site, changing domains, using different URLs by device or country, temporarily forwarding visitors during maintenance, and running a limited-time campaign. This article explains in detail everything from the basic concept of redirects, to concrete setup steps, and practical redirect techniques using Shopify. Deepen your knowledge of redirects — essential for both improving user convenience and for SEO — and put them to effective use.
What is a redirect?
A redirect is a mechanism that automatically forwards visitors on a website from a URL that already exists (hereafter, the "old URL") to a new URL (hereafter, the "new URL").
Using a redirect, you can forward visitors when you want to change a page from the old URL "https://tsun.ec/products/old_page" to the new URL "https://tsun.ec/products/new_page," or when you want to change the domain itself from "https://tsun.xoxo" to "https://tsun.ec." It also lets you tell search engines about the forward.
Using a redirect lets you avoid showing a 404 page that says "the page you're looking for can't be found," and avoid damaging your SEO ranking (site evaluation) due to a site migration.
Shopify comes with a default feature called "URL redirect" that lets you easily configure redirects. How to use URL redirect (the steps) is explained later in this article.
Cases where a redirect is needed
When changing your URL due to a site move (site migration) or relaunch
When migrating a site from BASE, Color Me Shop, or similar to Shopify, or relaunching a Shopify site itself, if the URLs themselves also change, you'll need to set up redirects.
The article below explains "Matrixify," a Shopify app that supports CSV import/export and is handy for migrating a site to Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
When changing your site's domain
You'll also need to set up redirects when unifying a URL like "www.tsun.ec" to drop the "www" and use "tsun.ec," when switching to SSL (changing from "http" to "https"), or when changing the domain itself from "tsun.xoxo" to "tsun.ec."
When you have different URLs for desktop and mobile
Depending on the site, you may have different URLs for desktop and mobile. In that case, if a visitor on mobile accesses the desktop URL, you need to redirect them to the mobile URL.
When you have different URLs by country
For a Shopify store doing cross-border e-commerce, multi-language support is probably a necessity.
In that case, many Shopify stores use different URLs by country.
If you're handling this with a Shopify app, there's no need to worry about it, but if you've built this yourselves, you'll need to redirect visitors to the appropriate language page based on their location.
The article below explains "Translate My Store," a recommended Shopify app for multi-language support. Please use it as a reference.
When you want to temporarily forward visitors to another page during maintenance
You'll also need to set up a redirect when you want to temporarily forward visitors to a page that says something like "Currently under maintenance," such as during a site error or site relaunch.
When you want to forward visitors for a limited time, such as for a limited-time campaign
You'll also need a redirect when you want to temporarily forward visitors, such as to a limited-time campaign page that only runs for a short period.
Types of redirects
Redirects can be broadly divided into the following 2 types:
- 301 redirect
- 302 redirect
Let's go over each in detail.
301 redirect (permanent/semi-permanent)
A 301 redirect is a permanent or semi-permanent redirect. Use a 301 redirect when the page after the change will be used permanently or semi-permanently, such as in the "when changing your URL due to a site move (site migration) or relaunch" or "when changing your site's domain" cases mentioned earlier.
By telling search engines that it's a 301 redirect, search engines will index the new URL, and the old page will no longer appear in search results either.
Shopify's redirect setting feature is this "301 redirect" configuration.
Source:Shopify's URL Redirect Feature Specification
302 redirect (temporary)
A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. Use it when you want to temporarily forward visitors, such as in the "when you want to temporarily forward visitors to another page during maintenance" or "when you want to forward visitors for a limited time, such as for a limited-time campaign" cases mentioned earlier.
A 302 redirect is also used for the "when you have different URLs for desktop and mobile" case.
By telling search engines that it's a 302 redirect, search engines will keep indexing the old URL. This lets you switch back to the original page once maintenance work or the campaign has ended.
Why redirects are necessary
User convenience (usability)
If an existing customer has bookmarked your Shopify store's old URL, and a redirect isn't set up, they won't be able to access it from their bookmark and will likely be disappointed. In some cases, they may never visit your Shopify store again.
Also, if your old URL was featured on an external media outlet, and a redirect isn't set up, you'll be cutting off a valuable source of customer acquisition.
Failing to set up redirects can lead to the kind of lost opportunities described above.
Below is a Shopify app that helps improve user convenience.
Please use it as a reference.
RuffRuff Table of Contents【Table of Contents】
"RuffRuff Table of Contents" is the first Shopify app in Japan to be certified "Built for Shopify." It automatically generates a table of contents for your Shopify store's blog posts, helping improve the readability of your blog posts. It can be set up easily in just 2 steps, and thanks to its high degree of design customizability, it's a go-to blog-enhancement app used in over 80 countries worldwide.
The article below explains the benefits of adding a table of contents to your Shopify blog posts. Please use it as a reference.
RuffRuff Product & Blog Tags【Tags】
A Shopify app that lets you display a list of the tags set on your products and blog posts. By showing a tag list on your online store, it helps "improve access to the information customers are looking for, such as products or blog posts" and "boost your site's browsing rate."
Price: Free~
※ There's a paid tier if you want to hide the branding (RuffRuff App by Tsun). See the Shopify App Store listing for detailed pricing.
The article below explains the benefits of adding a tag list to your Shopify blog posts. Please use it as a reference.
SEO
Redirects are also necessary for SEO.
Search engines evaluate (based on content quality and backlink count) and rank each page of a website.
Without a redirect, the old URL can't pass on the search-engine ranking it worked hard to earn to the new URL. Since it isn't passed on, the new URL needs to be evaluated by search engines again from scratch, which takes time to rank in search results, and there's no guarantee it will rank as well as the old URL did.
The more a Shopify store relies on organic search traffic, the bigger the impact of failing to set up a redirect, so be careful.
The article below also introduces SEO measures you can take on Shopify, along with recommended Shopify apps. Please use it as a reference.
How to Set Up a Redirect on Shopify
Here, we introduce how to set up a redirect using Shopify's "URL redirect" feature.
First, how to access URL redirect
There are 2 ways to access Shopify's URL redirect.
(Method 1) Access from the menu
1 Go to Shopify admin > Online Store > Menus
2 Click "View URL redirects"
(Method 2) Access from the search bar
1 Enter "redirect" in the search bar at the top of the Shopify admin and search
2 Click "URL redirect" in the search suggestions
How to set up a redirect one at a time
※ This explanation assumes you're already on the "URL redirects" page
1. Click "Create URL redirect" on the "URL redirects" page
2. Enter the old URL under "Redirect from"
3. Enter the new URL under "Redirect to"
4. Click "Save redirect"
How to set up redirects in bulk
When setting up redirects in bulk for multiple URLs, using the CSV import feature is an efficient way to do it.
Here, we explain how to set up redirects in bulk via CSV import.
※ This explanation assumes you're already on the "URL redirects" page.
1. Click "Import" on the "URL redirects" page
2. Click "Sample CSV template" in the popup that appears
3. Using the exported sample CSV data as a reference, enter the old URL in the "Redirect from" column and the new URL in the "Redirect to" column
4. Import the CSV created in step 3 from the popup shown in step 2
5. Click "Import redirects" in the confirmation dialog shown after importing
How to bulk-edit redirect settings
Just like the "how to set up redirects in bulk" section above, bulk editing is possible via CSV import.
1. Click "Export" on the "URL redirects" page
2. Choose what to export and the file format in the popup that appears, then click "Export URL redirects"
3. Edit either "Redirect to" or "Redirect from" in the exported data
※ Editing both will register a new redirect setting instead
4. Import the CSV you created in step 3
How to bulk-delete redirect settings
※ This explanation assumes you're already on the "URL redirects" page.
1 From the list of redirect settings on the "URL redirects" page, check the redirect settings you want to delete
2 Click "Delete selected redirects"
Be Sure to Check Your Redirect Once You've Set It Up
We recommend checking your redirect once you've set it up on Shopify.
Data entry work, such as entering configuration values, always involves some human input. Human error can happen no matter how careful you are. So be sure to check once that the redirect behaves as intended.
URLs You Can't Redirect on Shopify
You can't redirect a URL that begins with any of the following prefixes.
For example, you can't use "/apps," and you also can't use "/apps/hogehoge."
You also can't redirect a URL that uses one of the following fixed Shopify paths.
For example, you can't use "/products," but you can use "/products/hogehoge."
Source:URL redirect|Shopify Help Center
Recommended Shopify Apps for Setting Up Redirects
Easy Redirect
Easy Redirect is an all-in-one redirect app that handles a variety of redirect scenarios that Shopify's standard features can't. For example, you can set the redirect destination after account registration or after login.
The article below introduces Easy Redirect in detail. Please use it as a reference.
Frequently Asked Questions About Redirects
How long does it take for a redirect to show up in search engines?
You may be wondering how long it takes for a 301 redirect (permanent/semi-permanent) to show up in search engines after you set it up.
It varies depending on how often your Shopify store gets crawled, but it typically takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
How long should I keep a 301 redirect (permanent/semi-permanent) set up?
You probably don't want a huge amount of redirect data piling up in Shopify's redirect feature.
At that point, you might think about deleting a 301 redirect since the index has already switched from the old URL to the new one.
However, if you delete a 301 redirect setting, you lose the signal to search engines saying "please index the new URL instead," so there's a non-zero chance the old URL's ranking won't be passed on to the new URL.
For that reason, we recommend keeping it in place and not deleting it unless absolutely necessary.
