Key Takeaways
- Google crawls new stores within days of launch — any broken links present at launch get indexed as 404s from day one
- The most common sources of pre-launch broken links are placeholder content, migrated content from old platforms, and links added during site build that point to pages not yet created
- A broken link scan is faster and more thorough than manually clicking through your store before launch
- Fixing broken links before launch is always easier than fixing them after — no redirect chains, no ranking history to protect
Most pre-launch checklists cover the obvious things: test checkout, check payment settings, preview on mobile, remove the password page. Broken links rarely make the list — and they should.
Google typically crawls a new store within a few days of launch. If your store has broken links on launch day, those 404 errors are part of Google’s first impression of your site. More practically, your first real customers land on broken pages from the moment you go live.
Here’s how to find and fix broken links before you launch.
Why Pre-Launch Is the Best Time to Fix Broken Links
Once your store is live, fixing broken links gets more complicated:
- Pages that returned 404 may already be in Google’s index
- Some URLs may have accumulated backlinks or bookmarks that need redirects
- You need to preserve any ranking history that’s already developed
- Customer experience is already affected
Before launch, none of these complications exist. A broken link is just a broken link — fix the source or remove it, and you’re done. No redirect infrastructure needed, no historical damage to repair.
The pre-launch broken link check is the simplest version of this maintenance you’ll ever do. Take advantage of it.
The Most Common Sources of Pre-Launch Broken Links
Placeholder Pages and “Coming Soon” Links
During store build, it’s common to create navigation links or content that references pages still being built. A “Learn More” button added to a homepage section before the target page exists. A collection in the navigation that’s been created but is still empty. A blog post linked from another post that was planned but never written.
These placeholder situations are natural during build. The problem is that they’re often forgotten when launch day arrives.
Migrated Content from a Previous Platform
If you’re migrating from WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, or a custom site, your imported content will contain links that pointed to your old URL structure. Product descriptions that linked to /products/category/item-name on the old platform now point to a different (and probably nonexistent) URL structure on Shopify.
Migrated blog posts are especially problematic. A blog archive with 50 posts, each containing internal links formatted for the old platform, can contain hundreds of broken links.
Links Built During Development
Developers and designers building your store often add links as placeholders — /about, /faq, /contact — before those pages exist. Content editors writing copy link to products or collections that were renamed or restructured after the copy was written.
External Links That Are Broken on Origin
Not all broken links lead to pages on your own store. Product descriptions or blog posts that link to external resources — manufacturer sites, reference articles, external tools — may contain links that are broken on the external site. These are broken outbound links and they still create a poor user experience, even though you don’t control the destination.
The Pre-Launch Broken Link Checklist
1. Check Navigation First
Navigation links affect every visitor on every page. A broken link in your header or footer is the highest-priority fix.
Check:
- Header navigation (all menu items and dropdowns)
- Footer links
- Mobile navigation (can differ from desktop)
- Any sticky navigation elements
Click every link. Confirm it goes to the right page, not a 404.
2. Check the Homepage
The homepage is your highest-traffic page from day one. Check every link:
- Banner/hero section buttons and links
- Featured collection links
- Featured product links
- Any editorial sections with embedded links
- Social media links (these should open correctly in a new tab)
3. Check Key Landing Pages
If you have pages outside the standard product/collection structure — an About page, FAQ, a campaign landing page — check every link within them.
4. Check Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are the highest-risk area for broken links in content. If you’ve migrated from another platform or imported descriptions from a supplier, this is where problems concentrate.
For a store with many products, manually reading every description and clicking every link isn’t realistic. A broken link scanner that reads descriptions via Shopify’s API will surface all of them in minutes.
5. Check Blog Content
If you’re launching with existing blog content (migrated or newly written), check that every internal link in every post points to a valid URL.
Common issues:
- Links to products that were renamed after the post was written
- Links formatted for the old platform’s URL structure
- Links to posts that reference other posts not yet published
6. Check Collection Descriptions
Collection descriptions are often overlooked. If your collections have descriptions that link to products or other collections, verify those links.
Running a Scan vs. Manual Clicking
Manually clicking through your store works for small stores (under 30–40 pages with minimal content). For anything larger, a broken link scanner is faster and more thorough.
A scanner reads your entire content layer — product descriptions, blog posts, pages, collections — and checks every URL it finds against your live store. It surfaces every broken link in minutes rather than hours, and it catches links in content that you might not think to check manually.
Run a scan, review the output, fix what you find, then run it again to confirm the fixes worked. This process takes less time than a thorough manual check and is more reliable.
What to Do When You Find Broken Links Before Launch
The fixes before launch are straightforward:
Link points to a page that doesn’t exist yet: Either create the page before launch, or update the link to point to an existing page.
Link is a placeholder that shouldn’t be live: Remove the link or replace it with the correct destination.
Link is from migrated content with old URL structure: Update the link to the correct Shopify URL for the same resource.
Link points to an external resource that’s broken: Update to a working external resource or remove the link if no replacement exists.
Link points to a product or collection that was renamed: Update the link to the current URL.
Pre-launch, all of these fixes are just edits — no redirect infrastructure needed.
After Launch: Set Up Monitoring
A pre-launch check is a point-in-time audit. Once you launch and start actively managing your store — adding products, writing blog posts, removing discontinued items — new broken links will appear.
Set up ongoing monitoring before you launch so you’re catching new broken links as they appear, not discovering them months later:
- Schedule automated scans (daily is ideal for active stores)
- Check Google Search Console’s Coverage report monthly for 404 errors Google has found
- Build a “set up redirect before deleting” habit into your product management workflow
The pre-launch check gets you to zero broken links on day one. Monitoring keeps you close to zero as the store evolves.
Relink scans your entire Shopify store — products, pages, blog posts, and collections — and surfaces every broken link before it causes problems. Install free on Shopify.