Key Takeaways
- Not all broken links are equally urgent — prioritize by where the link appears and whether external sites link to the broken URL
- 301 redirects protect SEO authority from deleted pages; updating source links is better for content you still control
- Fixing in bulk is the only approach that scales if you have more than a handful of broken links
- New broken links will appear within weeks — set up monitoring before you close the tab
You’ve run a scan and you have a list of broken links. Now what?
Most guides stop at the finding step and leave you to figure out the rest. This one covers what actually happens next: how to triage what you found, which fix method to use for each type of broken link, how to apply fixes efficiently, and — critically — how to stop the same problem from rebuilding itself over the next few months.
Step 1: Triage by Impact
Not all broken links need the same urgency. Before you start fixing, sort what you found.
Highest priority — fix today:
- Broken links in your main navigation (header, footer, main menu) — these affect every visitor on every page
- Broken links on your homepage — highest-traffic page, first impression
- Broken URLs that external websites link to — every day these go unfixed, you’re losing SEO authority that external links send to your store
- Broken links on your top-traffic product and collection pages — check Google Analytics or Search Console to identify these
High priority — fix this week:
- Broken links in product descriptions on your main catalog
- Broken links in blog posts that rank in search results
- Broken links leading to 404 pages that get significant organic traffic (visible in Google Search Console under Pages → Not found)
Lower priority — fix in your next batch:
- Broken links in older blog posts that get minimal traffic
- Broken links in archived pages not actively promoted
- Internal links in draft content
This triage isn’t about ignoring problems — it’s about sequencing work so the most damaging broken links get fixed first.
Step 2: Choose the Right Fix Method
There are three ways to fix a broken link. The right one depends on the situation.
301 Redirect
A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines: “This URL has permanently moved to a new location.” Traffic and most of the SEO authority flow to the new destination.
Use a redirect when:
- The destination page was deleted and no longer exists
- External websites link to the broken URL
- The broken URL appears in many places you can’t easily edit (search engine indexes, customer bookmarks, other websites)
How to set up redirects in Shopify: Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects → Add URL redirect.
Choosing the destination: Redirect to the most relevant live page. In priority order: a direct replacement product, the parent collection, a relevant category, or the homepage as a last resort. Don’t redirect everything to the homepage — Google treats mass homepage redirects as a signal those URLs are permanently dead, and topical authority doesn’t transfer.
Update the Source Link
Find the content that contains the broken link and update the URL to point to the correct destination.
Use this when:
- The broken link is in content you can edit (product descriptions, blog posts, pages)
- The correct destination URL exists and is stable
- The broken link appears in only a few places
This is often the better fix for internal links because it eliminates the redirect hop entirely — the link goes directly to the right destination, no intermediary.
Remove the Link
Delete the link rather than redirect or update it.
Use this when:
- There’s no meaningful replacement for what was linked to
- The link was to a promotional page or campaign that’s genuinely over
- The anchor text no longer makes sense without the destination
This is the least common fix, but it’s the right one when the link itself is outdated rather than just broken.
Quick reference
| Situation | Best fix |
|---|---|
| Product deleted, similar product exists | Redirect to new product |
| Product deleted, no replacement | Redirect to parent collection |
| URL handle changed | Update source links |
| Collection renamed or merged | Redirect old collection URL |
| Blog post unpublished | Update source links to related live post |
| Campaign page removed | Remove links or redirect to equivalent |
| External sites link to broken URL | Always redirect |
| Many links to same broken URL | Redirect, then update source links over time |
Step 3: Fix in Bulk Where Possible
If you have more than 10–15 broken links, fixing them one at a time doesn’t scale. There are two approaches to bulk fixing:
Bulk redirects via CSV: Shopify lets you import redirects in bulk using a CSV file. Prepare a spreadsheet with “Redirect from” and “Redirect to” columns and import it at Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects → Import. This works well when you have dozens of deleted products to redirect at once.
Automated fix tools: Apps like Relink can apply fixes across your store in one action — updating source links in product descriptions, blog posts, and pages without requiring you to open and edit each piece of content individually. For stores with 50+ broken links, this is the practical approach.
The key is matching the method to the volume. Manual fixes for a handful of issues; bulk tools for anything more than that.
Step 4: Verify Fixes Worked
After applying fixes, confirm they resolved the issue:
- For redirects: paste the old broken URL into your browser and confirm it lands on the correct destination
- For updated links: view the page where you made the edit and click the link to confirm it loads
- For bulk fixes: re-run your scanner to confirm the broken link count dropped
Allow 24–48 hours after setting up Shopify redirects — the platform caches pages briefly, so a redirect you set up today may not reflect immediately in a scan.
One thing to check specifically: redirect chains. If you previously set up redirects for these URLs and are now adding new ones, you may create a chain where URL A → URL B → URL C. Chains aren’t broken (they eventually resolve), but they’re slower and each hop loses a small amount of SEO authority. Clean them up by updating the first redirect to point directly to the final destination.
Step 5: Set Up Monitoring Before You Close the Tab
This is the step most merchants skip, and it’s the reason they’re back doing this same exercise in three months.
Broken links aren’t a problem you solve once. They return every time you:
- Delete a product or page
- Change a URL handle
- Rename a collection
- Publish a blog post with a mistyped link
- Import products from a supplier with links in descriptions
The stores with persistent broken link problems aren’t the ones that don’t fix them — they’re the ones that fix them reactively, without a system that catches new ones as they appear.
Two monitoring approaches:
Manual cadence: Schedule a scan at the start of every month. Calendar it now before you forget. This works if your catalog changes slowly.
Automated monitoring: Use an app that scans on a schedule (daily is ideal) and notifies you when new broken links appear. You fix them when they’re caught — not after a month of accumulation.
Which one you need depends on how frequently your catalog changes. A store that adds and removes products weekly has a meaningfully different risk profile than one with a stable catalog.
Relink scans your Shopify store on a schedule and uses AI to suggest the right fix for each broken link. Apply fixes in bulk or let Auto mode handle them automatically. Install free on Shopify.