Shopify URL handles — the editable final portion of your product, collection, page, and blog post web addresses — are fully customizable for SEO. You can edit each handle in the Search engine listing section of the Shopify admin to include target keywords, use hyphens, and remove stop words. The fixed path segments — /products/, /collections/, /pages/, and /blogs/ — cannot be removed, though workarounds exist for cleaner user-facing links. For a complete walkthrough of platform optimization beyond URLs, see our full Shopify SEO guide.
What Shopify URL Structure Can You Actually Change?
Every Shopify store URL splits into two parts: a fixed path segment and an editable URL handle. You control the handle. You do not control the fixed segment.
The /products/, /collections/, /pages/, and /blogs/ prefixes are hardcoded into Shopify’s architecture. No setting removes them. No app rewrites them at the server level. Workarounds exist — covered later in this guide — but they change how links appear to users, not how Shopify structures URLs internally.
When you create a new product, Shopify auto-generates the handle from the product title. A title like “Men’s 100% Organic Cotton T-Shirt (Limited Edition!)” becomes mens-100-organic-cotton-t-shirt-limited-edition. Shopify strips apostrophes and special characters, converts uppercase to lowercase, and replaces spaces with hyphens. It keeps every word — including stop words and the parenthetical phrase — creating an unnecessarily long handle. You must shorten it manually.
The handle field has a maximum character limit. Most URL segments in web systems cap at 255 characters.
How Do You Edit a URL Handle in Shopify?
You edit a URL handle in the Search engine listing section — the same panel where you set the page title and meta description for search results.
Editing a Product URL Handle
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Click the product you want to edit.
Scroll down to the Search engine listing section. Click Edit.
Scroll to the URL and handle field.
Type your new handle. Use lowercase letters, hyphens between words, and only the keywords needed to describe the product.
Ensure the Create a URL redirect checkbox remains ticked. This automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.
Click Save.
The redirect checkbox is ticked by default for products. Shopify preserves this redirect indefinitely — it does not expire and survives theme changes.
Editing a Collection URL Handle
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections.
Click the collection.
Scroll to Search engine listing and click Edit.
Change the handle in the URL and handle field.
Keep the redirect checkbox ticked.
Click Save.
Editing a Page URL Handle
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Pages.
Click the page.
Scroll to Search engine listing and click Edit.
Edit the handle.
Keep the redirect checkbox ticked.
Click Save.
Editing a Blog Post URL Handle
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Blog posts.
Click the blog post.
Scroll to Search engine listing and click Edit.
Edit the handle in the URL and handle field.
Click Save.
One thing: the redirect checkbox does not appear for blog posts the way it does for products and pages. If you change a blog post handle, Shopify does not automatically create a 301 redirect. You must add it manually under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects. The same applies when you reassign a blog post from one blog category to another — the URL changes, but no redirect fires unless you create one.
If you reassign a post from /blogs/news/old-slug to /blogs/journal/new-slug, both the category handle and the post handle change. Create two redirects: one for the old URL path and one for the new destination.
What happens if two products end up with identical handles? Shopify prevents handle collisions. If you attempt to save a handle that already exists for another product, Shopify prompts you to change it. The admin does not auto-append numbers.
You can edit the handle of a draft product before it goes live. The redirect checkbox still appears and still works once the product publishes. Changing a live product’s handle does not affect inventory counts, order history, or analytics continuity — those systems reference the internal product ID, not the URL handle.
What Are the Rules for an SEO-Friendly Shopify URL Slug?
An SEO-friendly Shopify URL handle is a short, lowercase, hyphen-separated string that contains the page’s primary keyword and describes the content accurately to both users and search engines.
1. Include the Primary Keyword
Put the most important search term for that page in the handle. A product called “Handmade Leather Wallet” gets the handle handmade-leather-wallet, not product-042.
Place the keyword at the start of the handle. Search engines weight the first words in a URL path more heavily than later words. /mens-running-shoes signals relevance for “men’s running shoes” more strongly than /shoes-running-mens.
Do not cram multiple keyword variations into one handle. /running-shoes-mens-nike-air-zoom-pegasus-40-blue reads as keyword stuffing. Search engines may treat it as a weaker signal. Google’s spam policies penalise repetitive keyword use in URLs.
2. Keep Handles Under 60 Characters
Total Shopify URLs should stay under 50 to 60 characters where the handle is the primary variable. Shorter URLs earn higher click-through rates. Search engine results pages may truncate URLs longer than roughly 60 characters in desktop display.
This 50–60 character guideline applies to the full URL path, not just the handle. If your domain is 20 characters and the fixed segment adds 11 characters (/products/), your handle has roughly 20–30 characters of visible space before truncation risk.
3. Use Hyphens, Not Underscores
Google’s webmaster guidelines confirm hyphens function as word separators in URLs. Underscores do not — they can be interpreted as word joiners.
Right: /collections/womens-running-shorts
Wrong: /collections/womens_running_shorts
Shopify automatically converts spaces to hyphens when generating handles from titles. If you manually type an underscore, Shopify preserves it — it does not auto-correct.
4. Use Lowercase Letters Only
URL paths after the domain are case-sensitive. /products/Leather-Wallet and /products/leather-wallet are technically two different URLs. If your server treats them as case-sensitive, a user typing capital letters lands on a 404 page.
Shopify automatically converts handle text to lowercase. This protects against case-mismatch errors, but the rule still applies when manually creating redirects or linking to URLs from external sources.
5. Remove Stop Words
Stop words are short function words search engines largely ignore: “a,” “an,” “the,” “and,” “of,” “on,” “in,” “for,” “to.” Dates in handles also function as stop words — they add length without contributing to relevance.
Right: /products/bachmann-pennsylvanian-locomotive
Wrong: /products/bachmann-the-pennsylvanian-aug-2025
Keep a stop word only when removing it makes the handle harder to read. The word “to” in /pages/how-to-return-an-item aids readability and can stay.
6. Make Handles Human-Readable
Read the handle aloud. If it sounds like natural language, it works. If it sounds like a string of keywords or a database ID, rewrite it.
Right: /products/organic-cotton-t-shirt
Wrong: /products/prod-id-88927-var-03
A readable handle increases the likelihood a user clicks your URL in search results. Shopify Blog’s analysis of Backlinko research found that URLs clearly matching search intent achieve 45% higher click-through rates than unclear alternatives.
7. Check How Shopify Auto-Generates Your Handles
Shopify creates handles from your page title automatically. The transformation rules: apostrophes removed, special characters stripped or replaced, spaces become hyphens, all letters become lowercase. Shopify does not remove stop words or shorten the handle.
This means your 12-word product title becomes a 12-word handle. Always review and manually shorten auto-generated handles after product creation.
The handle you choose also affects your store’s internal search. Shopify’s site search matches against handle text. A product with handle blue-canvas-tote-bag ranks higher in your store’s own search results for “blue tote bag” than one with handle tote-bag-canvas-blue — word order in the handle influences internal relevance scoring.
What Happens to Your Old URLs When You Change a Handle?
Shopify automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one when you tick the “Create a URL redirect” checkbox during a handle edit. A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect — it tells browsers and search engines the page has moved and transfers most ranking authority to the new URL.
The automatic redirect covers single-hop changes: old handle to new handle. It does not cover multi-hop scenarios. If you change a handle from old-handle to interim-handle and then to final-handle, only the most recent change generates a redirect. The original old-handle URL returns a 404 unless you manually add a redirect from old-handle to final-handle under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects.
Shopify preserves auto-created redirects indefinitely. They do not expire, survive theme changes, and persist through plan upgrades.
You can view all active redirects under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects. After a large catalog cleanup where you changed 50 or more product handles, audit this list. Redirects for products you later deleted still fire — the redirect triggers before Shopify checks whether the destination product exists. The user hits the redirect, follows it, and only then lands on a 404 if the product is gone. Delete obsolete redirects quarterly.
Redirect chains — where URL A redirects to URL B which redirects to URL C — slow page load times. Keep redirects single-hop. If you discover a chain, update the first redirect to point directly to the final URL.
How often is too often to change a handle? There is no published threshold. Each change triggers a redirect and signals to search engines that the page URL has changed. Google processes 301 redirects and updates its index, but the update is not instantaneous. If you change the same product’s handle monthly, you create a chain of redirects and extend the time search engines spend reprocessing the page. A practical guideline: edit a handle once during initial product setup, then only change it if the product itself fundamentally changes — not for minor keyword tweaks.
Can You Remove /collections/ and /products/ from Shopify URLs?
No. You cannot remove the /collections/, /products/, /pages/, or /blogs/ fixed path segments from Shopify URLs. These segments are server-level routing rules, not theme settings. No Shopify setting removes them. No app rewrites them at the server level.
Three workarounds exist, each with trade-offs.
Workaround 1: Use 301 Redirects for Clean Sharing Links
Create short, memorable redirects for marketing use. Set up a redirect from /summer-sale to /collections/summer-sale. Share the short link in emails, social posts, and printed materials. Users see the clean URL. Search engines follow the redirect to the canonical Shopify URL.
This is cosmetic — it does not change your store’s canonical URL structure for SEO purposes. The short link exists only for user-facing convenience.
Set this up under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects: /summer-sale → /collections/summer-sale.
Workaround 2: Render Collection-Based Product URLs in Your Theme
Shopify’s default behaviour displays product URLs as /products/product-handle. When a user navigates from a collection page, Shopify temporarily shows a “collection-aware” URL like /collections/shoes/products/trainer-name. This URL is contextual — it reflects the user’s navigation path.
You can configure your theme to always display collection-based product URLs by editing the Liquid code. In your theme files, locate card-product.liquid (or the equivalent snippet in your theme — names vary by developer). Find {{ card_product.url }} and change it to {{ card_product.url | within: collection }}.
This renders collection-based URLs in navigation, related product sections, and collection grids. Shopify’s canonical tag still points to /products/product-handle. Google indexes the canonical version. The collection-based URL exists for user context, not as a separate SEO asset.
Workaround 3: Add Breadcrumbs as a Structural Signal
Because you cannot create hierarchical URLs like /mens/shoes/running/nike-pegasus, add breadcrumb structured data to your product pages. Breadcrumbs appear in Google search results below your URL, visually communicating hierarchy.
A breadcrumb trail like Home > Men’s > Running Shoes > Nike Pegasus tells users and search engines how the product fits into your store’s category structure — even though the URL remains flat as /products/nike-pegasus.
Most Shopify Theme Store themes include breadcrumb markup. Verify yours using Google’s Rich Results Test tool. If your theme lacks breadcrumbs, add them via a Shopify app or edit your theme’s Liquid to include BreadcrumbList schema.
Can You Customise URLs for Blogs, Tags, and Other Shopify Content Types?
You can edit blog post handles and blog category handles. You cannot remove the /blogs/ fixed path segment. Tags do not generate standalone SEO-friendly URLs in native Shopify.
Blog Category Handles
Shopify treats each blog category as a separate blog. The default blog category uses the handle news. A new store’s blog URL defaults to /blogs/news/first-post-title.
If your store has one blog, rename the default category to something meaningful. Use guides, journal, or your brand’s content section name. Never leave it as news unless your content is actually company news. Avoid naming a blog category blog — the resulting URL /blogs/blog/article-title reads as redundant. For strategic advice on structuring your blog content, read our guide to Shopify blog SEO.
Change a blog category handle under Content > Blog posts > Manage blogs in your Shopify admin. Select the blog, edit the Search engine listing, and change the URL handle. Shopify automatically creates redirects for all posts in that category when you tick the redirect checkbox — individual post redirects are handled at the category level.
Blog Post Handles
Edit a blog post handle the same way as a product handle: open the post, scroll to Search engine listing, and edit the URL handle field. The redirect checkbox does not appear. Add a manual redirect if the post has been live and indexed.
Tag URLs
Shopify does not generate dedicated, editable URLs for product tags. Tag-filtered collection pages use query parameters like /collections/shirts/tag/cotton. You cannot customise the tag/cotton segment into an SEO-friendly format. The canonical tag on filtered collection pages points to the base collection URL, preventing duplicate content issues. Tags serve internal navigation and filtering, not standalone SEO landing pages.
For more flexible blog URL structure — including custom paths for categories, tags, and author pages — third-party blog apps extend Shopify’s default functionality. Apps like Magefan Blog allow you to change the /blogs/ prefix and customise individual entity paths.
Should You Include Categories or Subfolders in Shopify Product URLs?
No. Do not force nested category folders into Shopify product URLs. Shopify’s architecture is designed for flat product URLs, and attempting to nest them creates duplicate content problems.
A flat URL like /products/maxi-dress is Shopify’s intended structure. A nested structure like /womens/dresses/summer/maxi-dress conflicts with Shopify’s canonical tag system.
When you manually create nested URLs through theme customisation or redirects, Shopify still sets the canonical tag to /products/maxi-dress. Google sees two URLs pointing to the same product: your custom nested URL and Shopify’s canonical product URL. Both may get indexed. This splits ranking signals across multiple URLs — precisely what the canonical tag exists to prevent.
The desire for hierarchical product URLs is understandable. /womens/dresses/summer/maxi-dress communicates category context that /products/maxi-dress does not. Use collections and internal linking to establish hierarchy instead of forcing it into URLs:
Link from collection pages to products using descriptive anchor text.
Use breadcrumbs (see Workaround 3 above) to communicate hierarchy in search results.
Create logical collection structures — /collections/womens-dresses, /collections/womens-summer-dresses — and ensure products link back to their primary collection. Managing these elements correctly is part of a robust ecommerce technical SEO strategy.
The hierarchy exists in your store’s navigation and internal linking. It does not need to exist in the URL path to be effective for SEO.
Shopify URL Audit Checklist: 8 Things to Check Right Now
Use this checklist to audit existing URLs in your Shopify store. Each item includes the check, the tool, and the fix.
The fastest bulk audit method: export products via CSV (Products > Export), open in a spreadsheet, and filter the Handle column against rules 1–5 above. Edit handles directly in the CSV and re-import. Shopify’s CSV import accepts handle changes and auto-creates redirects for each changed handle — no manual redirect setup needed per product. If you need a deeper technical evaluation, consider a professional ecommerce SEO audit.
Common Shopify URL Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Most Shopify URL problems are not platform limitations. They are editing mistakes made during setup or catalog updates. These six errors appear repeatedly in store audits.
Mistake 1: Leaving auto-generated handles unedited. Shopify generates handles from full product titles. A 15-word title creates a 15-word handle. Consequence: long, stop-word-heavy URLs that dilute keyword relevance. Fix: edit every handle manually after product creation. Keep only the words that describe the product and include the primary keyword.
Mistake 2: Changing a handle without ticking the redirect checkbox. The old URL returns a 404. Any external links, social shares, or search engine index entries pointing to the old URL break. Consequence: lost referral traffic, lost ranking authority, and a poor user experience. Fix: always keep the redirect checkbox ticked when editing products, collections, or pages. For blog posts, create the redirect manually.
Mistake 3: Using underscores instead of hyphens. Underscores do not function as word separators for search engines. Consequence: Google may read womens_running_shoes as a single string rather than three words. Fix: use hyphens exclusively. If you find underscores in existing handles, change them and create redirects. This aligns with core ecommerce SEO best practices.
Mistake 4: Forcing category folders into product URLs. Manually nesting product URLs — through Liquid edits, redirects, or external linking — creates a second URL for the same product. Consequence: duplicate content signals to search engines. The canonical tag mitigates this, but inconsistent internal linking can still create indexing conflicts. Fix: use flat product URLs and rely on collections and breadcrumbs for hierarchy.
Mistake 5: Ignoring collection-aware URL behaviour. When users navigate from a collection, Shopify displays /collections/collection-name/products/product-handle. This is the correct behaviour. Some store owners panic and attempt to suppress these URLs, thinking they are duplicate content. Consequence: unnecessary theme edits that may break navigation. Fix: verify your theme includes canonical tags (check page source for
Mistake 6: Changing handles too frequently for minor keyword tweaks. Each change triggers a redirect and requires search engines to reprocess the page. Consequence: ranking fluctuations during the reprocessing period. If you change handles monthly chasing minor keyword variations, the cumulative disruption outweighs any marginal SEO benefit. Fix: set the handle once during initial product setup. Change it only if the product changes substantially — a rebrand, a reformulation, a new primary use case.
Frequently Asked Questions About Shopify SEO URLs
What is an SEO-friendly URL in Shopify?
An SEO-friendly Shopify URL is a short, readable web address that includes the page’s primary keyword, uses lowercase letters and hyphens, excludes stop words and unnecessary parameters, and accurately describes the page content. Shopify handles are fully editable to meet these criteria. The fixed path segments (/products/, /collections/, /pages/, /blogs/) cannot be removed. Working with an experienced ecommerce SEO company ensures your store’s URL structure supports long-term organic growth.
Can I change a Shopify URL after publishing?
Yes. Edit the URL handle in the Search engine listing section of the relevant page. Ticking the “Create a URL redirect” checkbox ensures the old URL forwards to the new one with a 301 redirect, preserving SEO authority. For blog posts, you must create the redirect manually under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects.
Do URL redirects hurt Shopify SEO?
No. A properly implemented 301 redirect transfers most ranking authority to the new URL. Google treats 301 redirects as permanent moves and updates its index accordingly. Redirect chains — where URL A redirects to URL B which redirects to URL C — slow page load times and should be avoided. Keep redirects single-hop.
How long should a Shopify product URL be?
The full URL should stay under 50 to 60 characters. This includes your domain, the /products/ fixed segment, and the handle. A handle of 20 to 40 characters works for most stores. Longer URLs may be truncated in search results and dilute the weight of your target keyword.
Can I remove /collections/ from my Shopify store URLs?
No. The /collections/, /products/, /pages/, and /blogs/ prefixes are server-level routing rules. You cannot remove them. Workarounds include using 301 redirects for clean sharing links and rendering collection-based product URLs in your theme — but the canonical URL always includes the fixed segment. For platform-specific guidance, explore our Shopify SEO services.
What happens if two Shopify products have the same URL handle?
Shopify prevents duplicate handles. If you attempt to save a handle that another product already uses, the admin blocks the save and prompts you to enter a unique handle. Shopify does not auto-append numbers or silently resolve the conflict. You must manually change the handle to something unique.