Shopify Store Guide: Managing 404 Errors with Redirect Ninja

Quick Start Guide

1. Install Redirect Ninja from the Shopify App Store
2. Check your Redirect Ninja app dashboard for any discovered broken links
3. Create one-click redirects for your most visited broken pages
4. Monitor weekly email reports for new issues

That's it! The app works automatically in the background to protect your Shopify store.

What Are Broken Links in Your Shopify Store?

Broken links (404 errors) happen when customers try to access pages that don't exist in your Shopify store anymore. Common causes in Shopify include:

• Deleted or unpublished products in your Shopify admin
• Outdated links from your Shopify marketing campaigns
• Changed page URLs in your Online Store
• Renamed Shopify collections
• Outdated product variants in your catalog
• Changes to your Shopify navigation menus
• Modified Shop Pay checkout links

These issues can hurt your business by:

• Disrupting customer experience and losing potential sales
• Damaging your store's search engine rankings and visibility
• Increasing bounce rates (when visitors leave immediately after finding a broken page)
• Wasting your marketing budget when paid traffic hits missing pages

How Redirect Ninja Finds Broken Links

When a customer visits a missing page in your Shopify store, Redirect Ninja automatically detects it in real-time. The app captures all the information you need to understand and fix the issue:

Example: If a customer clicks an old Facebook ad for "summer-dress" that was renamed to "floral-summer-dress", Redirect Ninja tells you:

• Where they came from (the Facebook ad)
• What page they were trying to reach
• When this happened
• How many other customers had the same problem

This helps you:

• Find broken links in your marketing campaigns
• See which missing pages are costing you sales
• Create the right redirects to fix the problems
• Stop similar issues before they happen

Understanding Your Broken Link Data in Shopify

Key Metrics Tracked

1. Link Status in Your Store:
   • ACTIVE: A broken page that needs your attention
   • IGNORED: A broken link you've chosen to skip (automatically filtered out)
   • REDIRECTED: Fixed with a permanent redirect to a working page
2. Timeline:
   • First Seen: When Redirect Ninja first found the broken link
   • Last Seen: Most recent customer visit to the broken page
   • Total Views: How many customers found this broken link
3. Link Events Each broken URL keeps a history of every customer visit. Think of it like a timeline showing every time someone tried to visit a missing page in your store. This helps you understand which broken links are hurting your business the most.

What We Track for Each Visit:

1. Customer Information:
   • What device they used
   • Their web browser
   • Which country they're shopping from
   • When they visited
2. Marketing Sources:
   • Which marketing campaign sent them (tracking codes)
   • Where they came from (previous page or external site)
   • This helps you find and fix broken links in your:
     • Social media posts
     • Email campaigns
     • Google ads
     • Partner websites

Using Redirect Ninja to Fix Shopify 404 Errors

1. Stay Updated:
   • Read your weekly broken link report emails
   • Check your app dashboard regularly
   • Watch for patterns in your most-visited broken pages
2. Fix the Important Links First:
   • Start with pages getting the most visits
   • Quickly fix broken links in active marketing campaigns
3. Create Smart Redirects:
   • Send visitors to the most relevant working pages
   • Keep your Shopify URLs consistent
   • Set up permanent redirects to maintain SEO value
4. Save Time with Advanced Tools:
   • Create automatic redirect rules
   • Hide unimportant broken links from your view

Remember, broken links happen naturally as your Shopify store grows, but Redirect Ninja helps you catch and fix them before they hurt your sales and search rankings.

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