Linked URLs on stores that left BigCommerce for Shopify, by URL type
| URL type | Linked URLs | 404 or 410 | Redirect | Real page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Root-level and other pages | 1,014 | 30.9% | 70.7% | 67.2% |
| .html and similar | 223 | 34.5% | 85.7% | 57.4% |
| Product URLs | 396 | 16.4% | 26.5% | 80.8% |
| Category URLs | 134 | 9.0% | 23.1% | 88.8% |
| Blog posts | 130 | 10.8% | 44.6% | 80.0% |
| Images and files | 44 | 68.2% | 20.5% | 31.8% |
| All | 1,941 | 26.3% | 57.2% | 70.4% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Redirect and real page overlap: a redirected URL can still end on a real page.
Summary
When a store leaves BigCommerce, its URLs change. Pages that other sites link to need redirects to their new addresses, or those links end on a dead page and stop passing value to the store.
We checked how well former BigCommerce stores kept those links alive. Every store in our sample moved to Shopify. Of 1,941 linked non-homepage URLs on 83 stores, 26.3% now return a 404 or 410, and 57.2% redirect. About one in four links that other sites built to these stores now points at nothing.
What we measured
We started from 720 sites in the HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites that switched platform, and the URLs on those sites that still have live backlinks. Across all switchers that gave us 18,447 previously linked URLs to check. This study covers the 83 stores that left BigCommerce, all of which now run on Shopify.
We requested each linked URL in October 2026, followed any redirects, and recorded the final response. Homepage URLs are excluded. A URL counts as dead when it ends on a 404 or 410, and as redirected when the final URL differs from the requested one in any way, so a redirected URL can still end on a real page or a dead one.
Because every store in this group moved to Shopify, the results describe BigCommerce to Shopify moves only. They should not be read as a guide to moves from BigCommerce to other platforms.
One in four linked URLs is dead
Of the 1,941 linked URLs we checked, 26.3% return a 404 or 410. 57.2% redirect, and 70.4% end on a real page, either directly or after a redirect.
The damage is not limited to a handful of stores. The median former BigCommerce store has 20.0% of its linked URLs dead, counting the 81 stores with 5 or more URLs checked. 31 of those 81 stores have more than a quarter of their linked URLs dead.
Each of those dead URLs is a link another site chose to give. A redirect to the matching new page would likely have kept it working.
26.3%
Share of 1,941 linked non-homepage URLs on 83 stores that left BigCommerce for Shopify that now return a 404 or 410.
Redirects help, but do not fix everything
Redirects cut the damage, but they do not remove it. 21.7% of 1,111 redirected linked URLs still end on a 404 or 410, against 32.5% of 830 linked URLs that are not redirected at all.
A redirect that ends on a dead page likely means the redirect map pointed at a URL that never existed on the new store, or at an address that changed again after launch. Chains like that are easy to miss, because the old URL looks handled in the redirect list even though the visitor, and the crawler, still land on an error.
Root-level page URLs break most
BigCommerce's default root-level page URLs are the main casualty. 30.9% of 1,014 linked URLs outside product, category and blog paths are dead, against 16.4% of 396 /products/ style URLs and 9.0% of 134 category URLs. Blog posts fare well too, at 10.8% of 130.
Old URLs ending in .html and similar extensions do worse, with 34.5% of 223 dead, even though 85.7% of them redirect. Linked images and files are the worst group, though a small one: 68.2% of 44 return a 404 or 410.
Shopify uses fixed paths such as /products/ and /collections/, so pages that sat at the root of a BigCommerce store all need their own redirect rule. Those are likely the URLs that get left out when the redirect map is built from the product catalog alone.
Recent switchers have more dead links
Stores that switched in 2026 have more dead links than those that switched earlier. 30.1% of 694 linked URLs on 30 stores that moved in 2026 are dead, against 22.9% of 708 URLs on 31 stores that moved in the second half of 2025.
One likely reason is time. Stores that have been on Shopify longer have had more months to spot broken URLs in Search Console or their backlink reports and add redirects after launch. The gap suggests the cleanup often happens after the move rather than before it.
What this means for your store
If you are planning a move from BigCommerce to Shopify, build the redirect map from your backlink data as well as your catalog. Export every URL with external links, including root-level pages, .html URLs, images and PDFs, and map each one to its closest match on the new store.
Then test the redirects, not just the list. Request each old linked URL after launch and confirm it ends on a working page, not on a 404 after a redirect. Avoid sending unmatched URLs to the homepage; point them at the nearest product, collection or article instead.
If you already moved, run your backlink targets against the live store now. Every dead linked URL you redirect starts passing its value again.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of backlinked URLs on 83 stores that left BigCommerce for Shopify, October 2026
- Shopify Help Center, URL redirects: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/menus-and-links/url-redirect
- Google Search Central, redirects and Google Search: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/301-redirects
Embed this research
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/bigcommerce-migration-404s">BigCommerce Migration 404s: 26.3% of Linked URLs Now Dead - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How many links break when a store moves from BigCommerce to Shopify?
In our sample of 83 stores that left BigCommerce for Shopify, 26.3% of 1,941 linked non-homepage URLs now return a 404 or 410. The median store has 20.0% of its linked URLs dead.
Do redirects stop 404s after a BigCommerce migration?
They help but do not fix everything. 21.7% of 1,111 redirected linked URLs still end on a 404 or 410, against 32.5% of 830 URLs with no redirect.
Which BigCommerce URLs break most often after a migration?
Root-level page URLs outside product, category and blog paths: 30.9% of 1,014 are dead. Old .html URLs (34.5% of 223) and linked images and files (68.2% of 44) do worse still, while category URLs fare best at 9.0% of 134.
How do I check for broken links after a BigCommerce migration?
Export the old URLs that have backlinks, request each one on the live store and confirm it ends on a working page rather than a 404 or 410. In our data, even 21.7% of redirected linked URLs still ended on a dead page.
Dead linked URLs are one of the easiest migration losses to recover, because each one only needs a redirect to its closest match on the new store. Need help with this? See our ecommerce migration services.