Linked URLs on sites that moved to Shopify, by previous platform
| Previous platform | Sites | Linked URLs | 404 or 410 | Redirect to homepage | Real page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | 90 | 2,003 | 40.7% | 4.9% | 53.9% |
| PrestaShop | 90 | 1,724 | 34.9% | 3.6% | 59.9% |
| WordPress | 83 | 1,997 | 29.8% | 2.8% | 64.7% |
| Magento | 90 | 2,087 | 29.3% | 4.3% | 58.5% |
| WooCommerce | 81 | 1,322 | 26.9% | 4.4% | 68.3% |
| Next.js | 88 | 1,990 | 26.4% | 3.0% | 66.8% |
| BigCommerce | 83 | 1,941 | 26.3% | 1.5% | 70.4% |
| All sites moving to Shopify | 675 | 14,596 | 30.1% | 3.5% | 63.7% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. The all-sites row includes platforms not listed separately.
Summary
Every store that moves to Shopify gets new URLs. Products move under /products/, categories under /collections/, and old file extensions disappear. If the old addresses are not redirected, every link pointing at them from other sites now lands on a dead page, and the ranking value those links carried goes with it.
We checked how often that happens. We took 675 stores that moved to Shopify from another platform and requested 14,596 of their old URLs that still have live backlinks. 30.1% now return a 404 or 410. Close to one in three of the links other sites built to these stores now points at nothing.
What we measured
We looked at 675 sites in the HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites whose platform changed to Shopify. For each store we checked up to 30 distinct non-homepage URLs that still have live backlinks, requested each one in October 2026, and recorded where it ended up.
Each URL falls into one of three outcomes: it returns a 404 or 410, it redirects to the homepage, or it resolves to a real page. Because we only checked URLs that other sites link to, these results describe the old URLs that matter most for link equity, not every page the old store ever had.
Three in ten linked URLs are dead
Of the 14,596 linked URLs we requested, 30.1% return a 404 or 410. Another 3.5% redirect to the homepage, which Google can treat as a soft 404, because the homepage is not a replacement for the specific product or article that was linked. 63.7% resolve to a real page.
So across these stores, roughly a third of linked URLs no longer lead to a matching page. Those links were earned over years, and a redirect rule set at launch is what keeps them working.
30.1%
Share of backlinked URLs on stores that moved to Shopify that now return a 404 or 410.
Where the store came from matters
Dead linked URLs vary by the platform a store left. Stores that came from Salesforce Commerce Cloud fare worst, with 40.7% of 2,003 linked URLs returning a 404 or 410. PrestaShop follows at 34.9%, then WordPress (29.8%) and Magento (29.3%).
Among the platforms in the table, stores that left BigCommerce fare best, at 26.3% of 1,941 linked URLs, with Next.js (26.4%) and WooCommerce (26.9%) close behind. Outside the table, stores leaving Wix or Squarespace lost 25.2% of a smaller set of 556 linked URLs. Even the best results mean about one in four linked URLs is dead.
The spread likely follows how different the old URL structure was. Platforms with deep, parameter-heavy or extension-based URLs need more redirect rules to map onto Shopify's fixed paths, and more rules means more chances to miss some.
Old file extensions and files are hit hardest
The type of old URL is a stronger predictor than the platform. Old URLs ending in .html, .htm, .php or .aspx are the worst-hit pages: 47.8% of 2,039 such linked URLs on 309 stores return a 404 or 410. Shopify cannot serve those extensions, so every one of them needs an explicit redirect.
Linked files fare worst of all. 71.9% of 260 linked images, PDFs and /wp-content/ files on 153 stores now return a 404 or 410. These are easy to forget because they are not pages, but other sites often link to a size guide, a spec sheet or an image.
Product URLs do better, with 24.1% of 2,475 dead, and collection or category URLs better again at 14.8% of 1,242. Blog and news URLs survive best: 14.5% of 966 linked blog URLs on 282 stores are dead after the move.
Popularity barely helps
You might expect bigger stores, with bigger teams and agency budgets, to get redirects right. The gap is small. 26.8% of 1,600 linked URLs on 69 top-100K stores are dead, against 30.2% of 7,466 on stores ranked 100K to 500K and 30.9% of 5,530 on stores ranked 500K to 1M.
That points to a process problem rather than a size problem. Stores of every size likely lose them when the redirect map is built from the product catalog alone and leaves out the old URLs that other sites actually link to.
How to keep your links through a migration
Build the redirect map from your backlink data, not just your sitemap. Export every URL on the old site that has external links, plus your top organic landing pages, and map each one to its closest equivalent on Shopify. Use Shopify's URL redirects for page URLs, and remember that old .html, .php and file URLs each need their own rule.
Do not send unmatched URLs to the homepage. Redirect them to the nearest product, collection or article, or let them return a 404 if nothing matches. After launch, recrawl the old URL list and your backlink targets, fix anything that returns a 404, and watch Search Console's page indexing report for the following weeks.
If you already migrated, it is not too late. Run your backlink list against the live site today; every dead linked URL you redirect now starts passing its value again.
Sources
- 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
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of 14,596 backlinked URLs on 675 stores that moved to Shopify, October 2026
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.
<iframe id="psm-shopify-migration-404s" src="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/embed/data-studies/shopify-migration-404s" width="100%" height="600" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #E2E3E1;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy" title="Shopify Migration 404s 2026: 30.1% of Old Linked URLs - PageSpeed Matters"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="shopify-migration-404s"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-shopify-migration-404s");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/shopify-migration-404s">Shopify Migration 404s 2026: 30.1% of Old Linked URLs - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How many old URLs break when a store moves to Shopify?
Of 14,596 backlinked URLs on 675 stores that moved to Shopify, 30.1% now return a 404 or 410 and 3.5% redirect to the homepage. 63.7% resolve to a real page.
Which old URLs are most likely to break in a Shopify migration?
Linked files such as images and PDFs (71.9% dead) and old URLs ending in .html, .htm, .php or .aspx (47.8% dead). Product URLs fare better at 24.1%, collection or category URLs at 14.8% and blog URLs at 14.5%.
How do I keep backlinks when migrating to Shopify?
Build your redirect map from backlink data, not just your sitemap. Export every old URL with external links, map each to its closest Shopify equivalent with a URL redirect, avoid sending unmatched URLs to the homepage, and recrawl the old URL list after launch.
A redirect map built from your backlink data keeps the links you have earned working on the new store. Need help with this? See our Shopify migration services.