The prefix is fixed. The slug is yours. Most Shopify merchants optimize neither — here’s which one actually moves rankings, and the one rule that protects everything you’ve built when you change a URL.
Clean, keyword-rich URLs cost you nothing to implement and improve both rankings and click-through rates. The mistake most merchants make is assuming Shopify controls everything — it doesn’t. The prefix is fixed; the slug is yours to optimize.
If you want a full audit of your store’s URL structure — missing keywords, duplicate slugs, redirect gaps — Plug In SEO surfaces the issues.
Run the Audit →How Shopify URL structure works
Shopify URLs follow a fixed pattern: a mandatory prefix, then your customizable slug.
| Page type | Fixed prefix | Your slug |
|---|---|---|
| Product | /products/ | blue-running-shoes |
| Collection | /collections/ | womens-running |
| Page | /pages/ | about-us |
| Blog post | /blogs/news/ | how-to-choose-running-shoes |
The prefixes are permanent — you cannot remove or rewrite them. What you fully control is the slug: everything after the prefix. That’s where your SEO optimization happens.
SEO best practices for Shopify slugs
- Use hyphens:
blue-running-shoes - Include the primary keyword
- Keep it to 3–5 words
- Use lowercase only
- Use underscores:
blue_running_shoes - Leave default IDs or random strings
- Include dates in product slugs
- Stuff multiple keyword phrases
The one rule that protects everything: redirect before you change
Once a URL is live and indexed — or shared anywhere — changing it without a 301 redirect breaks that link and loses any SEO value the old URL had built.
A 301 redirect tells Google: this page has permanently moved. Google’s official redirect documentation confirms that 301 redirects pass PageRank — meaning the SEO value built on old URLs transfers to the new destination rather than disappearing.
Shopify has a built-in redirect tool: Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects. Add the old URL and the new URL, and Shopify handles the rest.
For stores with large catalogues where product names and slugs change regularly, Plug In AI handles this automatically — when it optimises product URLs in bulk, it creates the 301 redirect for each change so nothing breaks.
Collection page slugs: the easiest keyword win on Shopify
Collection pages often have the most SEO potential because they rank for broader category terms — the searches with the highest volume. The /collections/ prefix is fixed, but the slug should map directly to the category keyword.
Common mistakes: using /collections/all as a main navigation page (no keyword value), creating /collections/featured or /collections/new slugs that describe store merchandising rather than what customers search for, and having multiple collections with identical descriptions under different slugs (duplicate content).
Best practice: each collection slug should match a real search term — womens-running-shoes, not running-cat-4.
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove /products/ from Shopify URLs?
No. The /products/ prefix is hardcoded into Shopify and cannot be removed on any standard plan. If clean URLs without prefixes are a hard requirement, you would need a headless Shopify setup — an enterprise-level architecture change.
Does Shopify URL structure affect SEO?
Yes, indirectly. You can’t change the prefix, but the slug you choose matters for keyword relevance and click-through rate. /products/blue-running-shoes-womens is better for SEO than /products/style-1042-b-variant-2 for the relevant search term.
What happens to SEO if I change a Shopify product URL?
If you change a product handle without setting up a 301 redirect, anyone who linked to or bookmarked the old URL will hit a 404, and any SEO value from links to the old URL is lost. Always set up a redirect before or immediately after changing a URL.
How do I change a product URL on Shopify?
Go to Products, open the product, scroll to the Search Engine Listing section, and click “Edit website SEO.” Edit the URL handle there. After changing it, go to Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects and add a redirect from the old URL to the new one.
Should Shopify collection URLs include keywords?
Yes. /collections/womens-running-shoes will rank better for “women’s running shoes” than /collections/cat-12 or /collections/featured. The collection slug is one of the easiest keyword wins on Shopify because it maps directly to a category search term.
Audit your store’s URL structure
Plug In SEO checks for missing keywords in slugs, duplicate content, and redirect gaps — and tells you which fixes will have the most impact.
Install Plug In SEO →