Shopify’s URL structure is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the platform. Merchants frequently believe the fixed /products/ and /collections/ prefixes damage their SEO. They do not — and understanding why, and what you can actually change, will save you from making migrations that do more harm than good.
Understanding Shopify’s URL Paths
Shopify generates URLs in fixed structures depending on content type:
/products/[handle]— individual product pages/collections/[handle]— collection (category) pages/pages/[handle]— static pages (About, Contact, FAQ)/blogs/[blog-name]/[post-handle]— blog articles/policies/[policy-name]— legal pages generated from Settings
These prefixes are hard-coded into Shopify’s architecture. You cannot remove them without rebuilding on a custom framework. This is a deliberate platform design choice, not a limitation you can work around with apps or theme edits.
Does /products/ Hurt Your SEO?
No. Google’s John Mueller has explicitly confirmed on multiple occasions that URL structure — including subdirectory prefixes like /products/ — does not affect ranking. Google’s crawlers are intelligent enough to understand URL hierarchy regardless of the folder name. What matters is the content on the page, the page’s authority, and its relevance to the query — not whether the URL says /products/ or /shop/.
Merchants who migrate away from Shopify purely to change URL structure consistently find no SEO improvement, and often face a rankings dip during the migration window before signals transfer.
What You CAN Change: The Handle
The part of the URL after the prefix — the handle — is fully editable in your Shopify admin. For a product, the handle is set from the product title when first created but can be changed manually. Access it via Products → [Product] → scroll to Search engine listing → Edit website SEO → URL and handle.
The handle should be the cleanest, most keyword-relevant version of the product name. Remove stop words, redundant descriptors, and any auto-generated numerical suffixes Shopify sometimes appends when duplicate handles exist.
Handle Editing and Automatic 301 Redirects
When you change a product or page handle, Shopify automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This is excellent behaviour — it means you can clean up handles without losing the accumulated backlinks or PageRank pointing at the old URL. Verify the redirect is working after any handle change by visiting the old URL in an incognito window.
Note: automatic 301 redirects are created for products and pages, but check behaviour for collections in your Shopify version — occasionally the redirect needs manual creation in Navigation → URL Redirects.
URL Best Practices
| Practice | Good example | Bad example |
|---|---|---|
| Use hyphens (not underscores) | /products/slim-leather-wallet | /products/slim_leather_wallet |
| Lowercase only | /products/red-dress | /products/Red-Dress |
| Include primary keyword | /products/rfid-blocking-wallet-men | /products/product-1234 |
| Remove stop words | /products/leather-bifold-wallet | /products/the-best-and-finest-leather-wallet |
| Keep it short | /collections/mens-shoes | /collections/all-mens-shoes-footwear-trainers-boots |
| Avoid dates in product URLs | /products/summer-dress | /products/summer-dress-2024 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove /products/ from Shopify URLs?
Not without leaving the Shopify platform. The path structure is built into Shopify’s routing at a platform level. No app, no theme edit, and no custom domain configuration changes this. If a developer or app claims otherwise, they are either mistaken or proposing a redirect workaround that introduces additional complexity without SEO benefit.
What happens to old URLs if I change a product handle?
Shopify creates an automatic 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This preserves any search engine ranking equity and ensures existing links (from emails, social posts, other websites) continue to work. Always verify the redirect is live before considering the task complete.
Should I include the year in Shopify URLs?
For blog posts covering time-sensitive topics, a year in the URL can help with click-through rates in search results. For product and collection pages, avoid dates entirely — they date your content and require URL changes (and new redirects) each year, creating unnecessary technical debt.
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