Move to Shopify Without Losing Rankings

Moving your online shop to Shopify from WooCommerce, Wix, Square or another platform can be a big step forward. If it isn’t handled properly, though, it’s also one of the easiest ways to lose the Google rankings you’ve built up. Here’s what needs to happen to avoid that.

Why rankings drop after a move

When you change platform, your page addresses almost always change. Shopify uses its own structure, with products under /products/, collections under /collections/ and pages under /pages/. If Google visits your old addresses and finds nothing, those pages drop out of the search results and any links pointing to them are wasted.

1. List every URL on your current site

Before anything else, get a full list of your current pages, products, categories and blog posts. Your sitemap, a crawling tool or Google Search Console can all help. Pay most attention to the pages that bring in traffic and sales.

2. Map old addresses to new ones

Match each old URL to the closest page on the new Shopify store. A product should point to the same product, and a category to the matching collection. Avoid sending everything to the homepage, as Google treats that much like a missing page.

3. Set up 301 redirects

A 301 redirect tells Google a page has moved permanently and passes on most of its value. Shopify has a built-in URL redirect tool, and redirects can be imported in bulk from a CSV file, which is the only sensible way to do it for a big catalogue.

4. Keep your titles, descriptions and content

Carry over page titles, meta descriptions, product descriptions and image alt text rather than starting from scratch. If a page ranks well now, keep what’s working.

5. Check everything after launch

Once the new store is live, submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and keep an eye on the Pages report for errors over the following weeks. Test a sample of old URLs to make sure they redirect properly.

Expect a short wobble

Even a well-handled move can cause a small dip for a few weeks while Google catches up. With redirects in place, rankings usually settle back down. Without them, they often don’t.

Need a hand?

I move shops to Shopify with redirects, SEO checks and data migration handled properly. Have a look at my Shopify and Shopify SEO pages, or get in touch to talk about your move.