Why Shopify menu links break, and how to catch them before shoppers do

Of the 800+ Shopify stores BugRadar has checked, about 1 in 15 had a link a shopper could click that opened a "Page not found" page. Many of them sat in the main menu or the footer, the two places every shopper sees.

Why it happens

• A collection or page was renamed, so its web address changed, but a menu item still points to the old address.
• A menu item was added by pasting a web address instead of picking the collection or page from the list. Shopify can't keep a pasted address up to date.
• A sale collection was switched off after a campaign, and the link to it stayed in the menu, the footer or the announcement bar.
• A new theme was installed and its footer came with sample links ("About us", "Our story") to pages the store never made.

When a collection or page is deleted, Shopify removes the menu items that point to it. When its address changes, or the link was pasted by hand, the menu item stays and leads nowhere.

Check yours in five minutes

• In your Shopify admin, open Content > Menus.
• Open each menu (main menu, footer, any others) and click every item on your live store, in a desktop browser and in a mobile browser.
• For any item that opens "Page not found", click Edit beside it in the menu and pick the right collection or page from the list instead of typing an address.
• If the old address was shared or advertised, send it somewhere useful: Content > Menus > View URL Redirects > Create URL redirect.

Pick pages and collections from Shopify's list when you build a menu, rather than pasting web addresses. Shopify's help center warns that pasted or changed addresses are a common cause of 404 errors.

Let a robot do it every day

Menus change all the time: new collections, ended sales, theme updates. BugRadar's Free plan opens every link in your Shopify menus, footer included, every day in desktop and mobile browsers, and emails you the moment one breaks.