When a missing product shows your homepage: Shopify soft 404s

Open a product link on your store that doesn't exist, for example yourstore.com/products/this-does-not-exist. A healthy Shopify store answers with a "Page not found" page. Some stores we checked showed their homepage instead, as if nothing was wrong.

Why it matters

• A shopper arriving from an old ad, a shared link or a Google result lands on the homepage with no idea the product is gone, and usually leaves.
• Google calls a missing page that doesn't say it's missing a "soft 404" and lists these in Search Console's Page indexing report.

Why it happens

Shopify returns a proper "not found" for missing products by itself. When a store shows the homepage instead, it's usually an app or a piece of theme code that sends every missing page to the homepage.

How to fix it

• Look for an app that "redirects 404s" or "fixes broken links" and turn that setting off.
• If you can't find an app, ask your theme developer whether the theme sends missing pages to the homepage.
• For a product you replaced, add a specific redirect from its old address to the new one: Content > Menus > View URL Redirects > Create URL redirect. Shopify's redirects only take effect on addresses that are already broken.

A good "Page not found" page still helps the shopper back: a search box and a link to your best sellers. In most themes the 404 template has no settings of its own in the theme editor, so ask your theme developer to add them.

Watch it every day

BugRadar's Pro plan checks that a missing page really says it's missing, along with the rest of its shopper checks (up to 35), every day in desktop and mobile browsers. Try it free for 14 days.