Seeking Insights on Unusual URL Structures in Stores

[Stefan_W]

Hello everyone,

After my research, I find myself at a standstill and am turning to this knowledgeable community for insights.

I've encountered an issue across several e-commerce stores where URLs are formatted in a peculiar way: collection/collectionName/product/productName.

Despite thorough checks, including SEO configurations and a deep dive into over 150+ source code records for product pages, I've found no indication of how these URLs are generated.

Interestingly, these URLs are functional, leading me to wonder about their origin. While redirecting is an option, I believe in addressing the root cause rather than its symptoms.

Has anyone else faced this issue or have any idea why these URL structures might be appearing? I'm looking for any insights or suggestions on where else I could investigate this anomaly.

Thank you in advance for your help and looking forward to your thoughts!

[Avitanshi_17]

Hi @Stefan_W 

The URL structure you're describing (collection/collectionName/product/productName) is not unusual in Shopify and can occur due to Shopify's default URL structure for certain contexts. This might be happening due to some reasons which are as follows:

1. Default Shopify Behavior:
   Shopify allows products to be accessed through multiple URL paths. A product can have a primary URL like yourstore.com/products/productName but when accessed within the context of a collection, Shopify automatically generates a contextual URL like yourstore.com/collection/collectionName/product/productName
2. SEO and Canonical Tags:
   Shopify includes canonical tags on product pages to point search engines to the primary URL (/products/productName) to avoid duplicate content issues. You can verify this by inspecting the HTML source of the page and looking for the <link rel="canonical">tag
3. Functionality and Context:
   These URLs are functional because Shopify supports them to provide context for users navigating through collections. They’re not necessarily an issue unless they conflict with your SEO strategy or cause confusion.
4. Where to Check:
• Themes and Liquid Files: Check if your theme’s Liquid files (e.g., product.liquid, collection.liquid) include code that generates links in this format. This might be intentional if your theme developer has designed it that way.
• Apps: Some apps (like SEO or navigation apps) can override or customize URL structures. Double-check your installed apps and their configurations.
• Redirect Rules: If manual redirects have been set up, verify that none are creating or maintaining this structure unintentionally.
5. What You Can Do:
• If you want to avoid these URLs being used, ensure your navigation menus and internal links use the canonical product URLs (/products/productName) rather than collection-based ones.
• Alternatively, you could set up redirects, but as you mentioned, addressing the root cause is more effective.

This behavior is generally benign and intentional in Shopify, so unless it’s causing specific problems (like crawl errors, duplicate content warnings, or user confusion), it might not require further action.

Let me know if you need help investigating specific areas or configuring your theme or settings to manage this behavior more effectively.