Need to permanently redirect the store homepage (server-side 301) to an internal page; the built-in redirect tool appears to reject an empty source path (“Path cannot be empty”). A 301 redirect is a permanent, server-side redirect used for SEO to signal that a URL has moved.
Update/constraint: One reply states that 301 rules are only evaluated when a page cannot be rendered. Since the homepage renders, the built-in 301 mechanism won’t trigger for it.
Implications: Only client-side redirects are feasible in this setup. Client-side redirects occur after the page loads and are less ideal for SEO, though they shouldn’t noticeably slow down human visitors.
Suggested workarounds:
Render the same content on the homepage as on the target internal page.
Use JavaScript history.pushState or replaceState to update the URL after load (similar to product variant selection behavior).
Open items: Whether server-level configuration outside the store’s tool could enforce a 301 remains unanswered; the asker lacks dashboard access to verify options.
Status: No confirmed server-side solution via the built-in tool; discussion remains open with client-side approaches proposed.
Summarized with AI on December 16.
AI used: gpt-5.
I know that seems a bit strange, but wee need to redirect the store’s homepage to an internal page, and obviously (to make things easier ) we need it to be a server-side 301 redirect.
I don’t have a direct access myself to the store’s dashboard to verify, so I’m asking you, do the redirection built-in tool allows to add the homepage as an URL to redirect ? In someone’s screenshot I’ve seen an error message “Path cannot be empty” (obviously if this is a homepage, path is empty).
Can someone help me understand if we can manage something good and what ?
Thanks
Another problem is that 301 redirection rule will only be checked only if the page at this address can not be rendered (does not exist), which is not the case for homepage.
So, yes, only customer-side redirects. Not ideal, but would not be a significant slow-down (from the human visitor perspective, at least).
But what prevents you from rendering same content on the homepage? And if you need the url updated, can add some JS code to history.pushState() (or replaceState) to update it, similar to what happens when you select new variant on product page.
) we need it to be a server-side 301 redirect.