Hi all, I’ve gotten a few mixed answers from chat so I’m here to try to clear it up. I am migrating to shopify from an antiquated platform and trying to retain my first page google rankings. I understand that in shopify they use canonical and non-canonical URLs when a product page is duplicated in different collections. I have my store built and almost ready to launch, so I’m starting on my 301 redirects from my old platform to avoid 404 pages.
My question is: Does it matter if my 301 redirect sends the customer to a non-canonical product page, or is it best for the customer to be sent directly to the canonical product page? From a user standpoint it would help for some 301 redirects to send them to the product within the category - so the customer can see similar products to the redirected page, but I do not want to be penalized or the redirect to seem like a duplicate to the crawlers.
Below is an example, I would like to know which URL to use for the 301 redirect for: https//www.oldwebsite.com/old_ tree_category_name_product-a
Do I choose #1 or #2 URL below?
Thanks, Elliot