Product in collections URLs disappeared. Will this hurt SEO ranking?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

After switching from the Minimal to the Dawn theme, product links no longer include the collection path. Previously: /collections/{collection}/products/{product}; now: /products/{product}. Google’s URL Inspection reports the collection-based product URL as not indexed, though the link still resolves when visited.

Key questions raised:

  • Will losing the collection path hurt SEO?
  • What are the pros/cons of product-only URLs?
  • Should the collection-based product URL be indexed?

Implementation detail (code-related): A reply notes Dawn uses a link pattern like {{ collection_product.url | within: collection }}. They suggest adjusting link generation by removing “| within:” to change URL behavior. The code snippet is central to how URLs are formed.

Outcomes/decisions: No definitive answer provided on SEO impact or whether to request indexing of collection-based product URLs. The discussion focuses on how to modify theme code rather than SEO strategy.

Status: Unresolved. The thread lacks a clear consensus on SEO implications and next steps beyond the code edit suggestion.

Summarized with AI on December 12. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I’ve recently changed my theme from Minimal theme to Dawn theme and noticed that all urls related to a product disappeared, except the direct url of the product itself. For example, in Minimal theme, when I clicked Featured Brands > Brand > A Product of that brand, the url of my final page would be:

domain/collections/collection name/products/product name

However, now if I do the same thing, the final page will be

domain/products/product name

When I use URL Inspection tool, it said domain/collections/collection name/products/product name is not on Google, but the link is still working, i.e. when I pasted it on Google, the page still shows up.

Will this hurt my SEO ranking? What are the upsides and downsides of this? Show I ask google to index the collection product page?

Please help. Thank you!

1 Like
2

Dawn theme using similar this
{{ collection_product.url | within: collection }}
if you want to old theme like, just search this and remove | within: