Demystifying Shopify Redirect Chains: Is Your Store's HTTP to HTTPS Flow Normal?

Hey fellow store owners!

There's a topic that pops up in our community forums pretty regularly, and it often sparks a bit of head-scratching: those pesky redirect chains. Specifically, we're talking about situations where your store URL takes a scenic route, like http://www.yourstore.com, and then redirects through a couple of hops before landing on the desired https://yourstore.com. Recently, a community member, pdintane, brought this up with a very specific example:

http://www.domain.com (307) -> https://www.domain.com (301) -> https://domain.com (200)

The core question was: is this multi-redirect chain, especially with that initial 307 temporary redirect, normal and unavoidable on Shopify? And can we simplify it to a single redirect, like http://www.domain.com -> https://domain.com (200)?

Understanding Shopify's Redirect Logic: It's Normal!

Good news first: if you're seeing this kind of redirect chain, you're not alone, and it's generally considered business as usual for Shopify stores. As our community experts, like clickfromai and Maximus3, pointed out, this behavior is a standard part of Shopify's infrastructure.

Think of it as two distinct, necessary steps that happen at different "layers" of Shopify's setup:

1. HTTP to HTTPS (Security Layer): The very first hop, from http:// to https://, happens at Shopify’s edge. This is about ensuring your store is secure and encrypted, which is absolutely critical for trust and SEO. This often involves what's called the TLS (Transport Layer Security) layer.
2. WWW to Apex Domain (Application Layer): The second hop, from https://www.yourstore.com to https://yourstore.com (the "apex" or non-www domain), is Shopify enforcing your primary domain setting. Most store owners prefer the cleaner, non-www version of their URL, and Shopify ensures all traffic eventually lands there.

As Maximus3 succinctly put it, "They are 2 separate layers (tls vs app), doing completely different things. Collapsing them into one isn’t possible with standard dns and shopify’s infrastructure." DNS settings, while powerful for pointing your domain, simply don't have the control to combine these two distinct types of URL redirects.

What About the 307 Redirect?

Pdintane specifically mentioned the 307 temporary redirect in their example. While 301 (permanent) redirects are generally preferred for SEO, a 307 in this initial http-to-https hop isn't usually a cause for alarm within this specific chain on Shopify. Google and other search engines are sophisticated enough to understand these common patterns, especially when they lead to the correct, canonical URL.

Is This Redirect Chain an SEO Problem? (Spoiler: Not Really)

This is where many store owners get anxious, and rightly so! We all want to make sure our SEO is on point. However, both clickfromai and Maximus3 reassure us that this redirect chain is "unlikely to cause an SEO issue" and is "largely a non-issue for SEO."

Why? Because search engines like Google are incredibly good at handling these types of standard redirect chains. They follow them efficiently and understand that the final destination URL (your https://domain.com) is the one to index and attribute all SEO value to. The key is that your final URL is always the same, and it's secure.

As Maximus3 noted, "https://domain.com is what gets indexed." The main goal is to ensure consistency.

Actionable Steps for Store Owners

While you generally can't eliminate this chain without adding complex solutions like a proxy or CDN (which, as clickfromai mentioned, "adds complexity and usually is not worth it"), you can certainly optimize your store to minimize how often this chain is triggered. The goal is to always point to the final, correct URL from the start.

Here’s what our community experts recommend:

1. Confirm Your Primary Domain: First things first, double-check that your desired apex domain (e.g., yourstore.com, without the www) is set as your primary domain in your Shopify admin.
   • Go to Settings > Domains.
   • Ensure https://yourstore.com is listed as the primary domain.
2. Enable "Redirect All Traffic": Make sure Shopify is configured to automatically redirect all other domain variations to your primary domain. This is usually a simple checkbox.
   • In Settings > Domains, there should be an option like "Redirect all traffic to the primary domain." Ensure this is enabled.
3. Update All Internal Links: This is a big one! The best way to avoid the redirect chain is to never trigger it in the first place. Go through your store and update any links that might still be pointing to old HTTP or WWW versions.
   • Navigation Menus: Check your main menu, footer menu, and any other navigation elements.
   • Theme Code: If you've customized your theme, ensure all hardcoded links use your primary HTTPS apex URL.
   • Sitemap: Your sitemap should only contain the final, canonical URLs. Shopify usually handles this automatically, but it's good to be aware.
   • Product Descriptions & Page Content: Any internal links you've added manually within product descriptions, blog posts, or static pages should be updated.
4. Review External References You Control: Think about anywhere else you've linked to your store.
   • Ads: Update your ad campaigns (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.) to point directly to your https://yourstore.com URLs.
   • Email Marketing: Ensure all links in your email templates use the correct format.
   • Social Media Profiles: Update your bio links on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
   • Backlinks You Control: If you have access to websites or directories where you've previously linked to your store (e.g., a business partner's site, a personal blog), update those backlinks to use the final HTTPS apex URL.
5. Canonical Tags: Shopify automatically generates canonical tags for your pages, which tell search engines the preferred version of a URL. Ensure these are correctly pointing to your primary domain. You can often check this by viewing the source code of any page and searching for .

By taking these steps, you ensure that visitors and search engine bots land on your preferred, secure URL as directly as possible, minimizing the need for the redirect chain to kick in. While the chain itself is normal and not an SEO killer, being proactive about your internal and controlled external links is always a best practice for a smooth user experience and efficient crawling.

So, breathe easy! This redirect behavior is a common aspect of Shopify's robust infrastructure designed for security and consistency. Focus on keeping your internal and direct external links clean, and let Shopify handle the rest. Your store is in good hands!