Shopify Plus Agency Automates Creating 27,000 High-Quality URL Redirects for Client Site Migration

Case Study Details

  • Costs managed for the client
  • Search equity preserved for website replatform
  • Stress removed in the final sprint of the project for a time-intensive task

Some of WISLR’s favorite users are Shopify Plus agencies because they deal with truly awesome datasets. And by awesome, we also mean messy.

One recent site migration for a WISLR user was interesting because the URLs didn’t have a readable taxonomy, which makes mapping to a structured URL on Shopify (or any platform) time-consuming.

Here’s an example of three product URLs for the site before moving to Shopify:

  • /viewproduct.aspx?BR=233579&ProductID=102570
  • /viewproduct.aspx?BR=24217&ProductID=103695
  • /viewproduct.aspx?BR=234404&ProductID=67972

We all know redirects are essential in a migration, so they had to be mapped. It would have been too costly to do by hand. It’s better for the client that the redirects were done in a cost-effective way, which the agency then used to build essential features from their backlog.

How Does WISLR Work, Even with Crazy URLs That Are Unreadable?

WISLR uses an application built on a proprietary natural language algorithm. Even with unreadable URLs, using metadata from the page, the application will find the best match for a URL redirect. It’s also able to find URLs you may have missed with your data import by assigning every URL a quality score. Too often we see a portion of products and categories missed from an import, but WISLR can find what’s missing in your data so you can make sure it’s ready before launch.

Working with WISLR enabled the agency to stay on track for the site migration by doing the time-consuming work of finding the best 1:1 match in the old and new URL datasets.

The Timeline for Getting This Work Done:

Day 1

  • URL datasets compiled - 27,000 URLs in total
  • Files uploaded to the 301 Redirect Tool for processing
  • 10 minutes later, mapping of all URLs done. Final match redirect file ready for upload

Day 2

  • Oh, no Day 2 needed!

The Good Things Happening with This Timeline

  1. A high volume of redirects were completed in less than a day. This is incredibly helpful to delivery teams who need to know when the redirects will be done and ready for import.
  2. Human error was eliminated from the work. Working with large datasets can get messy, and you always want to remove any risk of incorrectly redirecting, or even forgetting, a high-traffic and high-revenue-generating URL.
  3. The time and cost of doing redirects is back in your control. 301 redirect work always requires more time when you’re doing it by hand. WISLR eliminates this by putting the time-intensive work on the algorithm. It’s no exaggeration that we can map 100,000 URLs in less than an hour.

We applaud Shopify Plus agencies that choose to work smarter, not harder, by using our 301 Redirect Tool. Smart solutions allow them to be efficient with the budget they’ve been entrusted with by their client and hold themselves to the standard of getting this work done in the best way possible. The last thing an agency wants are frantic messages from clients the day after launch, calling out 404 errors and creating a dark cloud over the weeks and months of hard work by the team.

Our belief is that site launches should be a day of celebration, not a stressful time waiting for the shoe to drop. Having WISLR take care of your 301 redirects moves you closer to guaranteeing no sleepless nights the week of launch.

Your team may not be doing this task well because you don’t feel you have the time or resources, and we don’t fault you for that. Before WISLR, this task was very difficult to do. It’s common to underestimate the effort required for this work. We only fault you if you’re not doing 301 redirects at all. Now you can always get your redirects done with our fast and affordable tool.