PrestaShop change product URL: what to check before, after, and where the traps are
You change a product URL in PrestaShop on the product page, on the SEO tab, in the friendly URL field. Google traffic stays if the old address responds with a 301 redirect to the new one. With the standard address pattern, PrestaShop does this itself, as long as the canonical redirect is set to 301. Check this before the change and after it.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 5 min read
What happens to the old address after the change?
In a typical store, the old address redirects to the new one by itself, because it contains the product ID. The default pattern looks like this: /lanterns/215-nora-lantern.html. The number 215 is the ID. When someone visits the old address, PrestaShop finds the product by its ID and sees that the rest of the address is out of date.
What it does next depends on one field in Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO: the redirect to the canonical URL. With 301, customers and Google land on the new address, and the ranking moves with them. With 302, Google treats the change as temporary and may keep the old address for a long time. With no redirect, the same product works at two addresses. These settings are described in the PrestaShop documentation on SEO and URLs.
It is different when a module removes the ID from addresses. The store then has nothing to recognise the product by at the old address. It returns a 404, unless the module keeps its own address history.
What to check before and after the change
Five minutes before the change save weeks of making up losses. This table is the whole list.
| When | What to check | Good result |
|---|---|---|
| Before | “Redirect to the canonical URL” in Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO | 301 |
| Before | the product address pattern | contains the product ID |
| Before | modules that change addresses (e.g. “no ID”) | none, or a module with address history |
| Before | whether the category is in the product address | you know which addresses will change together |
| After | the old address in a browser or a header checking tool | a single 301 redirect to the new one |
| After | the new address | response 200, canonical points to itself |
| After | links in descriptions, menus and newsletters | go straight to the new address |
| After | the sitemap | regenerated |
Google sets out the rules in its guides to 301 redirects and to moving a site with URL changes.
How to change a product address step by step
By hand it is a few clicks, but each step matters.
- Check the settings from the table above, especially the 301 in Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO.
- Open Catalog > Products, go into the product and switch to the SEO tab.
- Type the new friendly URL: lower case, no accented characters, words separated by hyphens.
- If the store has several languages, decide on each version separately. Each language has its own address.
- Save and open the old address in a private browser window.
- Fix links to the product in your own descriptions and menu, so they do not go through the redirect.
What traps await when you change an address?
The most common is the category in the product address. You change the category slug from “lamps” to “lanterns”. With it, the addresses of all products with that default category change too. With the right setting, the old addresses redirect with a 301. With the wrong one, you suddenly have several hundred 404 errors, which we cover in the post on 404 errors in PrestaShop.
The second trap is the automatic address change when you rename a product. In Shop Parameters > Product Settings there is an option, “Force update of friendly URL”, which updates the friendly URL together with the name (described in the documentation). You fix a typo, and the product gets a new address you never asked for.
The third is a 302 instead of a 301. The store works, the customer reaches the product and nobody sees a problem. Google sees a temporary redirect. A thread about changing the address pattern and 404 errors keeps coming back on the PrestaShop forum, and cyberfolks describes how such changes damage indexing (both in Polish).
How to change the address and check the redirect straight away
You ask for the address to be changed, and your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) first checks the store settings. The change is blocked when the store redirects with a 302, debug mode is on or a module overrides the address routes. The preview shows the old and new address, and the addresses that will change along the way, such as the category's products. After saving, the chat opens the old address itself and checks that it gives a 301 to the new one.
You: Change the address of the Nora lantern to black-metal-nora-lantern and make sure the old one redirects.
Your chat: The settings are fine: canonical redirect 301, debug mode off, no module changes the routes. Preview for English:
The old address will redirect with a 301 to the new one. I'll save it after your ‘yes’.
You: Save it.
Your chat: Saved. The old address gives a single 301 redirect, and the new one returns 200. Remember that I cannot undo this change from the change history. Going back means another address change, to the previous one.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: /lanterns/215-nora-lantern.html
new version: /lanterns/215-black-metal-nora-lantern.html
An address change differs from other changes in that the change history does not undo it. You undo a description, a price or a redirect with one instruction. You restore an address with another change, with the same preview and 301 check. The chat changes one address in one language at a time, so you always see exactly what is happening.
TellMyShop Pro saves the address change. You can check the settings and old addresses in TellMyShop Free. Example requests are in the use cases changing a product address without losing traffic and changing a category address after a reorganisation. You will find the plans on the pricing page.
Questions and answers
Will changing a product's address lower its Google ranking?
Usually only briefly and slightly, if the old address redirects to the new one with a 301. Google then passes the signals to the new address, but it needs time to visit both. Without a redirect the old address gives a 404 error and the ranking is lost. So change addresses rarely, and always check the old address after the change.
Does PrestaShop change the address by itself when I rename a product?
That depends on a setting in Shop Parameters > Product Settings. There is an option to force the friendly URL to update when the name changes. When it is on, fixing a typo in the name also changes the address. If you do not want addresses to change with every edit, leave it off and change the address deliberately.
What happens to products when I change a category's address?
If the product address pattern includes the category, the addresses of all products with that default category will change. The old addresses only redirect with a 301 if the address contains the product ID and the canonical redirect is set to 301. After the change, check a few old product addresses, not just the category itself.
How do I undo an address change made by the chat?
You cannot undo an address change from the change history the way you can a description or price change. Undoing it means another address change, this time back to the previous one. The chat does it the same way, with a preview and your approval. After saving, it checks that both addresses lead to the right page with a 301 redirect.
Is removing the ID from product addresses a good idea?
An address without an ID looks nicer, but it needs a module that changes PrestaShop's routes. The old address then no longer contains the ID the store uses to recognise the product, and without an address history in the module it gives a 404. If such a module is already running, check every address change especially carefully.
PrestaShop is a registered trademark of PrestaShop SA. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.