Shopify Product Handle: How to Optimize Them for Success

Shopify product handles matter more than you think. The wrong handles can harm your online visiblity, detract from your customer's experience and make your store seem messy and unorganized.

Let's discover what product handles are on Shopify and how we can optimize them to work for us, rather than against us.

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What is a Shopify Product Handle?

In Shopify, a "product handle" refers to the URL-friendly version of a product's title. It's a part of the product's URL that makes it easy for both search engines and humans to understand the content of the page.

Product handles are typically generated automatically based on the product's title, but they are sanitized to remove spaces and special characters and converted to lowercase letters.

For example, if you have a product with the title "Red Shoes - Size 8," the product handle might be something like "red-shoes-size-8."

This handle becomes a part of the product's URL, making it accessible and SEO-friendly. It helps improve the product's search engine visibility and provides a user-friendly web address for customers to visit the product page

Why Product Handles Matter in Shopify

Product handles in Shopify are important for several reasons:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Product handles are a crucial component of eCommerce SEO. They create a descriptive and keyword-rich URL for each product, which helps search engines understand the content of the page. This can lead to higher search engine rankings and increased visibility in search results.
2. User-Friendly URLs: Product handles create user-friendly URLs that are easy for customers to read and remember. A clear and concise URL structure improves the overall user experience and makes it easier for customers to navigate your website.
3. Consistency: Product handles provide a consistent way to structure URLs for products. This consistency makes it easier for you to manage your website's structure and for customers to predict the structure of URLs.
4. Link Sharing: When customers share product links with others, having a descriptive product handle makes it easier to understand what the link is about without clicking on it. This can increase the likelihood of people clicking on shared links.
5. Branding: Descriptive product handles can contribute to your branding efforts by reinforcing product names and important keywords in URLs. This consistency helps build brand recognition.
6. Accessibility: Accessible URLs are essential for users who rely on screen readers and other assistive technologies. Descriptive product handles contribute to website accessibility by providing meaningful URL text.

In a nutshell, product handles are important for SEO, user experience, branding, and accessibility. They play a significant role in how your products are found and accessed online, making them a valuable aspect of your Shopify store's setup.

How to Edit Product Handles in Shopify

To edit product handles (also known as product URLs or slugs) in Shopify, you'll need to adjust the product's title, and the handle will automatically update to match the new title. Here's how you can do it:

• Login to Your Shopify Admin:Go to the Shopify login page and log in with your credentials to access your admin dashboard.
• Navigate to Products:In the left-hand sidebar of your Shopify admin, click on "Products" to access your list of products.
• Select the Product You Want to Edit:Locate and click on the product whose handle you want to change to open its product editor.
• Edit the Title:In the product editor, you'll see a field for the product's title. Modify the title as desired to create the new handle. Ensure that the title is descriptive and reflects the changes you want to make.

• Handle Update:As you edit the title, Shopify will automatically update the product handle to match the new title. You can see the updated handle just below the title field. You can also manually edit your product handles (and other meta-data) at the bottom of the page here:

• Save the Changes:After making the necessary adjustments to the title, scroll down and click the "Save" or "Save and Close" button to save your changes.
• Check the Updated URL:To confirm that the product handle has changed, you can click the "View" button on the product editor page to view the product on your storefront. The updated handle will be part of the product's URL in the address bar of your web browser.

Please note: that once you change the handle by modifying the title, the old URL will no longer work. Make sure to update any links or bookmarks accordingly if you've shared the old URL elsewhere.

Optimize Your Shopify Product Handles Today!

In conclusion, updating your product handles in Shopify is a straightforward process. By simply modifying the product title in the admin dashboard, you can create user-friendly, SEO-optimized URLs. This small but impactful change can enhance your online store's visibility, accessibility, and overall user experience, driving better results.

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