The 404 and 301 Rabbit Hole

Wish I knew then what I know now

When I first set up my Shopify store, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought the hard part was adding products, writing descriptions, and making everything look nice.

Turns out, the real headache was hidden behind the scenes: 404s and 301s.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

Fast forward to today, and I’ve spent hours cleaning up my site Eco TIGA.

I thought I was just fixing a couple of broken links, but it quickly turned into a rabbit hole - 404 errors everywhere, messy tags, duplicate content, and a trail of URLs that just didn’t connect properly.

Every time I fixed one thing, another issue popped up. It was endless.

The Shopify Mess I Walked Away From

Looking back, I realise my old Shopify site fell apart for exactly this reason. I didn’t know how to handle site structure, redirects, or tags. I kept changing things around, deleting pages, and basically leaving chaos behind me.

At the time, I thought the problem was Shopify. I got so frustrated that I gave up altogether.

But now I know the problem wasn’t the platform, it was my lack of knowledge.

What I’ve Learned from my website here

Working on Eco TIGA here at WA has been a whole different experience. Yes, I’ve still gone down the 404/301 rabbit hole, but the difference is now I understand what’s happening.

I know why broken links appear.

I know how to redirect them properly.

I know that too many tags and categories can cause chaos.

And most importantly,

I know how to build my structure the right way, so I’m not constantly chasing problems.

Hindsight is 20/20

Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have abandoned my Shopify store. I would’ve pushed through and fixed it, because the tools and the knowledge do exist, you just have to learn them.

That’s what WA has given me: the training and community support to actually untangle the mess, instead of walking away from it.

My Takeaway for Fellow WA Members

If you’re at the beginning of your journey, learn from my mistake:

• Don’t panic when you see 404s. They’re fixable.
• Keep your site structure simple and clean from the start.
• And remember, it’s not the platform that fails, it’s usually just missing knowledge.

The rabbit hole might still suck you in from time to time, but at least now you’ll know the way back out.

💬 Have you ever found yourself stuck in the redirect rabbit hole?

How did you handle it?