Inside a Shopware plugin
A technical case with nine isolated resolver checks.
Shopware 6 · Practical guide
Deleted Shopware products. Give old links a useful destination.
A practical workflow for deciding what should happen to an old product URL, configuring Product 404 Redirects and checking the actual HTTP response. For Shopware 6 storefronts.
Start with the product, then choose the response
A product that will return to stock usually benefits from keeping its useful page. Explain availability, show alternatives and keep the address stable. Permanent removal is a different decision: choose what a visitor following the old link should find.
A direct successor can be a better match than an entire category. A relevant category is useful when it answers the same shopping need. Where there is no meaningful destination, a proper not-found response can be the right result.
| Product situation | Possible approach | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Temporarily unavailable | Keep the useful product page | Availability, alternatives and a stable URL |
| Permanently removed with a relevant destination | A deliberate permanent redirect | The final page answers the same need |
| Permanently removed without a useful replacement | A genuine 404 or 410 response | Helpful navigation and no misleading redirect |
A changed SEO URL is different from a deleted product
Shopware’s SEO settings control the URL templates and redirect behaviour for changed SEO URLs. An old slug for an existing product and a URL for a product that has been deleted need different handling. Rebuilding the SEO index updates URLs; it does not recreate a deleted product or decide which alternative a customer needs.
Record the full old address, including the domain and any language path. In a shop with several sales channels, a path alone may not describe the complete situation. See Shopware’s SEO settings documentation for the platform controls.
Configure Product 404 Redirects deliberately
- Check your Shopware version and the matching release in the Store. The published lines are 1.0.11 for 6.7 and 0.1.1 for 6.6; the Store determines current compatibility.
- Install and activate the extension through Shopware’s extension management, then review its configuration for each relevant sales channel.
- Check that redirects are enabled. Review the homepage fallback: turn it off where an unrelated homepage would be a poor destination.
- Decide whether to show the optional visitor notice. Check its wording and duration in the actual storefront language.
- Use a disposable test product assigned to a suitable category with a working storefront URL. Record its address before deleting it.
- After deletion, inspect the rule in the plugin’s administration module. Edit the target if a more specific replacement would serve the customer better.
The plugin captures product URL and category information around deletion and stores rules after successful deletion. Its current deletion handling skips headless channels and entries without a suitable category URL. Installation does not replace destination review.
What about products deleted before installation?
The plugin looks for a saved redirect first, then available deleted SEO URL records and older slug history. Recovery depends on the data still present and whether a useful destination can be determined.
Keep a separate list of unresolved URLs from Search Console, old campaign links or your own catalogue exports. Review those addresses individually. Old URLs without usable records cannot be assumed to gain a relevant category redirect just because the plugin has been installed.
Check every relevant sales channel and language
Test the actual storefront domains, language prefixes and destinations. Check that a German product address stays in the intended German storefront and that the category is accessible in that channel. Storefront handling does not automatically cover a custom headless frontend.
Also test an active product, an existing Shopware redirect and a completely unknown path. These checks help reveal rules that catch too much. The plugin’s resolver gives Shopware’s already resolved routes and existing canonical destinations priority.
Check the response, not just what the browser shows
Start with the old product address in the free checker below. For a deliberate permanent redirect, look for a 301 response and the intended destination. A final 200 confirms that the server returned a successful response; you still need to inspect whether the page is relevant and useful.
A redirect chain, temporary response or homepage target deserves review in context. A 403 or 429 can mean the target blocks automated requests. Browser JavaScript, page content and canonical tags are outside the HTTP checker’s scope.
- Test the old product URL and the category or replacement separately.
- Test each storefront language and sales channel you actually use.
- Test both with the visitor notice enabled and disabled.
- Confirm that active products and unrelated unknown addresses behave as intended.
- Update internal links to the final destination and review the sitemap after catalogue changes.
If the result is unexpected
No redirect: check the plugin configuration, enabled rule, exact source path, available historical data and relevant sales channel. Check other extensions and the platform’s SEO behaviour too.
Wrong destination: inspect the saved target and whether its category is available in the correct storefront. Review the fallback setting and any rules managed outside the plugin.
Repeated redirects: trace each hop, then remove unnecessary intermediate rules where you control them. Make the final address your internal link target.
Different browser and checker results: compare cookies, login state, location, bot protection and JavaScript behaviour. The checker makes an independent request from this server.
Keep the catalogue and rules maintained
Review frequently requested old addresses and the usefulness of their targets. The plugin’s rule hit counts can show activity; they do not measure recovered revenue or preserved Google positions.
The current release defaults to 30 days of redirect-log retention, with scheduled cleanup. This is separate from the redirect rules themselves. Check your configured retention and scheduled-task processing when operating the extension.
Sources and scope
Written by the developer of Product 404 Redirects. Product behaviour is checked against release 1.0.11 and the official Store changelog. Examples are illustrative; verify the response and destination in your own setup.
Discuss your Shopware project
Send your Shopware version, sales channels and the task you need to solve. We can define the next useful step.