What is the 404 monitor
The 404 monitor helps you identify missing URLs on your Shopify store. These are pages that customers or search engines try to access but no longer exist, or URLs that are simply incorrect (for example, a typo in a link). By tracking these errors, you can fix the source link or redirect missing pages to improve both user experience and SEO.
Why 404 errors matter
When customers land on a missing page, it creates frustration and often leads to lost sales. For search engines, frequent 404 errors can reduce crawl efficiency and impact how your store is evaluated. Monitoring and fixing these URLs helps keep your store clean, reliable, and easy to navigate.
How the 404 monitor works
InstaIndex automatically tracks URLs that return a 404 error when they are accessed by users or crawlers. Each hit is recorded with the URL, referrer, and user agent. No setup is required — the monitor runs in the background once enabled.
Summary and detailed views
The 404 monitor has two views you can switch between:
Summary view groups 404 hits by URL and shows the total hit count, first seen, and last seen dates for each. This is the best view for prioritizing which URLs to fix first.
Detailed view shows every individual 404 hit with extra columns like referrer and user agent. This helps you trace where the broken links are coming from — whether it's another website, a bot, or a search engine crawler.
Revalidating fixed URLs
After you've fixed broken links (by creating redirects or restoring pages), you can run revalidation to confirm your fixes are working.
Revalidation checks all your 404 URLs to see if they now return a valid response (like 200 OK or a redirect). The process runs in the background — you don't need to keep the page open. Depending on the number of URLs, it may take hours or days to complete.
Once finished, results appear in the status column of the summary view:
Fixed — the URL now returns 200 OK
Redirected — the URL now redirects (301, 302, etc.)
Still 404 — the URL still returns a 404 error
Rate limited — the check was rate-limited by the server
Check failed — the URL could not be reached
If a URL receives a new 404 hit after being marked as fixed, it will automatically be included in the next revalidation.
You can run revalidation whenever you've fixed a batch of broken links.
Exporting 404 data
Use the Export CSV button to download all your 404 URLs. This is useful for sharing with your team or importing into a spreadsheet for bulk redirect planning.
Pausing and resuming
You can pause the 404 monitor from the Settings button. While paused, no new 404 errors are recorded. Existing data is preserved. Resume at any time to start tracking again.
What you can do with 404 data
Identify missing, outdated, or incorrect links (including typos)
Fix the source link when the URL is wrong (recommended for typos or invalid links)
Redirect missing pages to relevant content when a page was moved or removed
Restore pages that were removed by mistake
Revalidate fixed URLs to confirm your redirects are working
Export 404 data for team review or bulk redirect planning
Improve navigation and customer trust
Does fixing 404 errors help SEO?
Yes. Fixing broken links and redirecting genuinely moved or removed pages helps search engines crawl your store more efficiently and prevents customers from landing on dead ends.
Learn more in this article : FAQs about 404 monitor