Why does SignalLane read my Shopify redirects?
So it never suggests a redirect over one you made. SignalLane reads your Shopify redirects list about once a day and when you choose Sync Shopify redirects. A sync never changes your redirects.
SignalLane keeps its own copy of the URL redirects in your Shopify admin (Online Store › Navigation › URL redirects). It reads the list from Shopify about once a day, and when you choose Sync Shopify redirects in the Actions menu of the URL redirects or Broken links page. It reads; a sync never changes your redirects in Shopify.
Why it needs the list
- So it never proposes a redirect over one you made. The suggestion search skips every page you already redirect in Shopify.
- So that, where they check against this copy, the Broken links card can count Broken pages not redirected and the Broken links page can offer Hide pages already redirected in Shopify. Each names the date of the copy it used.
Before it creates a redirect, SignalLane still asks Shopify about that exact path, whatever the copy says, and stops if someone else's redirect is there.
Reading the sync line
Under the URL redirects page title, a line says how long ago the list was last read; the ? beside it gives the exact time in your store's time zone. If a sync fails, the page says so and shows when the last good copy was made. While a sync runs, the page refreshes itself once when it finishes.
When you create or remove a redirect from SignalLane, its copy is updated straight away. A redirect you add in Shopify yourself appears at the next sync, so choose Sync Shopify redirects if you want it seen now.
The permission
Reading and creating redirects both use one optional permission, granted with Allow redirect access. You can decline it: the rest of SignalLane, including the 404 card and the Broken links list, still works. Without it SignalLane neither reads nor creates redirects, and the Broken links page cannot say whether a page is redirected in Shopify.
The switch
Suggest redirects for broken product links turns the feature off without taking the permission back. Off, SignalLane stops looking for broken links to suggest and creates no Shopify redirects. It removes none it already created, and it does not change what visitors see on a dead page. Turning it back on needs no new approval. SignalLane never gives the permission back on its own.
Redirects SignalLane created stay on your store after you uninstall. Press Remove all SignalLane redirects first if you do not want them; it always asks Shopify which of SignalLane's redirects are still there before it removes anything. How redirect suggestions work.
Questions and answers
- Can an out-of-date copy send visitors to the wrong place?
- No. Shopify answers a redirected link itself, before SignalLane runs. The copy only decides what SignalLane suggests and shows you.
- How do I stop SignalLane using redirect access?
- Turn off Suggest redirects for broken product links. SignalLane then looks for nothing to suggest and creates no redirects. The switch does not take the permission back, and SignalLane never gives it back on its own.
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