How to handle out-of-stock and discontinued products for SEO
Keep temporarily out-of-stock products live with a back-in-stock alert and alternatives, so you keep their rankings. For permanently discontinued products, redirect the URL to the closest replacement or collection, or keep the page with a clear message and alternatives if it still gets traffic.
By Abdullah Ashraf, Shopify expert · Last updated: October 2026
Quick summary
- Temporarily out of stock: keep the page live.
- Discontinued: redirect to the closest alternative.
- Never leave important URLs returning errors.
Temporarily out of stock
Keep the page, show expected restock dates, add back-in-stock alerts and suggest alternatives.
Discontinued products
Create a 301 redirect to the replacement product or relevant collection.
Pages with links or traffic
If a discontinued page has valuable links, keep it with a clear message and related products.
Keep exploring
Related pages you might find useful next.
Let's grow your store
Tell me what you sell and where you're stuck. You'll get honest advice and a fixed quote, even if we don't end up working together.