Product Tagging
Part of Social storefront experiences
Fixing broken product links in a social profile
When a product route from a social profile fails, diagnose the exact step before replacing every link. The profile may point to an old address, the product may be …
A product link on a Facebook or Instagram profile can fail for an outdated address, a product not published to the relevant Shopify sales channel, or an unavailable selected variant. Trace the customer's public path first, then fix the failing step. The key distinction is whether the social entry points to the wrong destination or the product destination itself is unavailable.
Reproduce the customer's path
Use a phone without a merchant login. Start at the public Facebook or Instagram profile, select the product and note where the path stops: no tap target, a missing page, a redirect to the wrong product, a market restriction or checkout failure. If an error page appears, record its message and address; if a different product opens, compare the final address and product with the one intended.
Repeat the test for the intended Australian market and a relevant variant. Record the device and time, and note what the customer sees rather than relying on an internal preview.
If the profile's tap target leads to the wrong destination, correct that social entry on the Facebook or Instagram account where it was added. If it opens a Shopify product page but the product is unavailable, check the product's publishing state and market availability in Shopify.
Fix and verify
In Shopify admin, go to Products and open the product. Check its availability in the Facebook and Instagram by Meta sales channel using the Shopify Help Center guidance titled Publishing products on Facebook and Instagram by Meta. For market availability, use the Sales channels and Markets guidance.
Changing a product title does not automatically change its link: the product URL is edited separately. If the product URL is wrong, open Edit website SEO near the bottom of the product page, check the URL and, if you change it, set up a redirect.
Retest the same public path through to a purchasable destination without placing a real order. Confirm the customer reaches the intended product, market and offer.
If a product is discontinued, remove or replace its social entry and preserve existing order records. Assign an owner to repeat the check after catalogue, market or website changes.
Pre-Check Before Updating Social Product Links
- ✅ Use a non-logged-in deviceTo simulate a real customer experience.
- ✅ Confirm product is published to Meta channelsCheck via Shopify admin > Products > Sales channels.
- ✅ Verify market availability for AustraliaEnsure the product is enabled for the Australian market in Shopify's Markets settings.
- ✅ Update URL only via SEO settingsDo not rely on title changes. Use 'Edit website SEO' to modify the product URL.
- ✅ Set up redirects for old URLsAvoid broken links; use Shopify’s redirect tools for legacy URLs.
