Use case
Repair broken internal links after catalog changes
Detect Shopify broken internal links after product deletes or URL changes, then approve Link Pilot replacement suggestions and apply safely.
Highlights
What you get out of this flow
Outcomes you can expect when you run this playbook on Shopify.
- Overview Score deducts 30% for broken-link rate in body HTML
- Broken-target rules plus AI cosine neighbors propose replacements
- Approve by Confidence, then re-check faster with Link Automation
Why broken internal links matter
Broken internal links waste crawl budget, frustrate shoppers mid-research, and dilute topical clusters when blogs still point at deleted SKUs. Catalog cleanups, merges, and seasonal take-downs create silent rot in description and article HTML that theme menus never show.
How it works in Link Pilot
Overview → Broken lists edges whose destinations are missing or unavailable. Broken edges drive 30% of the Overview Score deduction. Suggestion generation emits broken target recommendations; when embeddings exist, AI cosine neighbors help pick a successor URL. Rules still run if AI is unavailable. Approve using Confidence and the Why, apply with credits, or DIY. With Link Automation, product/collection webhooks plus plan cadence keep the list fresher after deletes.
Example: discontinued SKU still linked from guides
An electronics merchant archives 40 accessory SKUs. Three how-to articles still link to those handles. Overview Broken shows 11 edges and Score is pulled down by the broken-link rate. Link Pilot suggests the successor collection and two replacement products (replacements typically 80%+ Confidence when titles still appear in the source).
The merchant approves 11 fixes in one credit pack batch and confirms the broken count returns to zero after audit—Score recovers the broken-rate deduction.
Playbook
- After a catalog cleanup, open Link Pilot and run Audit (or wait for Automation sync).
- Open Overview → Broken; sort by source type (blogs often dominate).
- Generate suggestions if replacements are not yet queued.
- Review each broken target suggestion—confirm the new destination is the right successor.
- Approve and apply (or DIY) the batch.
- Re-audit; spot-check one live page in the storefront.
What to measure
- Broken edge count trending to zero after each cleanup
- 404s in Search Console for previously linked URLs
- Time-to-fix after deletes (faster on Growth/Pro sync cadence)
