Custom Permalink Functionality Fails to Deliver as Promised in Square Online

[erinreyehair]

Hi Square Team and Fellow Sellers,

I’m reaching out because I’ve encountered an ongoing and frustrating issue with Square Online’s custom permalink feature, and I’m hoping for clarity or—better yet—a fix.

I recently tried setting a custom permalink for a product/service through the SEO settings on my Square Online store. I followed the instructions carefully, updated the SEO title, description, and permalink, and published the changes. Despite this, the live URL still defaults to the auto-generated link, which includes /product/ and the item ID, rather than the clean permalink I set.

For example:

I created this permalink:

/olaplex-scalp-longevity-treatment-ukiah

But Square forces it to display as:

/product/olaplex-scalp-longevity-treatment-ukiah/[item-ID]

This is misleading and counterintuitive. Nowhere in the setup process does Square clarify that custom permalinks are purely cosmetic for SEO metadata, not actual URL slugs.

This defeats the purpose of custom permalinks, which are supposed to help with:

✅Search engine optimization

✅Cleaner, more user-friendly links

✅Directing customers to a simple URL that matches marketing materials

Instead, we’re stuck with auto-generated URLs that we can’t customize—something most other website builders (Shopify, Wix, WordPress) have offered for years.

I’ve cleared caches, tested on multiple browsers, and even checked Square’s documentation, but the problem persists.

If custom URL slugs aren’t actually functional in Square Online, that needs to be made clear upfront. And if they are meant to work (as implied by the SEO customization tools), this feature is broken and needs fixing.

Please clarify:

1.Can we create truly custom URLs in Square Online?

2.If not, when will Square allow this basic functionality?

3.If so, why does it not work as described?

Many of us small businesses rely on clean, functional URLs for SEO and customer experience. Right now, Square’s system makes this nearly impossible.

Looking forward to answers and transparency.

[TheRealChipA]

@erinreyehair In all of that diatribe, you didn’t mention your website URL.  Can you please provide that?

[erinreyehair]

always a pleasure dealing with such helpful "experts".

in all of that snark, you didn't mention an answer to any of my questions. 🥱

how is the direct link relevant to the questions I asked?

but congrats on being the first to comment. hope you get the points!

[TheRealChipA]

I would have answered your questions.  But first I wanted to see exactly what is happening.  I don’t care about points.  I also don’t care about your attitude.  I just need your URL first so that I can check out a suspicion.  Wow.  Your miserable existence is certainly showing.  I’ll be ignoring your posts from here on.

[erinreyehair]

Since you’ve made it clear you don’t care about points, I’m asking you to delete your comments from this thread. Your answers didn’t address my actual question, and now the post is marked as “answered” in a way that discourages anyone else from offering a real solution.

The Square Champion program clearly incentivizes fast responses, even when they aren’t helpful. First replies often get marked as “solved,” which buries the post and limits visibility to others who might actually have answers. Whether intentional or not, your response created that problem here—and it’s not the first time I’ve seen this happen with your replies.

This is supposed to be a professional space where sellers come for peer support, but your condescending tone works against that.

And if you really don’t care about my “attitude,” there’s no reason for you to be so reactive or make personal comments about my “miserable existence.” That kind of projection is unnecessary and completely uncalled for.

I’m asking you to delete your responses and move on. I don’t want your input on my posts again. Thank you.

[erinreyehair]

Appreciate you chiming in, but I’m really hoping for a solution, not snark.

The question wasn’t about my website link—it’s about Square Online’s lack of true custom URL support, which is a known limitation.

If you have a workaround or insight into Square’s product roadmap on this issue, I’d genuinely appreciate it. Otherwise, tagging in support might be more helpful than sarcasm.

[ryanwanner]

Hello @erinreyehair !

You know, I never noticed that before. When I use a permalink from my SEO I got a 404 error, but when I use the link autogenerated with the item id at the end, the site shows my product.

I agree, that seems to not be a good way to do this. I'm going to tag a couple of the moderators that work with the online side to see if we can get some more visibility into what's going on here. Hey @trisha_m , @Marco , @Summer2024 , and others: any ideas?

[Summer2024 · Accepted solution]

Hi @erinreyehair , 

Thank you for such a thorough and well-documented explanation of the URL structure issue you're experiencing. This is indeed a frustrating limitation that affects many sellers trying to optimize their SEO and customer experience. Below you will find an outline I have prepared that includes the transparency you have asked for. I hope this helps. 

Current Situation with Square URLs

You're correct - Square Online currently maintains a specific URL structure that includes /product/ and the item ID. This is part of Square's core architecture and, unfortunately, cannot be fully customized at this time.

Your example perfectly illustrates the issue:

Desired URL:
/olaplex-scalp-longevity-treatment-ukiah

Actual URL:
/product/olaplex-scalp-longevity-treatment-ukiah/[item-ID]

Addressing Your Specific Questions

1. Can we create truly custom URLs in Square Online?

   • Currently, no. The system maintains its structured URL format
   • The SEO settings allow customization of the slug portion but not the complete URL structure
   • The /product/ prefix and item ID suffix are system requirements

2. When will Square allow this functionality?

   • This is a frequently requested feature
   • I recommend submitting this as a feature request through your Square Dashboard
   • The more sellers who request this, the higher priority it may receive

3. Why doesn't it work as described?

   • The SEO settings primarily affect metadata and search engine presentation
   • The URL structure is tied to Square's catalog and inventory management system
   • This should be more clearly communicated in the documentation

Temporary Workarounds

1. SEO Management

   • Use canonical tags (automatically handled by Square)
   • Focus on strong meta descriptions and titles
   • Utilize other SEO tools available in Square

2. Marketing Solutions

   • Use URL shorteners for marketing materials
   • Create landing pages for specific campaigns
   • Use QR codes when sharing links offline

1.  

Next Steps You Can Take

1. Submit Feedback

   • File a feature request through your Dashboard
   • Include specific use cases and business impact
   • Share examples of lost opportunities

2. SEO Optimization

   • Focus on other SEO elements you can control
   • Use strong product descriptions
   • Optimize image alt tags and metadata

[ryanwanner]

Thank you @Summer2024 for the detailed explanation!

I do wonder, though, if it would be possible for the dev team to add some type of forwarder so that if we were to use the base permalink /product/product-name it would automatically send the visitor to the correct /product/product-name/id URL? That way we could still use permalinks but somewhat get by the restriction. Not sure how that would affect SEO though...

[erinreyehair]

Thanks for confirming that Square Online does not currently offer true custom permalink functionality—despite the fact that the platform clearly labels the field as “a unique and customizable segment within the item URL.”

This misleading description led me (and likely many others) to believe we’d have control over the actual live URL, not just the SEO slug or metadata. I’ve now wasted hours trying to resolve an issue that should have been clearly communicated from the start.

Square should be transparent in their documentation and interface language, rather than misrepresenting basic functionality that sellers rely on for SEO and customer experience.

I will be sharing this feedback with other sellers and considering formal complaints with consumer protection organizations, as this is a clear case of misrepresentation.

I encourage Square to clarify this in both the Seller Community and their platform UI to prevent further confusion.

[ryanwanner]

@erinreyehair You are absolutely correct that this could have been made a lot clearer, and I’d hope that the dev team takes this as a learning lesson and fixes this gap. 

I will say, however, that the info popup specifically states “within the item url.” That doesn’t mean it is all of the url, just that we can play with this specific part. This is definitely where the clarification is needed, or even the auto forwarder I mentioned in my other comment here. 

I fully understand your frustration here—I’ve been there with a few little tricks Square has thrown my way over the years—, however I caution threatening formal complaints if you want the change to happen in a quick manner. If a customer came into your salon and complained loudly and threatened action because your advertised price didn’t include a full treatment because you didn’t make it perfectly clear, would you be motivated to change things or would you just be saying “eff that person” in your head? After seeing your interactions throughout this thread, I think I know what your answer would be. 

We all want to make Square work the best for our businesses, but we can’t expect Square to be everything our business needs. There are over 3 million sellers on the platform: it would be an impossible ask. So what we need to do is figure out how to make what’s there work best for us. 

So yes, the permalinks don’t work exactly as they should. Let’s look at your implementation of them and how we can make it work. We can then use what we learn to better help other sellers with the same issue. 

[erinreyehair]

Ryan, I appreciate your input, but I respectfully disagree with several points in your reply.

The language Square uses in their SEO interface explicitly states that the permalink is “a unique and customizable segment within the item URL.” That’s a clear implication that users will have control over their actual URLs. It’s misleading, and that’s not a matter of interpretation—it’s a fact.

To use your salon analogy: if I advertised a service as including something, but didn’t deliver on it, that would be considered false advertising. And yes, I would fully expect a guest to hold me accountable and potentially file a complaint. That’s what transparency and integrity demand.

I’m not here to threaten anyone. I’m here to call out a legitimate problem that has a direct impact on my business, SEO, and customer experience. Sellers shouldn’t be gaslit into silence because “Square has 3 million users.” Volume doesn’t excuse a lack of clarity or accountability.

If Square Champions and Beta Testers truly want to help sellers, it would start with pushing for accurate feature descriptions and advocating for transparency—rather than asking people to lower their expectations.

At this point, I’m prioritizing moving my business to platforms that offer the transparency and flexibility Square can’t. I’m leaving this thread for others who may find the information helpful. Wishing you all the best.

[ryanwanner]

@erinreyehair I respect your desire to move onto a different system. 

To me, the term “within” doesn’t mean the entire url, but at this point that’s just splitting hairs. 

As a Champion and Beta tester, we do have the ear of the developers a little more than we probably should, and when things like this come up we ping our leads to make sure it gets fixed, either the terminology or the actual product. I’m confident this will get changed one way or the other soon. 

I wish you the best, and I hope you find a software package that suits your needs. We will continue our work here bettering the Square product—not lowering expectations but fulfilling needs as we find them.