Demystifying Shopify URLs: Taming /pages/ and /collections/ for a Cleaner Storefront & Better SEO

Demystifying Shopify URLs: Taming /pages/ and /collections/ for a Cleaner Storefront & Better SEO

Hey fellow store owners! Ever found yourself scratching your head, looking at your live Shopify store's URLs and thinking, "Wait, why does it say /pages/ or /collections/ in there? Can I get rid of that?" You're definitely not alone. It's a super common question, and we recently saw a great discussion in the Shopify community where a merchant brought it up, asking why their xyz.com/support link was showing up as xyz.com/pages/support live, and what was up with the bare /collections page.

As migration experts at Shopping Cart Mover, we encounter these questions frequently. It's a fantastic inquiry because it touches on something fundamental about how Shopify works. Let's dive into what the community experts shared and how you can get more control over your store's appearance, even with these "baked-in" URL segments.

Understanding Shopify's URL Nature: The "Why" Behind /pages/ and /collections/

First off, let's clear the air: if you're seeing /pages/, /collections/, /products/, or /blogs/ in your URLs, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your store setup! This is just how Shopify's core routing works. These prefixes are "baked into" the platform to categorize content types.

Think of it like this: Shopify uses these segments to know whether it's displaying a static page, a collection of products, an individual product, or a blog post. It's a structural decision by Shopify, not something you or your theme accidentally introduced or can easily remove without advanced (and often unsupported) theme modifications. For merchants migrating to Shopify, understanding this default structure is crucial for planning your new site's architecture.

Should You Worry About SEO or Customer Experience?

The short answer is: No, not at all! Customers are incredibly used to seeing these URL structures across virtually every e-commerce platform. They understand that yourstore.com/collections/summer-sale is a collection, and yourstore.com/pages/about-us is an information page. Search engines like Google are also perfectly adept at crawling and indexing these URLs. There's no inherent SEO penalty for having these segments in your URLs.

However, while not a direct SEO issue, a cleaner, more intuitive URL can sometimes contribute to a better user experience and appear more professional for branding. This is where strategic customization and redirects come into play.

Taking Control: Customizing Your /collections/ Page for a Curated Experience

By default, if you navigate to yourstore.com/collections, Shopify often displays a list of *all* your collections. While functional, this might not be the curated experience you want for your customers. You might prefer to highlight specific collections or organize them differently. Fortunately, you can customize this page significantly.

Here's how to clean up your /collections page to show only the collections you want, as discussed in the community thread:

1. Go to your Shopify Admin, then navigate to Online Store > Themes.
2. Click Customize on your current theme.
3. At the top of the theme editor, click the dropdown menu (usually showing "Home page") and select Collections list. This will take you to the template for your main collections page.
4. In the left sidebar, you'll likely see a section called "Collections list page" or similar. Hover over this section and click the eye icon to hide it. This removes the default display of all collections.
5. Below the hidden section, click Add section. From the options, choose Collection list (or a similar section like "Multi-column" if your theme offers more advanced layout options for displaying collections).
6. Once added, click on the newly added "Collection list" section. You'll see blocks for individual collections. Click the first Collection block, then click Select collection.
7. Pick a specific collection you want to display on this page. Repeat this process for each collection block, adding as many as you need to showcase your featured collections. You can also add more "Collection" blocks within the section if your theme allows.
8. Once you've arranged and selected your desired collections, click Save in the top right corner.

Now, when customers visit yourstore.com/collections, they will see a beautifully curated list of only the collections you've chosen, improving navigation and merchandising.

Crafting Cleaner URLs: Implementing Redirects for /pages/

While Shopify's /pages/ prefix is standard, you might want to promote a simpler URL like yourstore.com/support instead of yourstore.com/pages/support in your marketing materials or navigation. This is where Shopify's built-in URL redirects come in handy.

Here's how to create a redirect to make your desired URL work, as demonstrated in the thread:

1. From your Shopify Admin, go to Content > Redirects (previously found under "Online Store" > "Navigation" > "URL Redirects").
2. Click Create URL redirect.
3. In the "Redirect from" field, enter the cleaner URL you want to use (e.g., /support).
4. In the "Redirect to" field, enter the full Shopify URL for the actual page (e.g., /pages/support).
5. Click Save redirect.

Now, anyone who types or clicks yourstore.com/support will automatically be taken to yourstore.com/pages/support, but they'll see the cleaner URL in their browser address bar, providing a seamless and professional experience.

Beyond the Basics: Other Shopify URL Considerations

Remember that these structural prefixes (/products/, /blogs/, etc.) are inherent to Shopify. While you can't remove them directly, understanding how to manage and optimize their presentation, as we've shown with /collections and /pages, empowers you to create a more polished and user-friendly store.

For merchants considering a platform migration, rest assured that expert services like Shopping Cart Mover are well-versed in handling these Shopify URL structures. We ensure that your existing SEO value is preserved through proper redirect mapping, translating your old site's URLs to Shopify's format seamlessly.

The Bottom Line: Shopify's URL Structure is Your Friend

Ultimately, Shopify's URL structure is designed for robust e-commerce functionality. While it may not always align with a "perfectly flat" URL structure some SEO purists advocate, its impact on your store's performance and search engine visibility is negligible compared to the quality of your content, products, and overall user experience.

By using the customization and redirect features, you can easily enhance the presentation and accessibility of your Shopify store. Whether you're just starting your e-commerce journey or looking to optimize an existing store, understanding these foundational elements is key to a smooth operation on Shopify. If you're considering launching your own online business, starting a Shopify store is an excellent choice for its robust features and user-friendly interface.

Focus on providing great products and an excellent shopping experience, and let these simple Shopify tweaks handle the URL aesthetics!