First, a point of clarification: This blog post is referring to the pages you create under Sales Channels > Online Store > Pages.
It can be a bit confusing to reference these types of pages since, technically, Shopify stores can have hundreds or even thousands of pages — many of which are generated by Shopify using the information you input. These include product pages, collection pages, blog pages, and blog post pages.
Sometimes, to avoid confusion with these other pages, the duplicative label “page pages” is used. From this point on, however, unless I refer to a specific type of page, I’ll be referring to a “page page.”
The main purpose of Shopify’s pages feature is to build internal pages on your site. These pages are typically more informational or “static” compared to product and collection pages and may not change as frequently.
However, every Shopify store should typically have at least these three pages:
In addition to protecting yourself legally, these pages play a huge role in making your Shopify store look legitimate and not a “fly by night” operation.
Although most users won’t read this “boring legal stuff,” it’s still good to have it in place to protect yourself and, in some cases, just seeing these links and a detailed policy spelled out can build confidence in a shopper on the fence from buying from a brand they aren’t familiar with.
Of these three types of pages, the “about us” page is probably the most flexible.
Even if you are a small operation, you can still build an eye-catching and professional “about us” page:
In addition to the three “must have” pages — there are numerous other pages that, depending on what you sell and your industry, are very important to include:
All Out of the Sandbox themes come with a “page.details” template, which lets you use Shopify sections on a page to create unique and complex layouts.
Out of the Sandbox Shopify themes also include a “contact page” template that includes an optional contact form and place to post any other contact methods.
As mentioned, these pages go a long way in creating a positive image of your online store in the minds of potential or existing customers.
When using high-quality imagery combined with well thought out and error-free written content, your store can give off a professional vibe that, combined with other elements of your site, can make or break a conversion.
Having well thought out pages could also help in another, unexpected way — the quality and reputation of your site that major search engines generate for many sites.
As with many things in SEO, the exact effect of quality and reputation rankings, which are often determined by humans reviewing sites and determining if they have well thought out content, is up for debate.
However, since the ability to create meaningful content takes time and resources, it’s not hard to imagine that having quality pages on your site could become increasingly important.
Of course, even if major search engines aren’t using the quality of these pages at all, it’s still worth noting the other benefits such as building shopper confidence — in other words, having these pages likely won’t hurt you in any way as long as they provide worthwhile, well-written content and information.
Having these sorts of engaging pages of any kind encourages users to spend more time on them, which is a great way to send signals to search engines that your site offers quality and relevant products and content.
After building all of these pages, don’t forget to add links to them in your Shopify theme’s navigation.
Content such as “about us” and “how it works” might be important enough to add to your main navigation. Other pages such as policies, FAQs and more can be safely moved to the footer.
You should also look for opportunities to link to these pages from within your other pages — product, collection and blog articles. For example, linking to a “how it works” page from a product description or blog post is a great way to cross-link within your site and keep users engaged.