Shopify’s recent innovations, including Metaobjects (released in 2022) and Online Store 2.0 (launched in 2021), allow users to build custom templates that automatically populate with dynamic content, enabling merchants to create content-rich pages at scale.
Ultimately, these features allow merchants to build programmatic SEO (pSEO) pages. In this post, we’ll break down how to use Shopify’s tools to create pSEO pages.
Understanding Custom Templates and Metaobjects
Before diving into how these features enable pSEO, it’s important to define two key concepts: custom templates and Metaobjects.
- Custom Templates: In Shopify Online Store 2.0, a custom template is a reusable page layout that determines how content appears across multiple pages. Templates are built using sections and blocks, allowing merchants to create structured, dynamic content that scales efficiently.
- Metaobjects: Reusable content structures that help Shopify store owners organize and display information across multiple pages without manually updating each one. Think of a Metaobject like a spreadsheet where each row is a unique item (like a product or tutorial), and each column is a specific piece of information (like an image, price, or description). When connected to a template, Shopify automatically fills in the right details for each page, saving time and making it easier to scale content.
By leveraging these tools, Shopify users can dynamically populate pages with structured content at scale.
Using Shopify Metaobjects and Custom Templates to create pSEO pages
Metaobjects, combined with the flexibility of Online Store 2.0, allow merchants to display structured, reusable content—such as sections, blocks, or images—across dynamic page templates. These features let store owners deploy a programmatic SEO strategy, where templates and structured data are used to create a high volume of optimized, keyword-rich pages targeting specific long-tail search terms.
For example, an electronics store could design a dynamic template for “Best [type/specification] smart TV under [price range]” that automatically populates sections for product images, specifications, pricing, features, and customer reviews.
Step-by-step tutorial for building pSEO pages with Shopify
Step 1: Build Metaobjects
The metaobject will be used for replacing elements in your pSEO pages with the data from each metaobject item. You can create metaobjects from either of the following locations in your Shopify admin:
- From Content > Metaobjects
- From Settings > Custom data
1. Create a new metaobject: click “Add definition” to start the creation process.
2. Enter metaobject name: In the “Name” field, enter a descriptive name for your metaobject (e.g., "Product Specifications" or "Feature Details").
3. Add fields to metaobject: Click on “Add field” to select the content type (e.g., single-line text, URL, image).
4. Configure field options: For each field, define the type (e.g., Text, Image, Number), set validation rules (e.g., required fields, specific character length), and finalize by selecting “Add.”
5. Toggle any additional options and select “Save.”
Step 2: Create a custom template
Shopify uses its own language to describe page builds, below are the definitions you’ll need to navigate Shopify’s page development tools.
- Theme: Your theme controls the overall layout of your online store.
- Templates: The theme uses templates to specify how content appears on specific pages or page types.
- Sections and blocks: Modules used to customize a template's layout. You can have up to 25 sections per template; each section can contain up to 50 blocks.
In Shopify Online Store 2.0, users can create customizable templates that display metaobject data (or other dynamic content) without hardcoding it for every individual page.
1. Access theme editor: From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes. Find your active theme, and click “Customize” to open the theme editor.
2. Add a new template: in the theme editor, click on “Templates” in the left sidebar, and choose the type of template you want to create (e.g., Product or Custom Page) or create a new template by selecting “Add template.”
3. Create sections: add sections or blocks to the template. For example, you could create a multicolumn section or a photo collage.
4. Add dynamic content (metaobjects): Select the corresponding metaobject to populate the section or block.
5. Use Liquid to pull metaobject data: To pull in the metaobject data, you need to reference it using Liquid code in your theme file. Online Store > Themes > Actions > Edit Code.
Here's an example of how you might reference the metaobject data:
{% assign metaobject = content_for_header.metaobject_name %}
<div class="metaobject-image">
<img src="{{ metaobject.fields.product_image }}" alt="Product Image">
</div>
<div class="metaobject-text">
<p>{{ metaobject.fields.product_specifications }}</p>
</div>
Replace metaobject_name with the actual name of the metaobject you created, and fields.product_image and fields.product_specifications with the specific fields you defined.
Step 3: Import data to create pages at scale
- Prepare your CSV file: create a spreadsheet with columns that match the fields in your metaobject definition. For example, if your metaobject has fields like “product_image,” “product_specifications,” and “price,” your CSV file should have corresponding column headers. Ensure your text fields comply with any validation rules you’ve set (e.g., character limits, required fields).
- Upload the CSV file to Shopify: From your Shopify admin, go to Content > Metaobjets. Select the metaobject definition you want to populate and click the “Import” button to upload your CSV file.
- Automate page creation: Shopify generates pages using the dynamic template and imported metaobject data.
Keep your pages up-to-date
Shopify’s bulk edit functionality allows merchants to mass update pages from a single location. Whether you’re revising product details or updating pricing, changes made to metaobjects are automatically applied to every associated page. This centralized management system is a game changer — saving time, reducing errors, and keeping your pages consistent and up-to-date.
Using Shopify to generate pSEO pages: Jones Road Beauty example
The beauty brand Jones Road Beauty currently uses Shopify for its site build. The company features around 20 “get the look” blog posts that feature different makeup looks people can achieve with Jones Road products. For example, current posts include:
- Hippie Look
- Dusty Rose Glow
- Monochromatic Tawny Look
- Simple Smoky Eye
Each of these pages includes a similar structure with an image and 1-10 steps to achieve the makeup look.
While it’s not evident if Jones Road Beauty uses metaobjects and a pSEO strategy to develop these pages, they theoretically could use “image” and “tutorial step” Metaobjects to build these pages at scale for long-tail searches related to “How to create [name of makeup look].”
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