- First things first, whatâs a collection description on a Shopify collection?
- Where do you add or edit a description for a collection on a Shopify store?
- What makes a collection description âgoodâ?
- Your âdo this, not thatâ action plan for better collection descriptions
- Whatâs the bottom line on collection descriptions?
First things first, whatâs a collection description on a Shopify collection?
A collection description is a piece of text that appears below the collection title on a collection page. The collection description offers a description of the collection, the included products, and other relevant information.
How much impact do collection descriptions have on your SEO and rankings?
Collection descriptions may be the #1 most impactful piece of collection SEO. Often with Shopify stores, I work with, adding descriptions to their collections boosts their storeâs rankings and increases their traffic from Google.
If you want Google to know more about your collection pages, youâll want to ensure each has a collection description. Adding a collection description will give the body of your collection more content, helping your visitors and Google more easily understand what the collection is about
Here are three examples of collection descriptions. (Want to see more examples of collection descriptions with commentary? Check out these collection description examples.)
Antique Jewelry Mallâs Solitaire Engagement Rings Collection Description

The Chocolate Seasonâs Brownies & Bars Collection Description

SDGâs Disc Golf Discs Collection Description

Where do you add or edit a description for a collection on a Shopify store?
Adding a collection description to a collection is pretty simple.
- Go to a collection page (or create a new collection page)
- Enter your collection description in the âdescriptionâ field at the top of the page

If you add a description to a collection, save the collection, refresh the collection’s public page, and still don’t see a collection description, you might have descriptions turned off in the customizer.
Why are collection descriptions important? What are they good for?
Collection descriptions add a large amount of relevant content to the page, improving the experience for your visitors and giving Google lots more content.
If you want Google to understand better what a collection page is about, one of the best things you can do is to add a collection description to that collection.
Just ~50-75 words of additional content describing the collection and the products in that collection will do your SEO, keyword rankings, and customer experience a world of good.
The content in the description can help your visitors:
- Know what a collection is about and what to expect
- Outline the products included + highlight recommended products
- Include voice-of-the-customer content, like testimonials or feedback
On top of that, collection descriptions are great places to include relevant secondary keywords.
What makes a collection description âgoodâ?
Good collection descriptions do a few things well. (They donât necessarily do all of these, but they at least do some).
- First, good collection descriptions provide an overview and a good amount of content (without going into too much detail) of the collection and products. Theyâre like a retail store sign describing what to expect in an aisle.
- Second, good collection descriptions include links to recommended products, related collections, or blog posts. Altogether, this content in the description helps visitors who land on this collection understand the context of the collection and what to check out next.
- Third, good collection descriptions have ~50 â 125+ words of content. This isnât a hard-and-fast rule and is more of a general guideline. You want enough content in your description to be helpful + valuable for visitors and help Google know what a page is about. And you want to stay short enough that you arenât clogging up the screen. As a guiding light, your goal is to write for humans first and search engine robots second.)
Specifically, I recommend collection descriptions include:
- 50 – 125+ words
- Describe the unique features and benefits of the products in that collection
- Links to ~2-4 select + recommended products and ~1-2 recommended additional collections
When in doubt, look at what your competitors are doing for similar collections and emulate their strategy.
Your âdo this, not thatâ action plan for better collection descriptions
Ready to get started crafting high-quality collection descriptions for your top collections in your store? Hereâs what I recommend you focus on:
First, pick your âtopâ 3-5 collections
Crafting high-quality descriptions for every collection in your store at once is way too heavy of a lift. So, I recommend that you start with just your âtopâ collections. Whatâs that mean? Well, youâll want to pick your priority collections.
Once youâve picked your initial ~3-5 collections, youâre ready to move forward to the next step.
Next, for each collection, write ~50-125+ word collection description
Explain what that particular collection is about and what the reader can expect. Share answers to any common questions.
Can it be longer? Sure, but you want to aim to have just enough content in your collection description so it isnât overwhelming to a visitor. This is a description, after all â not an article. (You can, however, link to a blog post or page you write that goes into greater detail on that collection description with featured recommended products.)
More so, you can always come back and add more content later. So aim to get something in place that you optimize and refine in another ~3-6 months.
Include 1-2 in the collection description to recommended products in that collection
This approach has two significant benefits for your store.
- Links to recommended products in collection descriptions make it way easier for your customers to find your recommended products.
- Google loves seeing these internal links. Google thinks of them like votes for the products and pages youâre linking to. Theyâre a powerful SEO element.
Once youâve finished with your first batch of collection descriptions, pick another ~3-5 new collections to work on
Your goal is to get collection descriptions for all the top-priority collections in your store.
Whatâs the bottom line on collection descriptions?
Collection descriptions are vital for collection SEO! Writing a ~50 – 130 word collection description for a collection might be the single most impactful optimization you can make to that collection.
Remember, the goal isnât to have the perfect collection description. The goal is to have a better-than-average collection description. (If you have no collection descriptions, aspire to add a bit more content to the page.)
- Ideally, youâre adding ~50-125+ words with a few links to recommended products or blog posts/content.
- Maybe you include a short 1-2 sentence testimonial from a customer for some social proof and additional content. (e.g., âTheir BBQ accessories are great, Iâve been a customer for 31+ years!â H. Hill.â)
- But if all you can muster is ~30-50 words for some of the collection descriptions in your store? Thatâs fine too. Maybe youâve ruthlessly prioritized. Or perhaps youâve run out of steam. Either way, youâve improved your store, which is the goal.
Now that you’ve finished reading this chapter on collection SEO, you can:
Or you can jump to one of these reader-favorite chapters:
- Collection SEO Digital Garden Index đ±
- Collection SEO TL;DR Best Practices Summary đ
- Collection Descriptions and SEO (plus examples of Shopify collection descriptions) đ
If you want help growing your Shopify store, I encourage you to check out my Shopify SEO + Growth services or get in touch and tell me about your store.