How can I remove '/Pages' from my store's URL?

Store Design

Topic summary

Store owners are frustrated by Shopify’s mandatory URL structure that includes /pages, /collections, and /products in URLs. Users want cleaner URLs (e.g., site.com/about-us instead of site.com/pages/about-us) for SEO benefits and professional appearance.

Key SEO concerns:

  • Forced URL paths make pages appear as subcategories to Google, reducing ranking potential
  • Competitors on other platforms with cleaner URLs rank higher
  • URL structure affects keyword relevance and click-through rates
  • Makes site migrations from other platforms extremely difficult

Shopify’s response:

  • Feature request logged but no timeline provided (repeatedly stated over 3+ years)
  • Staff claim feedback is being collected and forwarded to developers
  • No concrete updates or commitment to implementation
  • Redirects can mask URLs when sharing but don’t change actual structure

Community reaction:

  • Thread spans 5+ years (2018-2023+) with 43k+ views and 170+ replies
  • Multiple users threatening to switch platforms (BigCommerce, WordPress, Magento)
  • Growing frustration over lack of transparency and progress
  • Some note Shopify’s own website doesn’t use /pages structure
  • Users feel dismissed and question platform’s commitment to professional SEO needs

Status: Unresolved. No workaround exists to actually remove these URL segments, only redirects to mask them.

Summarized with AI on November 2. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
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Here is justification for removing ‘pages’ from Shopify URL. Let us compare two below URLs. Even if we work hard on SEO work, the first url is not going to show up in searches but the second one might. When we search a product, Amazon shows up at the top. If some good SEO work is done by Shopify then Shopify search results may show up close to those of Amazon. But for some hidden reason, Shopify does not seem interested in that. If Shopify can work on general SEO / Page Speed etc, then the search results will increase drastically. The second url generation is possible in Woo-commerce, but not in Shopify.

https://example11.com/pages/designer-shoes (this is how Shopify does)

https://example11.com/designer-shoes (this is how, it should be)