If your Shopify store sells multiple brands, you could be leaving a significant amount of organic traffic on the table. Not because your products aren't good, or your content is lacking, but because your site architecture isn't set up to capture it.
Shoppers search by brand constantly. "Best Petzl head torch," "Vaikobi buoyancy aid Ireland," "O'Neill wetsuits for kids." These are high-intent queries from people who already know what they want. If your store doesn't have a dedicated, optimised page for each brand you stock, you're not giving Google anywhere sensible to send them.
Why this matters for SEO
Before getting into the how, it's worth being clear on the why. A properly built brand structure gives you:
- Dedicated, indexable collection pages for every brand you stock, each capable of ranking for brand-specific searches
- A clean internal linking structure that helps Google crawl and understand the full depth of your catalogue
- Stronger topical authority for each brand within your store's context
- Anchor text rich links from every product page back to its brand collection, naturally and at scale
- A brand list page that becomes a hub of internal links, which distributes crawl equity efficiently across the site
- A better experience for shoppers who browse by brand, which tends to reduce bounce rate and improve session depth
- Control over where your brand links point, rather than leaving it to Shopify's default vendor URL structure, which you have no control over
Now, here's how to actually build it.
Step one: Create a collection page for each brand
The first job is to create a dedicated Shopify collection for every brand you stock. The URL structure should match the brand name cleanly, for example /collections/vaikobi or /collections/petzl. This is important because the URL itself is a ranking signal, and a clean match to the brand name makes it easier for Google to understand what the page is about.
Each brand collection page needs a proper description at the top of the page, above the product grid. Keep it concise but purposeful. Introduce the brand, what they make, who it's for, and why your store stocks them. This content gives Google something to work with beyond just a grid of product titles.
Below the product grid, use Shopify's collection metafields to add a second block of supporting content. This is where you can go deeper, build out brand FAQ's and linking out to relevant sub-collections within that brand. For a brand like Vaikobi, that might be their race buoyancy aids and paddling apparel. For Petzl, it could be fall arrest equipment and head torches. These contextual links are good for shoppers and excellent for internal linking depth.
Step two: Fix the vendor link problem
By default, most Shopify themes link product pages back to their vendor using a URL like yourstore.com/collections/vendors?q=BrandName. That page is auto-generated by Shopify and you have zero control over it. It won't have your brand description, your optimised content, or your supporting links.
The fix is to override that link on each product page so it points to the brand collection you've built instead. Some themes allow this natively. Others require a small Liquid edit. Either way, it's worth doing because every product in your catalogue becomes a link back to the correct brand page, which adds up fast across a large catalogue.
Step three: Build the brand list page
Once your individual brand collections are in order, you create a central brand list page, something like /collections/brands. This page lists every brand your store stocks and links directly to each brand collection. It's useful for shoppers who want to browse by brand, and it functions as a powerful internal linking hub for Google.
For breadcrumb navigation, we recommend Ed Codes' breadcrumb solution rather than Shopify's native collection-aware breadcrumbs. The reason is control. You want the breadcrumb trail on each brand collection page to include the brand list page, which reinforces the hierarchy and adds another internal link pathway back to your hub page.
Step four: Promote the brand directory across your site
The brand list page should sit in your main navigation under a "Shop by Brand" or "Brands" menu item. It should also appear in your footer. These placements ensure it gets crawled consistently, carries link equity from every page on the site, and remains discoverable for shoppers regardless of where they land.
It's a small structural decision that pays dividends over time, both in rankings and in the kind of site architecture that makes Google's job easier and yours more profitable.
Want Us to Do It For You?
If you'd like help building out a brand directory structure like this for your Shopify store, get in touch with us. It's one of the higher-leverage SEO moves available to multi-brand retailers.
