Running a Shopify store comes with its own set of challenges, and managing product visibility is often at the top of that list.
Whether you’re gearing up for a flash sale, rotating seasonal items, or just tidying up your digital shelves, learning how to hide products on your Shopify store is important for your e-commerce strategy.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of product visibility management on Shopify. From quick and easy methods to hide individual items to advanced techniques for bulk operations, we’ve got you covered. Plus, we’ll share some insider tips that’ll help you leverage product visibility to boost your store’s performance.
How to Hide Products on Shopify
Log into Your Shopify Admin: Access your Shopify dashboard by logging in.
Navigate to Products: Click on the “Products” tab in the left-hand menu to view your inventory.
Select the Product: Find and click on the product you wish to hide. This will open its detail page.
Adjust Visibility Settings:
Find the Publishing section towards the right side.
Click on the “…” (more actions), then Manage sales channels.
Uncheck the box next to “Online Store” or any other sales channel where you want the product hidden.
Click “Save” at the top right of the page to apply your changes.
5. Verify Changes: Visit your store’s frontend to ensure that the product is no longer visible.
How to Hide Multiple Products on Shopify
For bulk operations:
Select Products: In the “Products” section, check the boxes next to each product you want to hide.
Exclude from Sales Channels:
Click on the “…” (more actions) button.
Select “Exclude from sales channels” and choose which channels to hide them from.
Confirm your selection and save.
Advanced Bulk Product Management Techniques in Shopify
CSV Import/Export: For large inventories, use Shopify’s CSV import/export feature to manage visibility en masse:
Export your product list
Modify the ‘Published’ column in a spreadsheet (TRUE/FALSE)
Import the updated CSV back into Shopify
API Integration: For developers, Shopify’s Admin API offers programmatic control over product visibility, enabling:
Custom automation scripts
Integration with external inventory management systems
Bulk updates based on complex business logic
Product Visibility vs. Availability: Understanding the Difference in Shopify
When managing your Shopify store, it’s important to understand the difference between product visibility and product availability. These two concepts, while related, serve different purposes in your e-commerce strategy.
Visibility refers to whether a product can be seen by customers browsing your store. When you hide a product, you’re essentially making it invisible to shoppers. They won’t find it in search results, category pages, or through direct links. This is useful when you want to completely remove a product from view without deleting it from your inventory.
Availability, on the other hand, relates to whether a product can be purchased. A product can be visible but marked as “Out of Stock” or “Unavailable.” In this case, customers can see the item, but they can’t add it to their cart. This approach is beneficial when you want to maintain interest in a product that’s temporarily out of stock.
Choosing between hiding a product and marking it as unavailable depends on your specific needs. Hide products when you don’t want customers to see them at all, perhaps during a website update or when phasing out certain items. Mark products as unavailable when you want to keep them visible to maintain customer interest or for SEO purposes, especially if you plan to restock soon.
SEO Considerations When Hiding Products
Hiding products can impact your store’s SEO. You should probably keep these things in mind:
301 Redirects: If hiding a product permanently, set up 301 redirects to similar products or relevant category pages to preserve SEO value.
Meta Robots Tags: For temporarily hidden products, use meta robots tags (noindex, nofollow) to prevent search engines from indexing the page while maintaining its URL structure.
Sitemap Management: Regularly update your sitemap to exclude hidden products, ensuring search engines don’t waste crawl budget on inaccessible pages.
Best Practices for Product Visibility Management in Shopify
Mastering product visibility on Shopify isn’t just about knowing how to hide items—it’s about strategically managing your entire catalog. Let’s explore some tried-and-true best practices that will help you streamline your operations and create a better shopping experience for your customers.
Regular Audits: Conduct monthly visibility audits to ensure products are displayed (or hidden) as intended across all sales channels.
Version Control: Before making significant changes to product visibility, export a backup of your current settings for easy rollback if needed.
Customer Communication: For products transitioning from visible to hidden (or vice versa), consider notifying affected customers, especially for items on wishlists or in abandoned carts.
Analytics Integration: Use Google Analytics or Shopify Analytics to track the impact of visibility changes on overall store performance, including conversion rates and average order value.
Conclusion
From basic visibility toggles to advanced scheduling and customer segmentation, you now have the knowledge to curate your store’s offerings with precision. Remember, the key to success lies in understanding the difference between visibility and availability, implementing SEO-friendly practices, and regularly auditing your product catalog.
Ready to take your Shopify store to the next level? Don’t let managing product visibility slow you down. With Simple Affiliate, you can easily track and manage your affiliate marketing efforts alongside your product catalog. Our intuitive platform seamlessly integrates with Shopify, allowing you to boost sales and expand your reach effortlessly.
