Configure the layout of your product and archive pages

How to assign custom templates to your single product page and your product archive

The Layout & SEO tab under Store Configuration is where you pick the templates that wrap your single product page (for example /product/canvas-tote-bag) and your product archive (for example /products and every /product_category/<slug>). By default, SGEN uses its built-in theme layouts for both — you only come here when you want a custom design applied to every product or category page in one place.

What is this for?

The Layout panel is your store-template assignment screen. Its job is to let you replace SGEN's default product page layout and default archive layout with a custom design without editing each product or category by hand. You reach for it when you have built a custom product page template in the Templates area and want it applied to every product, or when you have a premium archive design for your category pages and want it to be the store-wide default.

When you save on this screen, the new templates apply to every product and archive page on the next shopper page load. Existing saved product content — titles, descriptions, images, prices — is unchanged; only the surrounding layout swaps.

Good use cases

Example 1: A premium brand rolling out a new single-product design. Your design team has built a custom single-product template with a full-bleed hero image, sticky Add to Cart, and a below-the-fold story section. You want every one of your products — the Tote Bag, Brand Book, T-Shirt, and Sticker Pack — to pick up the new design immediately, without editing each product's page individually. Open Store Configuration → Layout & SEO, pick your custom template from Single Product Page Template, and save. All four products instantly use the new layout on their public pages.

Example 2: A curated archive design for a seasonal launch. Your "Summer 2026" collection launch needs a hero-led archive with a featured category banner above the grid. Build the archive template in the Templates area, then pick it from Product Archive Template and save. Your /products page and every category archive (for example /product_category/apparel and /product_category/accessories) all now use the curated layout.

Example 3: Reverting to the default layout after a failed experiment. You tried a custom template for a week and the conversion numbers went the wrong way. Pick — Default theme layout — from both dropdowns and save. Your store is back on SGEN's built-in layout on the next page load; none of your saved products change.

What NOT to use this for

• Do not use this panel to change per-category archive layouts. These templates apply to every archive store-wide. If you want "Apparel uses Layout A, Accessories uses Layout B," each category's edit page has its own template field for per-category overrides.
• Do not use this panel to edit a template's design. This is an assignment screen — it picks which template applies. Editing the template's actual content, spacing, and components happens in the Templates area.
• Do not expect this panel to change per-product layouts. If one specific product needs its own unique layout different from the store default, each product's edit page has its own template override.
• Do not expect this panel to hold SEO fields for your store. Despite the tab name, per-product and per-category SEO fields live on each product's or category's own edit page, and store-wide SEO defaults live under the SEO area of the admin. This panel is layout templates only.

How this connects to other features

• Templates — the dropdowns here list every template you have built in Appearance → Templates. If the template you want is not in the dropdown, build or publish it in the Templates area first.
• Products — every product's single-product page (for example /product/canvas-tote-bag) uses the Single Product Page template you assign here. Individual products can override this template on their own edit page.
• Product Categories — every category archive page uses the Product Archive template you assign here. Individual categories can override this template on their own edit page.
• Purchase Flow — the archive grid density (items per row, card style, sort) is separate from the archive template — those knobs are in Purchase Flow. The template determines the page's wrapper; Purchase Flow determines the grid inside.

Before you start

• You are signed in to SGEN as an Administrator or Site Owner.
• Your custom templates are built and published in Appearance → Templates. A template must exist before it appears in these dropdowns.
• You have a minute to test your public product and archive pages after saving.

Where to go

1. Open the left navigation in your SGEN admin.
2. Click Store Management → Configuration → Layout & SEO (or open /sg-admin/ecommerce/configuration/layout_seo directly).
3. The Templates card loads with the two template dropdowns populated by your published templates.

Steps

1. Pick the single product page template

The Single Product Page Template dropdown lists every template you have built. The top option is — Default theme layout — — leave this selected to use SGEN's built-in single-product layout. Pick any custom template to swap the wrapper for every product's public page.

The template wraps the product — title, image gallery, variants, price, Add to Cart, description, related products — inside your custom layout. The product's data is identical; only the surrounding page changes.

If the template you want is not listed, it has not been published yet. Open Appearance → Templates, publish your template, then come back to this dropdown.

2. Pick the product archive template

The Product Archive Template dropdown works the same way. Leave it on Default for SGEN's built-in archive layout; pick a custom template to apply a curated design to /products and every /product_category/<slug>.

The template wraps the archive grid — your density, card style, and sort from the Purchase Flow panel still drive the grid inside. The template controls everything around it: hero, sidebar, before-and-after-grid blocks.

3. Save

The Save Changes button applies your choices. A green success message reads Ecommerce configuration has been successfully updated! at the top of the panel.

4. Verify the layout change on your public store

Open a new browser tab and visit a product page (for example /product/canvas-tote-bag). Confirm the layout wraps the product as your custom template does — hero, sidebar, sticky Add to Cart, whatever your template dictates.

Open /products in the same tab. Confirm the archive is wrapped in your Archive template.

If you picked Default for either, the pages load with SGEN's built-in layout as before.

What success looks like

• The green Ecommerce configuration has been successfully updated! message appears after you click Save Changes.
• Visiting any product's public page in a new browser tab shows the single-product template wrapping the product.
• Visiting /products in a new tab shows the archive template wrapping the grid.
• Reverting to — Default theme layout — and saving brings every product and archive back to SGEN's built-in layout immediately.

What to do if it does not work

• My custom template is not in the dropdown. Open Appearance → Templates in another tab. Check that the template is published. If the template is a Draft, it will not show here. Publish it, then reload this panel.
• I saved but my product page still uses the default layout. Hard-refresh the product page in the browser (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R). If still wrong, confirm the Single Product Page Template dropdown is set to your custom template and save again.
• My archive page looks broken after I picked a custom template. Your custom template may not have been built for the archive context. Switch Archive back to Default, save, and speak to whoever built the template — they will need to add an archive-specific layout or pick a different template that was designed for archives.
• I see templates in the dropdown that are not meant for product pages. The dropdowns list every published template; some of them may belong to other areas (for example a footer template). Pick a template that was specifically designed as a product page or archive wrapper. If you are not sure which is which, speak to whoever built your templates.
• I want different layouts per category. This panel is store-wide. Open each category's edit page under Store Management → Categories — each has its own template override field for per-category layouts.

Next step