New Most Relevant sort order for products in a collection on Shopify

What Shopify’s “Most relevant” sort order actually is (and why it matters)

In Shopify, a collection page is basically your category page. For a lot of stores it is where the real shopping happens. Not the homepage. Not the product page. The collection.

So the order of products in that grid matters in a very practical way. It changes what gets clicked, what gets added to cart, and what actually sells. And if you have a big catalog, you already know this. A great product can sit on page 2 and basically not exist.

“Most relevant” is Shopify’s attempt to solve that. In plain English, it is a dynamic sorting method that tries to show a shopper the products Shopify believes they are most likely to buy from that collection, in that moment, in that context.

Not “most relevant” like a filter. It is not “show only red shirts”. It is ranking. An algorithmic ordering.

Where it shows up depends on your theme setup, but typically it appears in the sort dropdown on collection pages, where shoppers can pick things like :

• Featured
• Best selling
• Price low to high
• Price high to low
• Newest
• Alphabetical
• Most relevant

Featured is usually your manual order, the one you curate in the collection admin. Most relevant is different because it can change over time. It can even differ between shoppers depending on signals Shopify has access to. So you are not setting a fixed order. You are opting into a system.

That is the expectation to set early. If you want the collection to read like a merchandised story with a beginning and an end, Most relevant is not that. It is closer to “conversion first”.

What changed with the new “Most relevant” sorting (the practical differences you’ll notice)

The biggest change most merchants notice is not some obvious dashboard announcement. It is more like… you suddenly see “Most relevant” show up more often, more prominently, and sometimes it feels like it is the default or at least the “recommended” option in certain themes or contexts.

And the behavior feels more dynamic than older sorting patterns.

Historically, Shopify sorting was mostly predictable :

• Featured : your manual collection order
• Best selling : based on sales volume over a period
• Price : straightforward
• Newest : based on publish date
• Alphabetical : exactly what it sounds like

“Most relevant” is the one that doesn’t behave like that. You can refresh the page later and the order can shift. You can check it from a different device and it might not match exactly. And if you are used to painstakingly arranging a collection to push bundles, seasonal hero products, high margin items, or new launches… yeah. This is where you start to feel the tradeoff.

Operationally, the impact is simple :

If a shopper switches to Most relevant, they might not see your curated Featured order at all. And if your theme defaults to Most relevant (or makes it the first option), then a lot of shoppers will never see your manual merchandising unless they intentionally change the sort.

Why this can be good :

• It can surface items that convert better for most people.
• It can reduce friction in large collections where shoppers just want “the good stuff”.
• It can feel more like a smart storefront instead of a static catalog.

Why it can be risky :

• Less control for launches, storytelling, and seasonal sequencing.
• Harder to predict what products get visibility week to week.
• You can accidentally bury new arrivals that have not built up behavioral signals yet.
• Your “planned” merchandising can get overridden by what the system thinks is best.

So the change is not just a new dropdown item. It is a shift in who is doing the merchandising, you or the algorithm.

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How “Most relevant” likely decides which products show first (signals to think about)

Shopify does not publish a neat list of weights like “titles matter 20 percent, sales matter 40 percent”. So treat this section as what relevance systems typically use, then validate it with your own data.

Still, you can think in two buckets : catalog signals and behavior or context signals.

Catalog signals (your product data hygiene) :

• Product title and description clarity (what the item is, who it is for)
• Product type consistency (if your store uses it properly)
• Tags and vendor fields (less “random tagging”, more structured tagging)
• Variant structure (colors, sizes, options, clean naming)
• Availability and inventory status
• Product media quality (this one is indirect but clicks start with images)

If your catalog is messy, relevance ranking gets messy. Because the system has weaker understanding of what products are similar, substitutable, or appropriate for the collection intent.

Customer behavior and context signals (what shoppers do) :

• What gets clicked from the collection grid
• What gets added to cart
• What actually converts
• Potentially session context like device type, location, time sensitivity, returning vs new visitor signals (where applicable)

This is where “freshness vs proven sellers” becomes a real thing. New products often need traction before they surface consistently. If the algorithm is conversion oriented, it is naturally biased toward items with proven performance. That does not mean new products can never win, it means you have to help them win early.

Takeaway here is pretty boring but true : relevance improves when your data is clean and when your store has strong conversion signals to learn from.

When you should use “Most relevant” (and when you shouldn’t)

This is the part most people skip, and then they blame the feature.

Great fits for Most relevant :

• Large catalogs where manual sorting is impossible to maintain
• Evergreen collections like “Women’s tops”, “Running shoes”, “Skincare”
• Broad browsing categories where shoppers want quick wins
• Stores with lots of historical data (traffic, carts, orders)

It is also a good fit if you are optimizing more for conversion than strict brand storytelling on category pages. If your brand vibe is “get in, find the best product, check out”, Most relevant can help.

Not ideal for Most relevant :

• Curated editorial collections (gift guides, “staff picks”, “vacation edit”)
• New drops where you want strict sequencing and visibility for specific SKUs
• Regulated ordering requirements (some industries have constraints)
• New stores with low data. If the algorithm has little to learn from, the results can feel random.

Hybrid approach (usually the sweet spot) :

Keep a strong Featured order for storytelling and campaigns, but still offer Most relevant as an option in the sort dropdown for shoppers who just want the best stuff fast.

That way you are not betting your whole category experience on a system you cannot fully see.

How to enable (or disable) “Most relevant” sorting on your Shopify collection pages

This varies by theme, but the general paths are consistent.

1) Check your theme settings first

Go to :

Online Store → Themes → Customize

Then open a collection page template (or use the theme preview controls to navigate to a collection). Look for settings like :

• Sorting
• Product grid
• Collection settings
• Product card settings (sometimes sorting is tucked in weird places)

Many OS 2.0 themes expose a toggle like “Enable sorting” and sometimes a setting for which sort options appear.

2) Check the collection template settings

In OS 2.0 themes, collection pages often use a template and sections. Sorting may be controlled at the section level, not globally.

So you might see something like :

• Main collection product grid section
• Settings inside that section for sorting and filtering

3) Setting the default sort on page load

Some themes let you choose a default sort behavior, like :

• Featured (manual)
• Best selling
• Most relevant

If your theme supports default sort selection, this is the one that matters most. Because most shoppers never touch the sort dropdown. They just scroll.

If your theme does not support it, you are in “code changes” territory.

4) If you don’t want “Most relevant”

If your theme exposes the sort options list, remove it there. If not, you can adjust it in code, but only if you are comfortable (or have a developer).

This usually involves editing the sort options rendered in the collection template or the main collection section, depending on theme structure. Different themes name files differently, so there is no universal “edit this file” instruction that is safe for every store.

5) OS 2.0 themes vs older themes

OS 2.0 themes tend to make this easier because sorting and filtering are often section settings in the theme editor.

Older themes may require editing theme code to change sort options or default sorting behavior. So if you are on an older theme and you are constantly fighting basic merchandising controls, upgrading is sometimes the most practical fix.

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How to optimize your products so they rank better under “Most relevant”

You cannot fully control Most relevant, but you can absolutely make it work better for you.

Tighten product naming (without going full keyword stuffing)

A good pattern is :

Product type + key attribute + differentiator

Example, instead of “The Luna Top”, you might use :

“Luna Linen Button Up Shirt”

Not because you want to game SEO. But because shoppers scan, and clear naming increases clicks. Clicks feed the system.

Front load the attributes people care about. Material, use case, fit, style. Just do it naturally.

Clean up product data so signals are consistent

Pick a structure and stick to it :

• Consistent product types
• Consistent vendor naming
• Tags that mean something and are used consistently
• Options that follow the same naming conventions (Color, Size, etc.)

A messy catalog makes the collection feel random under relevance sorting. Because it kind of is.

Avoid stock issues (because availability can wreck the experience)

If your core winners keep going out of stock, you are basically training shoppers to click, get disappointed, and leave. That is bad no matter what sort order you use.

Decide how you want sold out items handled in collections :

• Hide sold out products
• Push sold out products to the bottom
• Keep them visible (only if you have a strong back in stock flow)

Then make sure your theme matches that strategy.

Make variants shopper friendly

Variant naming matters more than people think. If you have confusing size labels, inconsistent color names, or duplicated near identical products that cannibalize clicks, the algorithm gets noisy signals.

You want clean comparisons. One clear product with variants often performs better than five separate products that split attention.

Seed performance for new products

If new items are getting buried, you need to generate early signals :

• Feature them in email
• Run a small paid push
• Put them in a “New arrivals” collection sorted by Newest or Featured
• Send traffic directly to the product page at first

Once shoppers click and buy, relevance systems have something to work with.

How to measure whether “Most relevant” is helping (simple testing plan)

You do not need a complicated CRO stack to get directional truth here. You just need a plan and consistency.

Define success metrics

Pick a few metrics that reflect collection performance :

• Collection page click through rate to product pages
• Add to cart rate
• Conversion rate
• Revenue per session
• Bounce rate (or engaged sessions, if you are using GA4)

Segment by collection type

Do not judge this globally. Break it out :

• Evergreen categories
• Seasonal collections
• Launch and campaign collections
• Clearance or sale collections

Most relevant might be a big win in evergreen categories and a disaster for launches. That is normal.

Run an A/B style comparison

If you cannot do true split testing, do controlled time windows :

• Two weeks default sort = Featured
• Two weeks default sort = Most relevant

Try to avoid doing this during heavy promo swings where your traffic mix changes wildly, because you will confuse the results.

Another option is duplicating a theme and using one version for a period, if your workflow supports that.

Use Shopify Analytics and GA4

Shopify can show you collection level behavior. GA4 can help you see deeper engagement patterns if you have ecommerce tracking set up properly.

Compare before and after on the same collections.

Watch for unintended effects

This is the part that bites merchants :

• New arrivals buried
• High margin products losing visibility
• Out of stock items surfacing too high
• Brand critical SKUs getting pushed down
• A collection that “looks random” and hurts trust

If you see those, do not panic. It usually means you need a hybrid approach or better product data hygiene, not that the feature is broken.

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Common issues merchants run into with “Most relevant” (and how to fix them)

“My new products don’t show up”

That is common. New products have no performance history.

Fixes :

• Create a dedicated “New” collection and sort by Newest or Featured
• Temporarily default your main collection to Featured during launch windows
• Seed early traffic and sales to build signals

“It keeps changing day to day”

Yes. It is dynamic.

Fixes :

• Focus on stable inputs : clean taxonomy, consistent tagging, good inventory
• Make sure your collection is not full of near duplicates
• Stop trying to micromanage the exact order and instead monitor outcomes

“Sold out items appear too high”

Depending on your theme, sold out items may still rank well due to past performance.

Fixes :

• Adjust theme settings for sold out behavior if available
• If not available, consider hiding sold out products or using an app or small code change
• Make sure inventory status is accurate across locations if you use multiple fulfillment locations

“It’s not matching my brand merchandising”

Totally fair. Not every store should feel like Amazon.

Fixes :

• Use Featured as default for brand forward collections
• Keep Most relevant as an optional sort, not the default
• Create sub collections for campaigns so the story stays intact

“My collection looks random”

This is usually a product data issue disguised as a sorting issue.

Fixes :

• Improve product titles and types
• Remove or consolidate duplicates
• Standardize tags
• Audit which products are actually in the collection and why

A practical “best of both worlds” collection setup (what I recommend for most stores)

If you want a setup that works for most Shopify stores without constant tinkering, here is the approach I keep coming back to.

Default to Featured for storytelling collections

Use Featured or manual order as the default for :

• Homepage linked collections
• Campaign collections
• Gift guides
• New drops
• Anything where you want a narrative

This is where your brand voice matters. And you probably do not want an algorithm rearranging the story.

Offer Most relevant as a secondary option for big categories

For large evergreen categories, offer Most relevant as a sort option, and consider testing it as the default if :

• You have enough traffic and sales volume
• You are more conversion focused in that category
• Your product data is clean enough to support it

Keep sort options minimal

A dropdown with 9 options looks nice but usually creates messy insights and low usage.

For many stores, this is enough :

• Featured
• Most relevant
• Best selling
• Price low to high
• Price high to low

That is it. Maybe Newest if you have a fashion cadence where people actively shop newness.

Create a simple monthly routine

Once a month, do a quick audit :

• Check top collections
• Fix stock issues for winners
• Refresh titles and tags where needed
• Review performance metrics by collection
• Decide if default sort should stay as is next month

You are basically maintaining the inputs. Because Most relevant is only as good as what you feed it.

The clean takeaway here is : Most relevant is powerful, but it works best when your product data and conversion signals are healthy. And when you choose where to use it intentionally, not everywhere by default.

Conclusion

Shopify’s new Most relevant sort order is not just another dropdown option. It is a different philosophy. It is Shopify saying, let the store learn from shopper behavior and put the products most likely to convert at the top.

For big evergreen collections, it can be a real lift. More clicks on the right items, less scrolling, better conversion. But for launches, curated edits, and brand led merchandising, it can easily feel like you lost the steering wheel.

So do not treat it like a global setting you flip once. Treat it like a tool you deploy where it makes sense.

Default to Featured when the story matters. Offer Most relevant when speed and conversion matter. Then measure it, collection by collection, with a simple testing window and a clear eye on what gets buried and what suddenly wins.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)