Your footer is prime real estate. Every pixel down there should reinforce your brand — not Shopify's. Yet by default, every new Shopify store ships with a small but persistent "Powered by Shopify" link sitting at the bottom of every page, including your password page.
The good news: removing it is 100% permitted by Shopify, takes less than ten minutes, and won't affect your store's functionality in any way. Below are the three cleanest methods, ordered from easiest to most technical, so you can pick the one that matches your comfort level.
Some merchants treat this as a minor detail. It isn't. Consider what that link actually does:
"Think of it this way: that small line of text is free advertising for Shopify, not your business." — A clean footer tells visitors you're a serious, independent brand.
Once it's gone, that space becomes yours. Use it for a brand tagline, a trust badge, or a concise shipping promise — elements that actually convert.
Best for: anyone who wants a fast, no-code fix that works universally across Shopify themes.
This is the cleanest and most recommended method. You're essentially overriding the default language string that Shopify uses to render the text — so there's nothing left to display.
Reload your storefront in a new tab. The footer branding is gone — no residual link, no broken layout.
Best for: stores running modern OS 2.0 themes like Dawn, Sense, Craft, or any premium theme built on the 2.0 architecture.
Many modern Shopify themes ship with a built-in toggle for this exact purpose — making it a literal one-click job. It's worth checking here first before reaching for any other method.
If you don't see this toggle, your theme doesn't support it natively — move on to Method 1 or Method 3.
Best for: developers, or merchants who want to replace the Shopify branding with custom text (e.g., a copyright notice or a brand tagline) rather than simply removing it.
This method gives you the most control, but requires editing Liquid or CSS files. Always duplicate your theme before touching live code — go to Themes → ⋮ → Duplicate and work on the copy.
{{ powered_by_link }} variable or a similar snippet.{% if ... %} block, or replace {{ powered_by_link }} with your own branded text.If the Liquid approach feels too invasive, a CSS rule is a lower-risk alternative that the Shopify Community has confirmed works on Dawn 12.0.0+:
a[target='_blank'][rel='nofollow'] {
display: none;
}Note: This CSS selector targets the specific anchor Shopify uses for the powered-by link. Verify it doesn't unintentionally hide other outbound links in your theme before saving to your live store.
| Method | No Code Required | Works on All Themes | Removes Link Too | Allows Custom Replacement Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language Settings (Method 1) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Theme Editor Toggle (Method 2) | ✅ Yes | ❌ OS 2.0 only | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Edit footer.liquid (Method 3A) | ❌ Requires code | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| CSS Hide (Method 3B) | ❌ Requires code | ⚠️ Theme-dependent | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Once the Shopify branding is gone, don't leave the footer area empty. Here are high-converting elements worth adding in its place:
If your store is at the stage where you're professionalising your branding, you're likely also thinking about supply chain. Merchants building private-label or branded product lines often source from Chinese platforms like 1688 or Taobao — if that's on your roadmap, sourcing from 1688 without an agent is a natural next step. Tools like Piratify handle sourcing, quality checks, and fulfillment in one place, so you can focus on the brand-building work — like perfecting that footer.
For merchants using third-party paid themes, the Liquid file structure may differ significantly from Shopify's native themes. If you can't locate the powered-by snippet in footer.liquid, check theme.liquid or reach out to your theme developer's support — they'll know exactly where it lives. You can also explore our guide on Shopify theme customisation for a broader walkthrough of editing Liquid files safely.
No. Shopify explicitly allows store owners to remove the powered-by attribution. It's your store, and you're free to customise the footer text as you see fit. There are no penalties, plan restrictions, or policy violations involved.
Not negatively. The "Powered by Shopify" link is a follow link pointing to an external domain. Removing it means one fewer outbound link from your site, which is neutral to slightly positive from an SEO standpoint — you're keeping link equity on your own domain rather than passing it to Shopify.com.
If you used Method 1 (Language Settings with a space), this is very unlikely to revert. However, if you used Method 3A (direct Liquid edits), a theme update will overwrite your changes because Shopify restores theme files to their defaults on update. The solution: re-apply the edit after each update, or switch to Method 1 which lives in your language file — a layer that theme updates don't touch.
