PrestaShop blog: how to bring your store's blog back to life in three months
You add a PrestaShop blog with a module, most often SmartBlog, or replace it with content pages holding your guides. You can bring a dead blog back to life in three months: first tidy up the old posts, then write a few buying guides for products that sell, and finally add links from categories and refresh what already gets traffic.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 7 min read
Does PrestaShop have a built-in blog?
It does not. PrestaShop has content pages, which in older versions were called CMS. They suit Terms and Conditions, Delivery or About Us, but they have no post date, blog categories or list of latest articles. They are described in the documentation on pages in PrestaShop 8.
You have three options:
| Option | For whom | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| A blog module, e.g. SmartBlog | a store that wants posts on the same domain and with the same look | categories, tags, latest posts, everything in the store back office | the module needs updating, not every one runs on PrestaShop 9 |
| Content pages as guides | a store with a few permanent guides | nothing to install | no date or post list, guides have to be linked by hand |
| WordPress next to the store | a store that wants to write a lot | the most comfortable editor, many SEO plugins | a second installation to maintain and a second admin |
SmartBlog is a set of modules: the blog itself, categories, tags, latest and popular posts, comments. What such a set looks like in the back office is shown in the TemplateMonster guide to managing a blog, though it still covers version 1.6. Before installing, check that the module version supports your store version.
Why does a store blog get no traffic?
Most often for four reasons you can see as soon as you open the post list.
- Posts about the company, not the customer. “We went to a trade fair” answers no question anyone types into Google.
- No descriptions for Google. Posts have no meta title or meta description, so Google picks a text snippet itself.
- Dead links to products. A guide from three years ago recommends things you no longer sell. The customer lands on an error page or a disabled product.
- No path to the blog. The post is not linked from a category or a product page, so nobody reaches it from the store.
In its guide to creating helpful, people-first content Google advises writing for the reader, with your own experience and specifics. For a store that is good news: you know what customers ask, because they email you.
How do you plan a store blog over three months?
A plan only makes sense if it fits into your week. The one below assumes two new posts a month and one refresh.
- Month one: tidy up. Go through all posts. Fill in missing Google titles and descriptions. List posts that link to withdrawn products. Merge the weakest and outdated posts with better ones or redirect them, instead of keeping them.
- Month one: choose topics. Collect ten questions customers ask before buying: from emails, phone calls, chat, reviews. Each question is a candidate for a guide. Pick the ones about products that sell.
- Month two: two buying guides. For example “How to choose work gloves for the workshop” with a comparison table and links to five products you genuinely recommend.
- Month two: links from the store. Add a link to the guide in the category description and in the descriptions of two or three products. Without that the blog lives beside the store.
- Month three: refresh a post with traffic. Take an old post that still brings visits. Swap withdrawn products for current ones, fix the dates and the Google description. Do not change the URL.
- Month three: two more guides and a review. Check in Search Console which posts get impressions. For the next quarter choose topics similar to the ones that work.
After three months do not expect a jump in sales. What you do have is a tidy blog, a few guides that lead to products and a habit you can keep up.
What should you write about on a store blog?
About what customers want to know before buying and right after. Good topics for a store are:
- Buying guides: how to choose the size, power, material, which model for what.
- Comparisons from your range: how two similar products differ, which to choose for which job.
- Use and care: how to fit, clean, store. Such a post comes back to the customer after purchase and cuts down on questions.
- Season: what to get ready before winter, before the gardening season, before school, with links to categories.
Avoid texts written for a phrase with no answer inside. If a post will not help a customer choose, use or buy, it is usually not needed.
How do you run a store blog with the chat?
With the TellMyShop module and the SmartBlog blog, your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) reads the list of posts, their content, Google descriptions and blog categories. A blog review already works in TellMyShop Free: you get a list of posts with no description, very old ones and ones that mention products no longer in the store. That is the first month of the plan, done in one conversation.
You: Review the blog. Which posts have no Google description, which are older than two years, and which link to disabled products?
Your chat: The blog has 48 posts. 19 have no meta description, 22 are older than two years. 6 posts link to disabled or deleted products, most of all the guide to work gloves from 2022. I suggest starting with that one, because it still gets traffic.
You: Refresh that guide. Swap the withdrawn gloves for current ones from the same category, fix the year and the Google description. Keep the URL.
Your chat: Preview of changes to the post:
The post URL stays the same. Save? (yes / no)
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: We recommend the Grip Pro 2 model (withdrawn)
new version: We recommend the Grip Pro 3 model, the successor from the same series
old version: Meta description: none
new version: Meta description: How to choose work gloves for the workshop, garden and building site. A comparison of materials and sizes in our current range.
The numbers in this conversation are examples. In TellMyShop Pro the same conversations end with a save: new posts and changes to content and Google descriptions work straight after licence activation, with no switches to turn on. A new post is created as a draft by default, so you publish it yourself once you have read it. Each change has a preview, waits for your “yes” and goes into the change history, and you can undo most changes with one request.
The chat writes from the store's data: product names, features and descriptions. When something is missing there, for example dimensions or material, it asks instead of guessing. You will find example requests in the use cases blog review, a post with links to products and refreshing an old post.
If you have a blog module other than SmartBlog, the ready blog tools will not support it. Then it is simpler to run your guides as content pages, which Pro creates and improves. How to look after them is described in the article on PrestaShop CMS pages and SEO. If you run the blog separately on WordPress, the guide how to write a WordPress blog post will help.
Start with a free review in TellMyShop Free. When you want the chat to write and improve posts, Pro plans are on the pricing page. You will find more articles about stores and Google on the TellMyShop blog.
Questions and answers
Does PrestaShop have a built-in blog?
No. Plain PrestaShop has content pages (formerly CMS), but no dated posts, blog categories or list of latest articles. A blog is added with a module, for example SmartBlog, or run separately on WordPress.
Does a store blog help in Google?
It can, if the posts answer real customer questions and lead to products. The mere existence of a blog gives you nothing. We do not promise rankings or traffic, because they depend on the topic, the competition and how long you keep writing.
How many posts a month do I need to write?
As many as you can keep up for six months. For a small store, two good guides a month and one refresh of an old post is reasonable. Regularity gives more than a series of ten texts in one week.
Does TellMyShop work with every blog module?
The ready blog tools in PrestaShop work with the SmartBlog module. With another blog module, TellMyShop Pro will read its data, but we do not promise comfortable post writing. You can then run your guides as content pages, which Pro creates and improves.
Is TellMyShop Free any use for a blog?
Yes, if you have SmartBlog. Free shows a list of posts with gaps, for example with no Google description or very old ones. It does not save new posts or fixes, that is what TellMyShop Pro does.
PrestaShop is a registered trademark of PrestaShop SA. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.