shop.yourbrand.com) instead of into your Shopify theme. If your first reaction is “I don’t want a subdomain, I want to publish to Shopify,” this page explains why the subdomain exists, what actually changes (less than you’d expect), and the few cases where a subdomain genuinely isn’t the right tool.
The short version: your Shopify store stays your Shopify store. Products sync from Shopify, every add to cart writes to a real Shopify cart behind the scenes, checkout happens on Shopify checkout, and orders land in your Shopify admin like any other order.
The cart drawer a visitor sees is Replo’s (rebuilt to match yours, if you want); the cart data, checkout, and orders are Shopify’s. The only thing that moves is where the page itself is hosted.
What a subdomain is
A subdomain is a section of the domain you already own. If your store isyourbrand.com, then shop.yourbrand.com is a subdomain of it. It’s not a new domain, a Replo-branded URL, or a third-party address; it’s your brand in the address bar, controlled by one DNS record you add at your domain provider.
Browsers and ad platforms treat subdomains as part of the same site for the things that matter to marketers: cookies set by Meta and Google Analytics are shared across yourbrand.com and shop.yourbrand.com, and Meta’s domain verification for yourbrand.com covers every subdomain automatically (details below).
Why Replo pages don’t publish into your theme
Your root domain points at Shopify, and Shopify only serves Liquid theme code from it. Replo pages are modern web apps: server-rendered React, deployed to Cloudflare’s edge network. That architecture is what makes the pages fast and lets Replo build and edit them for you in chat, and it can’t be uploaded into a Liquid theme. So the page needs its own address, and a subdomain of your existing domain is the address that keeps your brand, your cookies, and your ad account verification intact. The separation also works in your favor:- No theme risk. Nothing Replo publishes can touch your theme, navigation, or existing pages. Test aggressive offers freely.
- No app bloat. Your theme loads every app script you’ve ever installed. Replo pages load only what’s on the page, which is a big part of why they’re fast. See Page Speed.
- Campaign independence. Marketing ships landing pages without waiting on whoever owns the theme, and without a deploy that could break the store.
What stays on Shopify
Connecting Shopify to Replo means the commerce layer is Shopify’s, regardless of where the page is hosted:- Products: your catalog syncs automatically, including variants, selling plans, inventory, and pricing. Changes sync within about 5 minutes; cart prices and inventory are always real time.
- Cart: the slide-out cart on a Replo page is Replo’s own cart UI, and you can have Replo recreate your theme’s cart design, including its upsells and messaging. Underneath, every add to cart writes to a real Shopify cart through Shopify’s Storefront API, the same mechanism headless storefronts use, which is why discount codes and Shop Pay work at checkout. One nuance: this cart is separate from a cart the same visitor may have started on your theme site, so items don’t merge across the two; each funnel checks out with what was added in it.
- Checkout: customers check out on your Shopify checkout, with Shop Pay, discount codes, and your checkout apps.
- Orders and automations: orders appear in your Shopify admin like any other order. Abandoned cart emails, confirmation flows, and segmentation keep working because the cart and order data live in Shopify.
Setup is about five minutes, and Replo walks you through it
If you’ve never set up a subdomain, this is probably the part that feels daunting, especially when your current stack already works and you know your Shopify publishing flow cold. So here is the entire setup, start to finish:- Tell Replo the subdomain you want (say
shop.yourbrand.comin chat, or type it in Site settings → Domains). - Copy one DNS record. Replo shows you the exact record (a CNAME) with the exact values. You paste it into your domain provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Shopify admin if Shopify manages your DNS).
- Click Check Connection. Replo verifies the record and provisions the SSL certificate automatically. There is nothing to buy, renew, or maintain.
- You don’t have to touch DNS to start. Every site publishes to a free
replosites.comstaging domain with zero setup. Build, publish, and share pages there today, and connect the subdomain whenever you’re ready to run traffic. - You’re not learning a new publishing flow. There’s no theme editor equivalent to master. You describe the page, Replo builds it, and publishing is one click (or just ask). If anything, it’s fewer steps than the flow you already know.
Common concerns, answered
Won't I have to redo domain verification with Meta?
Won't I have to redo domain verification with Meta?
No. Meta verifies domains at the root, and verification is inherited by every subdomain. Meta’s developer FAQ states it directly: “domain verification status is inherited by subdomains. For example, verifying ‘domain.com’ will also verify ‘m.domain.com’.” Meta’s domain verification instructions work the same way: you enter the root domain without any prefixes when you verify.If
yourbrand.com is already verified in your Business Manager, shop.yourbrand.com is covered, with nothing new to verify.The one exception, from that same Meta help page: “You’ll only need to verify subdomains when you’re onboarding to Facebook Commerce.” That’s Shops onboarding, unrelated to running ads to a landing page.Will my Meta Pixel and tracking break?
Will my Meta Pixel and tracking break?
No, and this is worth understanding precisely because it’s the most common worry.The Meta Pixel identifies visitors with the Replo reads your Scripts & Pixels configuration, compares it against your live store, and tells you exactly what to fix, so “did I set this up right?” gets a concrete answer instead of a guess.
_fbp cookie, which is a first-party cookie set at your root domain. That means the same visitor identity is shared across yourbrand.com, shop.yourbrand.com, and your Shopify checkout. A visitor who lands on your Replo page from an ad and buys through your checkout is one person to Meta, not two.Setup is the same pixel IDs you already use, added once in your site’s Scripts & Pixels settings (or ask Replo in chat). Replo supports Meta, GA4, Google Tag Manager, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, and more; see Integrations.Two things Replo does for you automatically:- Every query parameter follows the visitor to checkout. UTMs and click IDs (
fbclid,gclid, and everything else on the landing URL) are carried onto the Shopify checkout URL, so attribution survives the handoff from your Replo page to Shopify. - No double counting. When checkout is Shopify-hosted, Shopify’s native ad-platform integrations already report checkout and purchase events, so Replo’s pixels suppress their duplicates.
What about GA4?
What about GA4?
GA4 handles subdomains automatically. Its default
cookie_domain setting stores the analytics cookie at your root domain, so the same measurement ID tracks one visitor across yourbrand.com and shop.yourbrand.com with no cross-domain configuration. Google documents this in the GA4 configuration reference. Use the same measurement ID on both, and you’re done.Will Triple Whale, Northbeam, or my attribution tool break?
Will Triple Whale, Northbeam, or my attribution tool break?
These tools attribute with the same building blocks: their pixel on the page, plus UTMs and click IDs surviving to checkout. Add their snippet in Scripts & Pixels (Triple Whale and Northbeam are supported alongside the ad-platform pixels), keep UTMs on your ad URLs as usual, and Replo forwards everything to checkout. If your attribution tool has a setup checklist for landing page domains, it takes the subdomain the same way it takes your root domain.
Do I need to restart my ad sets or re-enter Meta's learning phase?
Do I need to restart my ad sets or re-enter Meta's learning phase?
Pointing an ad at a new landing page URL is the same operation whether that page is
yourbrand.com/pages/offer or shop.yourbrand.com/offer: a new ad or an edited destination behaves the same either way. There’s no domain-level penalty, allowlist, or review triggered by using your verified domain’s subdomain. Google Ads destination requirements are also satisfied because the display and destination domains match your brand.Will this hurt my SEO?
Will this hurt my SEO?
For the pages you’d build in Replo (paid landing pages, campaign funnels, advertorials), SEO usually isn’t the goal, and you can keep them out of search entirely with per-page indexing controls; see Site & Page Settings.For search itself, Google’s official position is that subdomains and subdirectories are equivalent for crawling and ranking. The honest nuance: a subdomain builds its own authority rather than inheriting your root domain’s, so content whose job is organic growth (your blog, your collection pages) belongs on your main site.That’s a reason to keep SEO content where it is, not a reason to avoid subdomains for campaign pages. Replo sites also generate their own sitemap and robots rules automatically.
I have custom messaging and upsells in my cart. Do I lose them?
I have custom messaging and upsells in my cart. Do I lose them?
You rebuild them once, and rebuilding is fast. The cart drawer on a Replo page is Replo’s own UI (your theme’s cart can’t render outside your theme), backed by a real Shopify cart underneath.Point Replo at your live site and ask it to recreate your cart’s design, including gift-with-purchase logic, upsells, and promotional messaging. Metafield-driven offers can read the same metafields your theme cart uses, so you control both from one place. Many teams get an exact copy of their theme cart in one session.
Isn't setting up a subdomain a lot of work?
Isn't setting up a subdomain a lot of work?
It’s one DNS record and about five minutes of work; the setup section above lists all three steps. And if you’re not ready to touch DNS at all, publish to your free
replosites.com staging domain first and connect the subdomain when you want to run traffic.Will customers be confused by a different URL?
Will customers be confused by a different URL?
Customers see your brand in the address bar (
shop.yourbrand.com), then check out on your normal checkout. Subdomains are standard practice across ecommerce: brands routinely run stores, campaign pages, and content on subdomains, and paid traffic in particular never notices, because visitors arrive from an ad and leave through checkout without ever typing a URL.We just don't use subdomains. Why start now?
We just don't use subdomains. Why start now?
“Keep everything in one place” is a fair instinct, but the place your pages live and the place your commerce lives are already separate concerns; Shopify itself hosts your checkout on different infrastructure than your theme.The subdomain buys you real things: pages that load without your theme’s app scripts, campaigns that can’t break your store, and a build workflow where you describe the page instead of assembling it. The setup cost is one DNS record; the concerns that make subdomains feel risky (tracking, ads, checkout) are covered above, with sources.
When a subdomain isn’t the right choice
Some pages should live inside your Shopify theme, and a subdomain is the wrong tool for them:- Core product and collection pages that need your theme’s navigation, search, and installed theme apps around them.
- SEO content (blog posts, buying guides) whose job is building your root domain’s authority.
- Pages that depend on theme-specific Liquid or apps that only render inside a Shopify theme.
Before you drive paid traffic
A short checklist so the first campaign is attributed correctly:- Connect and verify your subdomain in Site settings → Domains (Custom Domains).
- Add your pixels in Scripts & Pixels: the same Meta, GA4, TikTok, and attribution-tool IDs you use on your main store (Integrations).
- Ask Replo to audit the setup against your main store (the prompt is in the tracking question above). Fix anything it flags.
- Keep UTMs on your ad URLs exactly as you do today. Replo forwards them (and click IDs) through to checkout.
- Click through the funnel once: land on the published page with test UTMs, add to cart, and reach checkout. Confirm your pixel events fire and the parameters arrive.
- Publish and launch. Orders appear in your Shopify admin; page analytics appear in Replo’s insights and your GA4.
Next steps
Custom Domains
Connect your subdomain with one DNS record.
Selling with Shopify
How products, cart, and checkout work end to end.
Page Speed
Why Replo-hosted pages load fast.