Magento’s CMS is the unsung toolset that turns a catalogue into a brand. CMS pages hold your About Us, Privacy Notice, Delivery & Returns and campaign landing pages. CMS blocks are reusable chunks of HTML you drop into headers, footers, product descriptions and category pages. Widgets are dynamic blocks that insert product lists, links or promos into any page. This guide covers the three layers, the legal pages every UK shop needs, and the patterns that keep your CMS tidy as it grows.
The CMS in three layers — pages, blocks, widgets • Creating and editing a CMS page • Legal pages every UK store must have • CMS blocks and where to use them • Widgets for dynamic content • Managing the homepage • CMS best practices and governance • FAQ
Magento separates content into three concepts:
Using all three in combination keeps content DRY: the delivery-promise strip is a block you edit once, referenced from six pages. Update the block; all six pages update together.
Open Content › Pages › Add New Page. Six fields to fill in:
Save and view the rendered page at yourdomain.co.uk/about-us. Edit iteratively — for longer pages, drafting in Markdown and converting to HTML is often faster than wrestling with the WYSIWYG.
UK online retailers have six legal pages that are practically required:
Starting each page from a UK-legal template (solicitor-drafted or a service like Sprintlaw or LawBite) is worth the cost. Generic global templates often miss UK-specific requirements like the Consumer Contracts Regulations disclosures.
Open Content › Blocks › Add New Block. Every block has:
footer-delivery-promise.Reference a block from another CMS page using the widget syntax:
{{widget type="Magento\Cms\Block\Widget\Block" template="widget/static_block/default.phtml" block_id="footer-delivery-promise"}}Or reference via the Insert Widget button in the WYSIWYG editor, which generates the right syntax.
Common UK store blocks:
Under Content › Widgets › Add Widget, choose a widget type:
Widgets can be placed on specific pages (Anchor Categories, Product Pages, All Pages) or inserted via the WYSIWYG Insert Widget toolbar on an individual page or block.
Under Content › Pages, the default installation has a page with identifier home. It is set as the homepage via Stores › Configuration › Web › Default Pages › CMS Home Page.
Typical UK homepage structure:
Swap the hero block seasonally (spring, summer, autumn, winter, sale, Christmas) without editing the homepage template. Edit the hero-home block, save, flush cache, done.
As content grows, discipline keeps it manageable:
home-hero, footer-promise, category-winter-banner. Easy to find by identifier sort.Magento hosting with CMS editing that stays fast
Redis cache keeps CMS rendering snappy even when blocks are deeply nested. SmartXHosting Magento plans include Plesk file management so raw template tweaks are easy.
View Magento plansQ: Can I schedule a CMS page to go live at a specific time?
A: Magento Open Source and MageOS do not support content staging out of the box. A simple pattern: edit the page, set Enabled = No, prepare content, at launch time flip to Enabled = Yes. Adobe Commerce offers Content Staging with scheduled publishing; extensions like Mirasvit Content Manager add staging to Open Source.
Q: How do I include a video in a CMS page?
A: Paste an iframe embed from YouTube, Vimeo or a self-hosted video. The WYSIWYG editor has a Media button for image insertion; for video, switch to HTML mode and paste the iframe. Alternatively, embed via a widget for reusability.
Q: Can I version-control CMS content?
A: Core Magento does not track revisions. Adobe Commerce has Content Staging with revision history. Open Source alternatives: custom module to log changes, or simply export CMS pages to CSV/JSON periodically as backup.
Q: How do I add a cookie banner to meet PECR?
A: Either an extension like Mageplaza Cookie Notice or a script from a dedicated consent management platform (Cookiebot, OneTrust, Osano). Embed the script in a CMS block that outputs on every page via the theme’s global template. The banner must block non-essential cookies until the user consents.
Q: My CMS page 404s — why?
A: Four causes. First, the page is saved with Enabled = No. Second, the URL Key was typed incorrectly. Third, the page is scoped to a store view that is not the one you are browsing. Fourth, the URL Rewrites caching is stale — flush URL rewrite cache and try again.
Q: Can I use Markdown in CMS pages?
A: Not natively. The WYSIWYG outputs HTML. Some extensions add Markdown support (Mirasvit Blog MX, for example, supports Markdown for blog posts). For CMS pages, writing HTML directly or using the visual editor are the two supported paths.
Q: How do I add a blog to my Magento store?
A: Magento does not include a blog module in core. Popular options: Mageplaza Blog Pro, Mirasvit Blog MX, or integrating an external blog via WordPress multi-site. SmartXHosting can host a WordPress blog alongside your Magento store on the same domain using sub-folder or subdomain routing.