SEO Audit for Shopify help
AI search visibility
These 10 checks look at how AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode find, understand and describe your store.
Now on the Shopify App Store. These guides go with Store Audit: SEO & AI Search, the Cape Wired app that checks your store for you. Install it from the Shopify App Store, or follow the steps below to check your store yourself.
Last updated: 29 October 2026Showing up in AI answers
What it means: More shoppers ask AI tools what to buy. If your store isn't named in the answer, you weren't in the running.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Open the AI prompt log in the app and run the suggested buyer prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Mode, each in a new private chat.
- Record whether you were mentioned and which sources were cited.
- Note the sites the tools cite most for your product type.
- Work on the checks that feed AI answers: clear brand facts, product data, buyer questions and mentions on other sites.
- Run the tests again on another day, and again after your fixes.
What good looks like: You appear in more than one tool for specific prompts, the answers cite your own pages and an independent source, and you show up again on a second run.
How AI tools describe you
What it means: Shoppers ask AI tools whether a brand is any good. A wrong or empty answer loses their trust at the last step.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Run the brand prompts from the app's AI prompt log in each tool.
- Check whether each answer gets right what you sell, who it is for, your price range and where you are based.
- Note any errors and the sources they came from.
- Fix the facts on your own site first, starting with your About page in Online Store > Pages.
- Correct outdated details on other sites you control, such as social bios and listings.
What good looks like: AI tools describe what you sell, who it is for, your typical prices and where you are based correctly, citing your About page and an independent review.
Clear brand facts
What it means: AI tools and Google quote plain facts. Your About page should say clearly who you are, what you sell, who for, where you are and since when.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Online Store > Pages and open your About page.
- Rewrite the opening one or two sentences to state five facts: your brand name, what you make, who it is for, where you are based and the year you started.
- Name the founder or team.
- Keep your story after these facts, not before.
- Save and check the page is linked from your footer.
What good looks like: The five plain facts in the first sentences of your About page, then the story, with the founder named.
Consistent details everywhere
What it means: AI tools cross-check your details across the web. When your name, description and location match everywhere, they are easier to trust and repeat.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Write one short line that describes your brand.
- Use it on your homepage, About page and in Online Store > Preferences.
- Update your social bios, Google Business Profile, marketplaces and directory listings to match.
- Use the same logo and link to your homepage everywhere.
- Close or update old profiles you no longer use.
What good looks like: Every bio and listing uses the same core line, the same logo and the same homepage link, and dead profiles are closed.
Product data for machines
What it means: Structured data is hidden code that labels your price, stock and rating so search engines and AI tools can read them reliably. Most Shopify themes add it for you.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Look at the product pages the app flagged.
- Test one in Google's Rich Results Test (search for it online) and note any errors.
- If price or availability is missing, check your theme is up to date in Online Store > Themes.
- If you show reviews, ask your reviews app's support whether it adds your star rating to the product data.
- If there are two Product blocks on one page, ask your theme or app developer to remove the duplicate.
What good looks like: One Product block per page with name, price, currency, availability and, where reviews show, a rating, all matching what shoppers see. More detail: does schema markup help with AI search visibility?
Brand data for machines
What it means: Organisation data on your homepage tells machines who owns your site and links it to your official social profiles.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Online Store > Themes > Customise.
- Open Theme settings > Social media and add the link to every active official profile.
- Check your logo is set in your theme's header section or theme settings.
- Save, then test your homepage in Google's Rich Results Test.
- If no Organisation data shows, ask your theme developer whether the theme supports it.
What good looks like: Organisation data on the homepage with your brand name, homepage address, logo and links to every active official profile.
Answers to buyer questions
What it means: AI tools answer questions. Clear question-and-answer content gives them something of yours to quote.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- List the real questions customers ask before buying.
- Go to Online Store > Pages and create or update an FAQ page.
- Put each question in its own heading, worded the way a customer would ask it.
- Answer it in the first sentence underneath, then add detail.
- Add product-specific questions to product pages, and longer answers as blog guides.
What good looks like: Ten or more real buyer questions answered across your FAQ, product pages and guides, each under its own question heading with the answer first.
Mentions on other sites
What it means: AI tools give weight to independent sources such as review sites, roundups and forums, not just what you say about yourself.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Set up reviews on an independent platform (such as Trustpilot, Feefo, REVIEWS.io or Google reviews) and ask customers to leave one.
- Look at the sources AI tools cited in your prompt tests.
- Contact the authors of relevant roundups and blogs and offer products to review.
- Take part honestly in forum threads about your product type.
- Keep a simple list of mentions so you can see progress.
What good looks like: Listed in roundups that AI tools cite, reviewed on a niche blog, plenty of reviews on an independent platform, and recommended by real customers in forums.
AI crawlers allowed
What it means: Your robots.txt file decides which bots can read your site, including AI crawlers. Blocking them should be a choice, not an accident.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Look at the crawler list in your results to see which AI crawlers are allowed or blocked.
- Go to Settings > Apps and check for bot protection or security apps that might block them.
- If you have custom rules, find them in Online Store > Themes > Edit code under Templates, in robots.txt.liquid (it only exists if someone has added custom rules).
- Decide which crawlers to allow, especially AI search crawlers.
- Write down your decision and the date.
What good looks like: AI search crawlers allowed, and your choice about AI training crawlers made on purpose and written down.
Google product feed
What it means: A product feed sends your products to Google. A clean feed keeps your prices and stock accurate wherever Google shows them, including next to AI answers.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Install Shopify's Google & YouTube app and connect your Google Merchant Center account.
- Turn on free listings.
- Add barcodes (GTINs), product types and vendors to your products where you have them.
- In Merchant Center, fix any account issues and disapproved products.
- Check Merchant Center once a month for new issues.
What good looks like: The Google & YouTube app syncs prices and stock, free listings are on, key products are approved, and you check Merchant Center monthly.
Want to go deeper?
The Shopify DIY Self-Audit Kit
Want the full checklist, worked examples and the scorecard? The Cape Wired Shopify DIY Self-Audit Kit covers all 40 checks in depth, including AI search visibility.