Frequently asked questions
Everything Shopify merchants ask about getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI search.
How do I check if my Shopify store is visible to ChatGPT and AI search?
Use this free tool above. Paste your store URL and in about 60 seconds you get a real 0–100 AI-Visibility Score based on your live storefront, llms.txt, product feed, and structured data. The report shows exactly which signals are missing and how to fix them to appear in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Mode. No sign-up needed.
What is AI visibility and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
AI visibility measures how often AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini cite and recommend your store when shoppers ask buying questions. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the practice of improving this: publishing an enriched llms.txt content map, adding Product and Offer JSON-LD structured data, writing FAQ content AI engines can quote, and ensuring your product feed has detailed descriptions. It complements traditional SEO but targets the AI-generated answer, not the blue-link results page.
Is there a free tool to check my store's AI-search visibility?
Yes — you're on it. This Hatchloop AI-Visibility Checker is completely free with no sign-up required. It scans your real storefront and scores five signals: AI discoverability (llms.txt, agents.md), product-feed completeness, structured-data (JSON-LD) coverage, answer-readiness content, and multi-market hygiene. You get a ranked list of concrete fixes in about 60 seconds.
Why isn't my Shopify store showing up in ChatGPT's recommendations?
The most common reasons: (1) a bare or missing llms.txt — Shopify auto-generates one since March 2026 but it lacks the enriched content map AI engines need; (2) no Product or Offer JSON-LD on product pages; (3) thin product descriptions that don't directly answer buyer questions; (4) robots.txt accidentally blocking AI crawlers; (5) no FAQ content for AI to quote. Run the scan above to see which of these apply to your specific store.
How do I get my Shopify store recommended by AI assistants?
The core steps: (1) publish an enriched llms.txt content map listing your best collections, policies, and answer pages; (2) add Product, Offer, and FAQPage JSON-LD structured data to your product and collection pages; (3) write FAQ and buying-guide content that directly answers questions shoppers ask AI; (4) make sure product descriptions are detailed enough for AI to quote accurately; (5) track your citation share across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini over time. Run the free scan above to get a scored baseline and prioritized fix list first.
What is an AI-Visibility Score and how is it calculated?
It is a 0–100 score of how ready your Shopify store is to be discovered, cited and bought inside AI answer engines. We fetch your store's actual public HTML, JSON-LD, /llms.txt, /agents.md, /products.json and /robots.txt, and compute five sub-scores from those real signals: AI discoverability, product-feed completeness, structured-data coverage, answer-readiness, and multi-market hygiene. Nothing is fabricated. The exact files we read are listed in the report evidence section.
Shopify already auto-generates llms.txt — why do I need to optimize it?
Exactly — since March 2026 Shopify emits a bare default llms.txt on every store. That raw file is a commodity now. The value is in enrichment: a curated content map of your best collections and answer pages, per-market currency and language entries, and brand context that helps AI engines understand what makes your store worth citing. This tool shows you what the default is missing and generates a recommended enriched version you can deploy.
Does this work for non-Shopify stores?
The engine runs against any public storefront URL, but it is tuned for Shopify (it reads Shopify-specific files like /products.json and the auto-generated /llms.txt). Non-Shopify stores still get a score from their public signals — structured data, robots.txt, llms.txt if present, and answer-readiness content.