Hi everyone,
I’m a developer, and I also run a small online store myself. Like many merchants, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get more exposure through SEO, content, ads, and different marketing channels.
But SEO is getting more competitive every year, and for small stores it can be hard to get a good return without spending a lot of time or money.
What made me rethink this was a small moment at home.
My child needed a pair of white shoes for school, and instead of searching on Google or browsing stores one by one, she simply asked ChatGPT which brands or stores were worth considering.
That made me realize something: more shoppers may start discovering products through AI answers, not just search results.
So I started looking into a question:
When someone asks an AI tool for product recommendations, how does it decide which stores or products it can understand and mention?
One thing I found interesting is llms.txt. In simple terms, it can act like an AI-readable guide for your store, helping AI crawlers understand your products, pricing, inventory, policies, and other key information.
For Shopify merchants, I think this raises a few questions:
- Can AI crawlers clearly understand what your store sells?
- Is your product catalog available in an AI-readable format?
- Are prices, inventory, and product details kept fresh?
- Could outdated or unclear product information reduce your chances of being mentioned?
I’m currently exploring this area and building around AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) for ecommerce. I’m curious if other Shopify merchants here are already thinking about AI search visibility, llms.txt, or how tools like ChatGPT may affect product discovery.
I’ve also been building a small Shopify app to help merchants check and generate llms.txt without code, but I’m mainly interested in hearing how others are thinking about this shift.
Would love to hear your thoughts.