{"slug": "show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping", "title": "Show HN: I built a tool to audit Shopify stores for AI agent and Google Shopping", "summary": "A developer released CatalogAudit, a free tool that checks Shopify stores against Google Merchant Center's product data rules and tests whether AI shopping agents such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode can read product facts. The tool reads only public pages, requires no store login or installation, and audits robots.txt to distinguish training crawlers (GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot, CCBot) from search and assistant crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot), whose blocking the developer says removes stores from AI shopping answers. The audit and fixes for five products are free, with full-catalog fixes discussed separately.", "body_md": "## What does catalogaudit check?\n\nTwo things: whether your products pass Google Merchant Center's product data rules — what gets items disapproved or throttled in Google Shopping — and whether AI shopping agents like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode can read your products' facts. Every check is listed on [the checks page](https://catalogaudit.app/checks).\n\n## Is it safe? Do you need access to my store?\n\nNo access at all. We read only public pages — the same things Google's crawler and AI agents see. We never log in, install anything or change your store.\n\n## What does it cost?\n\nThe audit and the five fixed products are free. If you want your whole catalog fixed and kept clean as products change, we'll talk about that separately.\n\n## Why would AI agents skip my products?\n\nA shopper can understand a nice photo and two sentences of copy. An agent answering “merino sweater under €100, machine-washable” needs those facts as structured attributes. If they're missing, it recommends a store that has them.\n\n## Should I block GPTBot and other AI crawlers in robots.txt?\n\nThat depends on which ones. Blocking training crawlers such as GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot or CCBot is a policy choice and doesn't remove you from shopping answers. Blocking the search and assistant crawlers — OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot — does, because they're what fetch your pages when a shopper asks for a recommendation. The audit checks your robots.txt for both.\n\n## What do you do with my email?\n\nWe use it to send you your report and, at most, one follow-up. We don't sell it or add you to a newsletter. [Privacy details](https://catalogaudit.app/privacy).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping", "canonical_source": "https://catalogaudit.app/", "published_at": "2026-10-27 11:41:44+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-27 12:12:02.267294+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-search", "ai-crawlers", "generative-engine-optimization", "structured-data", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Shopify", "Google Merchant Center", "ChatGPT", "Perplexity", "Google AI Mode", "GPTBot", "Google-Extended", "ClaudeBot"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-built-a-tool-to-audit-shopify-stores-for-ai-agent-and-google-shopping.jsonld"}}