CiteProof.co
Module 10 · Lesson 10.2 · Shopify lab

Shopify lab: robots.txt, product pages and structured data

Lesson 10.2 of the free AEO and GEO course: a Shopify lab on a demo store, with Shopify's built-in settings. The robots.txt Shopify generates and when you need robots.txt.liquid, a product page (category, barcodes, search engine listing), the store policies, a blog article that answers with a link to the product, and the Product structured data written by the theme.

The video for this lesson is coming soon to YouTube. Meanwhile, the full transcript is right here.

Transcript

Introduction

Lesson 10.2: the Shopify lab.

The lab store

The same method, this time on Shopify, with the settings Shopify already gives you, and no paid apps. The store is a demo: a test store, protected by a password. The product and the texts are made up, and you'll see it flagged in every recording. The admin is in English, and I'll read the menu names exactly as they appear on screen. If your admin is in another language, they're in the same place. Five steps: the robots.txt, a product page, the store policies, an article that answers with a link to the product, and the theme's structured data.

1. The robots.txt

Step one: the robots.txt. Shopify generates it for you, and for most stores, that's fine as it is. In our store, it opens with instructions for AI agents. Then the rules: every bot can read the store, except private pages like the cart and checkout. No AI bot is blocked. If you want to change it, for example to block a training bot, you add a template to the theme code: robots.txt.liquid. It's a technical change, so save a copy of today's file first.

2. The product page

Step two: the product page, in Products. The description already says what it is and how it works, in the first lines. The category is missing. Shopify has a standard list: we search for coffee grinders. It's used for taxes, for filters, and to tell other sales channels what you sell. Shopify also suggests category data, like the color or the type of burrs. Accept it only if it's true: here we leave it. Then the barcodes, under Barcodes. The GTIN field is here, but our product has no code, so it stays empty. You never make up a code. At the very bottom, in the Search engine listing section, we write a true description, in one sentence. And then we save.

3. The store policies

Step three: the policies. In Settings, Policies, you'll find refunds, privacy, terms and shipping. In our store, the refund policy is still empty. AI engines often answer questions about returns and shipping: if your page isn't there, they take the answer from someone else. Write them with your real terms, as in Lesson 7.2: by when, how, who pays for shipping, and when you refund.

4. An article and a link to the product

Step four: an article. In Content, Blog posts, we add a new one. The title is a real customer question: do you need a coffee grinder at home? And the answer comes right away, in the first sentence. Then the link: we select the words manual coffee grinder, open Insert link, and paste the address of the product page. We make it visible, and save. In the published article, the link goes straight to the product.

5. The theme's structured data

Step five: structured data. On Shopify, the theme writes it, so you don't have to. In the product page code there's a Product block: name, SKU, brand, price and availability, all taken from the product page. So the real work happens on the product page: if a detail is missing there, it's missing here too. On your own store, check it with Google's Rich Results Test.

The recap

Let's recap. The robots.txt checked. A product page with the category, the barcode only if it exists, and a description for search engines. The policies written, an article that answers with a link to the product, and theme data that mirrors the product page. All with Shopify's own settings. And then you measure again, as in Module 9.

Your task for today

Your task for today: on your Shopify store, fill in the category and the real barcodes for your top five products, and check the four policies. Then write an article that answers a real question, with a link to the product. And log everything in the Report tab.

Next lesson

In the next lesson: the same lab, on Wix. See you there.

Your task

On your Shopify store, fill in the category and the real barcodes for your top five products, and check the four policies. Then write an article that answers a real question, with a link to the product. And log everything in the Report tab.

Track it in the course worksheet.

Sources

Checked 19 October 2026.

  • Demo store (a Shopify development store, password-protected, not open to the public), labelled as a demo in every screen recording. The product «Travel Hand Coffee Grinder» and its texts are made up, and it has no barcode.
  • Shopify, «Customize robots.txt» (https://shopify.dev/docs/storefronts/themes/seo/robots-txt): «Shopify generates a default robots.txt file that works for most stores. Adding the robots.txt.liquid template replaces Shopify's generated robots.txt output.» The template is added from Online Store → Themes → Edit code → Templates (https://shopify.dev/docs/storefronts/themes/architecture/templates/robots-txt-liquid).
  • The demo store's robots.txt, read on 19 October 2026: it opens with instructions for AI agents (agents.md); «User-agent: *» with «Allow: /»; no AI bot excluded.
  • Shopify admin, product page: the help text of the Category field says the category determines tax rates and adds metafields to improve search, filters and cross-channel sales; Barcodes; Search engine listing.
  • Shopify, Liquid filter «structured_data» (https://shopify.dev/docs/api/liquid/filters/structured_data): «Product objects are output as a schema.org Product if they have no variants, and a ProductGroup if they have one or more variants.» On the demo store the theme prints a Product block with name, SKU, brand, price and availability.
  • Store policies (Settings → Policies): on the demo store the refund policy is empty (settings read on 19 October 2026).
  • Category chosen: «Coffee Grinders» (Shopify's standard product taxonomy). The category data suggested by Shopify were not accepted.
  • Method: bots (Module 3), structured data (Lesson 4.3), the answer in the first lines (Module 5), internal links (Module 6), product pages and GTIN codes (Module 7), policies and returns (Lesson 7.2).
  • CiteProof: the CiteProof Shopify app, product pages with a score, alt text and the Product schema check (Product pages: score, rewrite, alt text and schema), pages, policies and articles (Pages, policies and blog articles).