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AI visibility — see and improve how AI assistants find your store

The AI Visibility page measures two things. Readiness is your technical setup for AI assistants — the files they read (llms.txt and ai.txt), crawler access in robots.txt, and structured data. Visibility is how often AI assistants actually mention your brand. RankEngine can fix readiness for you; visibility grows over time with content and mentions, and no app can fix it directly.

Who this is for

Merchants who want their store to be found, quoted and recommended by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

What you need

  • RankEngine installed with a finished analysis.
  • A storefront that is not password protected — the checks read your live store.
  • The RankEngine app embed switched on, so the structured data and AI files show on your storefront (see Theme setup).
  • For tracked prompts: a paid plan or an active trial.

Steps

  1. Open AI Visibility from the app menu. The Overview tab shows your score, how many readiness checks pass, and how often each engine mentions you.

  2. Click Scan again to run a fresh check across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. It takes a minute or two; the page says when it was last scanned.

  3. Open the Readiness tab. Each check says whether it passes and how it is fixed: automatically in one click, generated from your content, or needing your input.

  4. Click Fix AI readiness at the top of the page. The fix dialog lists what it will publish — your store summary file (llms.txt), AI crawler rules in robots.txt, and structured data. Review the groups and apply them. Each check re-tests your storefront after its fix.

  5. For checks that need you, use the button on the check (Fix, Review, Open On-Page SEO or Open structured data), or open the Needs you list in Agent Ready.

  6. Open the Visibility tab. Under Google AI Overview, type a keyword and click Check AI Overview to see whether Google's AI Overview cites your store, and which sites it cites instead. A live check takes about 15 seconds.

  7. Under Tracked Prompts, click Add prompt and type a question a buyer would ask (for example "best protein powder for cutting"). Each prompt is checked weekly across all four engines; an arrow marks a change since the previous check.

  8. Open the Authority tab and save your profiles on the platforms AI assistants learn from (reviews, communities, video, long-form). They are bookmarks for quick access; RankEngine does not pull metrics from them yet.

For a deeper check that crawls your whole store, click Full AI-readiness audit.

What you should see

  • Readiness checks turning to passing after Fix AI readiness; when all pass, the page says "All readiness checks pass".
  • Your llms.txt and ai.txt files published on your store.
  • Visibility that moves slowly: a new store with complete setup scores lower until real mentions appear. That is expected.

Troubleshooting

  • "We couldn't reach your storefront to check readiness." A password page or a slow response blocks the check. Remove the storefront password in Shopify, then click Check again.
  • "The AI visibility scan could not finish." Click Scan again in a moment.
  • A readiness check fails again after a fix. Make sure the app embed is on and saved in the theme editor; structured data does not show without it.
  • "RankEngine needs the "Manage URL redirects" permission." Reopen the app from your Shopify admin and approve the permission Shopify asks for. It lets RankEngine point /llms.txt on your store to the file it serves.
  • "Prompt tracking is a paid feature." Choose a plan in Settings › Plan & usage.
  • An engine shows "—" for a prompt. Its first weekly check has not run yet.

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