How to make your BigCommerce store ready for AI shopping agents (ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot)

BigCommerce gives you a robots.txt editor and themes that already include Product schema. Most of the work is filling in product data and checking that your theme outputs it.

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What changed in 2026

AI assistants now help shoppers compare and pick products, but most still send the buyer to your own checkout. OpenAI paused ChatGPT Instant Checkout in March 2026 to focus on product discovery, with purchases finished on merchants' own sites [9] [10]. So the job today is simple: make sure these tools can read your products, prices, stock and policies.

1. Let AI search crawlers in (robots.txt)

Open yourstore.com/robots.txt. AI search tools can only recommend pages their crawlers are allowed to read. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Perplexity says to allow PerplexityBot to appear in its results. Google uses Googlebot for Search (including AI features in Search) and Storebot-Google for Google Shopping surfaces.

Two tokens are about training, not search: GPTBot (OpenAI model training) and Google-Extended (Gemini training and grounding in Gemini Apps). Google says Google-Extended does not affect inclusion in Google Search. You can block those two and still be found, or allow them. That is a business choice.

A safe starting point that allows the search crawlers:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

User-agent: Storebot-Google
Allow: /

User-agent: Bingbot
Allow: /

OpenAI and Perplexity both say robots.txt changes can take about 24 hours to take effect. If you use a firewall or bot protection (for example Cloudflare), make sure it is not challenging these bots. Perplexity publishes IP ranges for this.

Sources: [1] [2] [3]

2. Put Product structured data (JSON-LD) on every product page

Google's merchant listing docs require name, image and an offers block with price (greater than zero) and priceCurrency. Recommended fields include availability, gtin, sku, brand, aggregateRating, hasMerchantReturnPolicy and shippingDetails. Google also recommends putting Product markup in the initial HTML, because markup added later by JavaScript can make Shopping crawls less frequent and less reliable. Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript at all.

Here is a complete example. Replace every value with your real data:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Oak Cutting Board",
  "image": ["https://example.com/img/board-1x1.jpg"],
  "description": "Hand finished solid oak cutting board, 40 x 25 cm.",
  "sku": "OAK-CB-40",
  "gtin13": "0012345678905",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Example Woodworks" },
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "url": "https://example.com/products/oak-cutting-board",
    "price": 49.00,
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "itemCondition": "https://schema.org/NewCondition",
    "hasMerchantReturnPolicy": {
      "@type": "MerchantReturnPolicy",
      "applicableCountry": "US",
      "returnPolicyCategory": "https://schema.org/MerchantReturnFiniteReturnWindow",
      "merchantReturnDays": 30,
      "returnMethod": "https://schema.org/ReturnByMail",
      "returnFees": "https://schema.org/FreeReturn"
    },
    "shippingDetails": {
      "@type": "OfferShippingDetails",
      "shippingRate": { "@type": "MonetaryAmount", "value": 0, "currency": "USD" },
      "shippingDestination": { "@type": "DefinedRegion", "addressCountry": "US" },
      "deliveryTime": {
        "@type": "ShippingDeliveryTime",
        "handlingTime": { "@type": "QuantitativeValue", "minValue": 0, "maxValue": 1, "unitCode": "DAY" },
        "transitTime": { "@type": "QuantitativeValue", "minValue": 2, "maxValue": 5, "unitCode": "DAY" }
      }
    }
  }
}
</script>

Test a product URL in Google's Rich Results Test, then check the Merchant listings report in Search Console.

Sources: [4]

3. Edit robots.txt in Settings

Go to Settings then Website and scroll to Search Engine Robots. You need the Manage Settings permission. BigCommerce merges your custom rules with its system defaults, and notes that its default file includes a delay for AI bots. Check the live file at /robots.txt after saving.

Sources: [5]

4. Fill in GTIN, MPN and brand

Add identifiers in the Product Identifiers section when editing a product. BigCommerce notes that variant level GTIN is not shown in the control panel but can be set through Product Import/Export or the Catalog API. BigCommerce's Cornerstone theme writes GTIN, SKU, MPN, brand, price, currency and stock status into its Product schema when those fields are filled in.

Sources: [6] [7]

5. Check your theme's schema for gaps

The Cornerstone product schema template does not include return policy or shipping details. Add a store wide MerchantReturnPolicy under Organization markup, or set returns and shipping in Google Merchant Center. Custom or older themes may differ, so view source on a product page.

Sources: [7] [4]

6. Keep price and stock status accurate

Use one availability value per offer, such as InStock, OutOfStock, PreOrder or BackOrder. The price in your markup must match the price a shopper sees. If you sell in more than one currency, Google asks for a separate URL per currency. If you set priceValidUntil, do not let it fall in the past, or your listing may not display.

Sources: [4]

7. Publish return and shipping policies AI can read

Have a plain return or refund page and a shipping page, and link both from your footer. Then describe them in code. Google recommends one store wide MerchantReturnPolicy nested under your Organization markup, with product level policies only for exceptions. Required fields are applicableCountry and returnPolicyCategory, plus merchantReturnDays for a fixed return window. You can also set return and shipping policies in Google Merchant Center or Search Console, which take priority over page markup.

Sources: [4]

8. Show real reviews in your markup

If you collect product reviews, expose them as aggregateRating and review inside your Product markup. Google lists both as recommended and requires reviewer names to be real people or teams, not marketing text. Do not add ratings you did not collect.

Sources: [4]

9. Send a product feed to the shopping engines

Markup helps crawlers. Feeds give the engines your full catalog directly.

Google (Search, Shopping, AI Mode): Google Merchant Center. Product level settings in a Merchant Center feed take priority over page markup for shipping and returns.
Microsoft Copilot: Microsoft says submitting a product feed in Microsoft Merchant Center improves product visibility in Copilot, and it now supports feeds ready for the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), with return and support policy settings.
ChatGPT: OpenAI paused its Instant Checkout feature in March 2026 and now focuses on product discovery, with purchases finished on the merchant's own site. OpenAI said merchants can share product feeds with it. Being crawlable by OAI-SearchBot is the part every store can do today.

Sources: [4] [8] [9] [10]

Check your BigCommerce store for free.

ShopReady reads your homepage and a product page the way AI crawlers do, then gives you a score and your top fixes in about 15 seconds.

Run the free check

Sources

More platform guides

Last reviewed October 29, 2026. Platforms change their settings often, so check the linked sources.