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Check why your products are missing from Shopify Catalog and AI shopping channels
Goal
ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot and Meta's Muse can all use Shopify Catalog. Products only go in if your store and each product meet Shopify's rules. Shopify sorts products into categories using your own product text, which can differ from the category you picked, and some categories are excluded completely. Even then, being in the Catalog 'doesn't guarantee' a product shows up in any particular AI answer.
Quick answer first? Try the free tool: Shopify Catalog eligibility checker
Prompt to copy
Help me work out why some of my Shopify products may not be in Shopify Catalog (the product source for Shopify's agentic storefronts). First, tell me exactly what to look at in Sales channels › Agentic › Sources › Shopify Catalog. If an ineligibility message is shown, explain what it means and what to do, using Shopify's published list (for example: plan doesn't support it, password protected, B2B-only, account standing). Then I'll paste a product CSV export (Handle, Title, Body, Type, Product Category, Status, Published, Variant Price, Image Src, SEO/hidden from search settings). Flag every product that breaks a published requirement: - no title or no image - price of 0 (free products are excluded) - not published to the online store, or Unlisted, or hidden from search engines - a title, description or images that could get it classified into an excluded category, even if it isn't really in one. Examples: anything that reads like a weapon or knife, alcohol, CBD, vapes, services or add-ons such as gift wrapping, extended warranties or installation, event tickets, or products Shopify would class as Uncategorized - descriptions that are too thin for Shopify to classify the product For each flagged product give: Handle | Rule it likely breaks | Fix (rewording, category, publishing) | 'Excluded by design, nothing to fix' where that applies. Don't suggest disguising a product that really is in an excluded category.
Steps
- In Shopify admin, open Sales channels › Agentic and look at Sources › Shopify Catalog for any ineligibility message.
- Export your products to CSV and run the prompt.
- Fix titles, descriptions, categories and publishing, starting with your best sellers.
- Leave products that are excluded by design as they are, and use Merchant Center instead for Google surfaces where the product is allowed there.
- Re-check in a week, then run the 'Run a monthly AI prompt visibility test' workflow. Being included is not the same as being shown.
What to check
- Every product has a title, an image, a price above 0, and is published and not hidden from search.
- Add-ons such as gift wrap or personalisation fees are expected to be excluded. They aren't treated as errors.
- No product is reworded to hide what it really is.
- You remember that Shopify Catalog access can be switched off per AI channel in Sales channels › Agentic, so check those settings are what you intended.
Sources
- Shopify Help: Requirements for being included in Shopify Catalog
- Shopify Help: Shopify Catalog
- Shopify Help: Shopify agentic storefronts
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Want it done for you?
A fixed-scope Shopify AI visibility audit: product data, Merchant Center, review markup, delivery and returns facts, AI referral tracking and a baseline prompt test, delivered as a prioritised fix list. See what's included (offer not open yet)