Documentation
How PopAEO works
A reference for the core concepts behind answer engine optimization and how each part of PopAEO helps AI discover, understand, and recommend your products.
What is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of making your store easy for AI answer engines — such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overview — to read, understand, cite, and recommend. Unlike traditional SEO, which is optimized around search rankings and clicks, AEO focuses on becoming part of the answer when a high-intent buyer asks an AI what to buy.
What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a structured, AI-readable index of your store. It acts like a product catalog
written for AI crawlers, describing your products, prices, inventory status, tags, and policies in a
consistent, machine-friendly format. PopAEO generates and maintains this file for you.
- Products — titles, key attributes, and semantic tags.
- Prices — current pricing and currency.
- Inventory — in-stock and out-of-stock signals.
- Policies — shipping, returns, and other buyer-relevant terms.
The AEO audit and score
PopAEO evaluates your live catalog and produces an AEO readiness score out of 100, with a per-metric breakdown so you know exactly what to improve:
- Product title clarity — how clearly titles communicate what each item is.
- Structured data coverage — how complete your machine-readable signals are.
- Description semantic depth — how well descriptions convey use, audience, and value.
- Category and tag signals — how reliably products are categorized and tagged.
Each recommendation includes its expected impact, so you can prioritize the highest-value fixes first.
Real-time sync
PopAEO keeps your AI-readable index aligned with your store. When inventory sells out, prices change, or new products launch, those updates flow into the index automatically — so AI does not recommend outdated or unavailable products.
Growth strategies
Sync keeps your index accurate; growth strategies let you shape what AI prioritizes. You can apply
weighting to high-margin products, clearance items, seasonal campaigns, and cross-sell bundles. These
signals are written into llms.txt so AI is more likely to surface the SKUs that matter most
to your revenue.
Supported platforms
PopAEO supports Shopify natively and WooCommerce through a WordPress plugin. Shopify merchants install
from the App Store and use Shopify-native subscription billing. WooCommerce merchants upload the plugin,
connect the PopAEO console, and serve /llms.txt from their domain root.
Data and privacy
PopAEO reads catalog data — products, pricing, inventory, and policies — to build your AI-readable index. It does not rewrite your product titles, descriptions, or existing Google SEO configuration, so it fits cleanly alongside your current workflow. For the full policy, see our Privacy Policy. For account deletion or data questions, contact us at support@popaeo.com.