How to fix ai crawler blocked on Shopify

Steps for Shopify

1. From Shopify admin go to Online Store > Themes > (the three-dot menu on your live theme) > Edit code.
2. Under the 'templates' folder click 'Add a new template' and choose 'robots.txt' (this creates robots.txt.liquid).
3. Shopify's default template loops over rules; to allow an AI bot remove any block that adds 'Disallow: /' for it, or append an explicit allow group such as 'User-agent: GPTBot' then 'Allow: /'.
4. Save. Visit https://yourstore.com/robots.txt and confirm the bot no longer has 'Disallow: /'.

# Before (blocking ChatGPT's crawler):
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

# After (allowing it, while still protecting private paths):
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /
Disallow: /cart
Disallow: /checkout
Disallow: /account

What is ai crawler blocked?

robots.txt is a small text file at your domain root that tells automated crawlers which parts of your site they may read. A 'Disallow: /' rule under an AI crawler's user-agent (for example GPTBot for ChatGPT, or PerplexityBot for Perplexity) tells that assistant it may not read any page on your site.

AI assistants increasingly answer shopping queries by crawling and synthesizing content from stores they can access. A blocked crawler removes your store from consideration entirely for that engine - competitors who allow access get recommended in your place. Unblocking is a one-line change with outsized upside for AI visibility.

See the complete Ai crawler blocked guide for every platform and the full background.