Quick answer
Shopify Sidekick handles the on-page side of SEO well. It drafts SEO titles, meta descriptions, product descriptions and blog posts, and shows you each change before it goes live. What it can't do on its own is tell you where you show up, on Google or in the answers ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Grok give your shoppers. For that, Sidekick relies on apps. Connect an app like LinkGPT and you can ask "Is my store showing up in ChatGPT?" and get your score, who AI recommends instead, and what to fix, without leaving your admin.
Most merchants open Sidekick, ask it for a product description, and close it. That's a small slice of what it can do now.
Apps can now plug their own data into Sidekick, and that changes what you can ask it. On its own, Sidekick knows your products, orders, pages and settings. It has no idea what ChatGPT says when a shopper asks for "the best vegan wallet under $50". With the right app connected, it does.
This post covers both halves. First, the SEO work Sidekick does well by itself, with prompts you can copy. Then the AI search questions it can answer once LinkGPT is connected. Then how to chain the two, so the gaps one finds turn into the fixes the other writes.
What can Shopify Sidekick do for SEO on its own?
Sidekick sits in the top bar of your Shopify admin, on desktop and in the mobile app. Click it, type what you want, and it works with whatever page you're on.1 For SEO, four jobs are worth handing it.
SEO titles and meta descriptions
Give it a product and a keyword and it will draft both, written for that keyword.4 Sidekick presents changes for your review before applying them, so nothing goes live until you click.1
Product and collection copy
Product descriptions are where most Shopify SEO is won or lost, and most stores have the same three vague lines the supplier sent. Sidekick drafts fast. Treat the draft as a starting point: it doesn't know your specs better than you do, and it will state a wrong fact confidently.3
Blog posts
Sidekick can draft blog posts from a prompt.1 The ones worth publishing answer a question your customers already ask, not a keyword you picked from a tool.
Finding the setting
"Where do I edit my homepage meta description?" is a perfectly good Sidekick question. It saves a trip to the help center.
If you run the same SEO prompt often, save it as a skill. Sidekick lets you store repeated prompts and run them with a shortcut.1
Sidekick SEO prompts to copy
| Task | Prompt |
|---|---|
| SEO title and meta description | "Write an SEO title under 60 characters and a meta description under 155 characters for [product], targeting '[keyword]'. Show me before you save." |
| Product description | "Rewrite the description for [product] for [type of customer]. Start with what it's for, then material, size and care. Under 150 words. Don't invent specs." |
| Collection intro | "Write a two-sentence intro for the [collection] collection that answers 'what's the best [category] for [use]?'" |
| Blog post | "Draft a blog post that answers '[customer question]'. Lead with a direct answer, then compare our [products] in a table." |
| Finding a setting | "Where do I edit the meta description for my homepage?" |
Where Sidekick falls short on SEO
- Bulk edits. In one tested batch of 80+ products, Sidekick ignored character limits and banned words, then stopped after a couple of records.3 Do five or ten products at a time and check each one. For the whole catalog, a CSV import is still faster.
- Accuracy. It rarely says "I don't know".3 Check every spec, ingredient and claim before you approve.
- No ranking data. Sidekick can tell you what's in your store. It can't tell you where your store shows up.
That last one is the big gap.
Why can't Sidekick tell you if ChatGPT recommends your store?
Because that answer doesn't live in your store. When a shopper asks ChatGPT for a gift idea, nothing in your admin records whether your brand came up. Sidekick can only read what's there.
It matters even if your SEO is solid. Ahrefs checked 15,000 prompts and found only 12% of the URLs cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot rank in Google's top 10 for the same prompt.5 And the traffic AI does send is worth having: Similarweb puts ChatGPT-referred shoppers at an 11.4% conversion rate, against 5.3% for organic search.6
This is where apps come in. Shopify lets apps give Sidekick two kinds of access. Data tools let Sidekick look things up in the app, and they're read-only. Actions open the right screen in the app so you can make a change and confirm it yourself.2 Some SEO apps now use this for classic audits, like finding products with missing meta descriptions. LinkGPT uses it for AI search.
How do you connect LinkGPT to Sidekick?
- Install LinkGPT. Sidekick picks up its tools on its own. There's nothing to configure.
- Run AI Visibility once. LinkGPT asks your tracked shopper questions to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Grok, and records who gets mentioned and cited. Sidekick answers from your latest completed run, so until the first one finishes it will tell you there's no score yet.
- Open Sidekick and ask. From any page in your admin.
The visibility questions need a plan that includes AI Visibility. The setup checks, like crawler access and llms.txt, work on any plan.
What can you ask Sidekick about your AI visibility?
Plain language works. These are the questions LinkGPT is built to answer, and what comes back.
| Ask Sidekick | What you get |
|---|---|
| "Is my store showing up in ChatGPT?" | Your AI visibility score (the share of AI answers that mention you), the score for each model, the change since your last run, and the run date |
| "Which questions is Claude not mentioning us for?" | The tracked questions where Claude left you out, and who it named instead |
| "Who does Perplexity recommend instead of us?" | Competing brands, how often each shows up, and their average position |
| "What sites does Gemini cite for our products?" | The sites AI pulls from, ranked by how many answers cite them, tagged as forum, review site, news or marketplace |
| "How does ChatGPT describe our brand?" | Sentiment, a 0 to 100 score, the strengths it mentions, and what it suggests you improve |
| "Is anything blocking AI crawlers on my store?" | Whether robots.txt blocks any AI bots, plus llms.txt, JSON-LD and IndexNow status |
| "Is LinkGPT's AI outreach running?" | Which models are selected and how many outreach pings went out in the last 7 and 30 days |
| "Start an AI visibility audit for 'vegan wallet with AirTag slot'" | LinkGPT opens with that question filled in. You review it, click Save, then Run All |
Good to know
Sidekick reports the numbers from your latest run. It doesn't run new checks in the background. To get fresh results, ask it to start an audit and click Run All. Each run counts toward your plan's runs for the month.
If you're new to scoring AI answers, How to check your AI search ranking explains mentions, citations and referrals, and what a normal score looks like.
How do you use Sidekick to improve your AI visibility?
Ask it: "How do I improve my AI visibility?" (or AI SEO, or GEO, it understands all three). LinkGPT gives Sidekick a set order to work through, built on your store's data, biggest gap first:
- Fix discovery. If robots.txt blocks AI crawlers, llms.txt or JSON-LD is off, or nothing has been sent to IndexNow lately, that comes first. Nothing else matters if the engines can't read your store. More on this in our llms.txt guide.
- Answer the questions you're missing. For each tracked question AI doesn't mention you for, Sidekick suggests a product page, collection or FAQ that should answer it directly.
- Get on the sites AI cites. The citation list is your outreach list. If Perplexity keeps citing one Reddit thread or one review site for your category, that's where you need to be.
- Fix how AI describes you. Sidekick passes on what each model says you could improve.
Then have Sidekick write the fix
Finding the gap is half the job. The other half is a page that answers the question. You can do both in one Sidekick chat: LinkGPT shows you the gap, and Sidekick drafts the fix on your store.
- Ask what you're missing. "Which questions is ChatGPT not mentioning us for?" Sidekick pulls the list from your latest LinkGPT run, with the brands named instead.
- Pick one question you can win. Go for the one closest to a product you already sell. "Vegan wallet with AirTag slot" is winnable for a store that sells one. "Best wallet" isn't.
- Tell Sidekick exactly where to answer it. Name the page, quote the question, and limit it to facts you've already published. A vague ask gets vague copy.
- Check it and approve. Sidekick shows the change before saving. Fix any spec it guessed, then approve.
- Re-run in two weeks. Ask Sidekick to start an audit and click Run All. AI answers change slowly and vary between runs, so judge it over a few runs, not one.
Prompt to copy
Add an FAQ to the [product] page that answers "[question from LinkGPT]". Use our product listing to guide you. Lead with a direct answer and keep it under 60 words.
What's the difference between SEO and AI SEO in Sidekick?
| Classic SEO | AI SEO (GEO) | |
|---|---|---|
| What you measure | Rankings and clicks on Google | Mentions and citations in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Grok |
| Where the data lives | Google Search Console | In the AI answers themselves, which you have to check one by one |
| What Sidekick does on its own | Writes titles, meta descriptions and copy | Writes the pages and FAQs that answer shopper questions |
| What needs an app | Rank tracking, site audits | Finding which questions you're missing, who wins them, and which sources AI trusts |
Same store, same pages. The difference is who reads them. Google ranks pages. AI engines pull facts out of them and decide which brand to name. Clear, specific product pages help with both.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify Sidekick free?
Yes. Sidekick is built into the Shopify admin on every plan, with no separate subscription. Availability can depend on your region, store language and rollout status.3
Can Shopify Sidekick do SEO?
It can do the writing side. Sidekick drafts SEO titles, meta descriptions, product descriptions and blog posts, and shows you each change before it's saved. It can't tell you how you rank, on Google or in AI search. For that you need an app connected to Sidekick.
Can Sidekick check if my store shows up in ChatGPT?
Not on its own. With LinkGPT installed and one AI Visibility run done, you can ask Sidekick "Is my store showing up in ChatGPT?" and get your score, a per-model breakdown, the brands AI recommends instead and the sites it cites.
Can Sidekick bulk edit SEO titles across my catalog?
It can try, but bulk edits have been unreliable in testing. Character limits and instructions get dropped on big batches.3 Work in small batches and check each product, or use a CSV import for the full catalog.
Does LinkGPT change my store through Sidekick?
No. Shopify requires app data tools in Sidekick to be read-only.2 LinkGPT's data tools only look things up. Starting an audit opens LinkGPT with the questions filled in, and you click Save and Run All yourself.
Which apps work with Sidekick?
Check the "Works with" section of an app's Shopify App Store listing for Sidekick. Up to 20 apps per store can connect.2
Sources
- Shopify Help Center, "Sidekick": what Sidekick can do, content generation, saved skills, and review before changes are applied.
- Shopify Developer Docs, "Build for Sidekick": app data tools and actions, read-only data extensions, merchant confirmation, up to 20 apps per store.
- Appbrew, "Shopify Sidekick: What It Can and Can't Do in 2026": tested review covering bulk edit failures, accuracy and plan availability (Sept 2026).
- Fudge, "Shopify Sidekick: Features, Use Cases & Pricing (2026)": SEO titles and meta descriptions written for a target keyword.
- Ahrefs, "Only 12% of AI Cited URLs Rank in Google's Top 10 for the Original Prompt": 15,000-prompt study.
- Similarweb, "The Global State of Ecommerce 2025" via BusinessWire: 11.4% conversion rate for ChatGPT referrals vs 5.3% for organic search.
A Shopify merchant’s guide to GEO
Crawler access, structured data and content that gives AI a clear source to cite.
How to check your AI search ranking
Score mentions, citations and referrals across five AI engines, then fix what's missing.
Build a brand AI can understand
Connect your products, content and brand signals so AI can make sense of your store.