Mock catalog
Each eligible product is scored out of 100. The store score is 85% the average of eligible products and 15% the policy score. All four policies together are that 15%. One missing policy is a quarter of it, about 4 points on a perfect catalog. A policy shorter than 80 characters scores 12 of its 25 points. If policies cannot be read, the store score is the product average alone.
Sources: Shopify Help, “Optimizing your products for AI platforms”; Shopify Catalog mapping docs; Shopify’s Standard Product Taxonomy (2026-10 category list); Google Merchant Center product data specification and structured-data attributes.
25 to 150 characters, not a placeholder, not a SKU, not all caps, and not the same word three times.
Shopify Help, Optimizing your products for AI platforms. Google Merchant title limit is 150 characters.
At least 150 characters of plain text, and no more than 5,000.
Shopify Help asks for detailed descriptions. Google Merchant descriptions max out at 5,000 characters.
At least two of: a number or measurement, a material, a color, or a care instruction.
Shopify's 2026 product-data guidance: agents act on structured facts, not unformatted praise.
A merchant product type that says what the item is, not Product or Misc.
Shopify lists product type among the fields AI platforms read.
A Shopify Standard Product Taxonomy category at least three levels deep.
Shopify Help, Standard Product Taxonomy. A leaf category is what attaches the attribute set agents filter on.
Vendor is filled in and is not a placeholder such as N/A, Generic, or No brand.
Google Merchant brand guidance. Shopify lists vendor as an organization field agents read.
Each variant has a GTIN-8, UPC-A, EAN-13, GTIN-14, or ISBN-10 with a valid check digit.
Shopify lists barcodes as an AI-shopping field. Google requires a correct GTIN check digit when a barcode is sent.
Every variant has a SKU so channels can tell options apart.
Google structured data maps sku to Product.sku. Shopify variants are how agents pick a purchasable option.
Option names are words like Size and Color. Abbreviations and blank values fail.
Shopify's 2026 AI-channel guidance: option names must be human readable, because agents use them as filters.
At least three images. When dimensions are known, each side should be at least 500 pixels.
Shopify lists images as an AI-shopping field. Google Merchant's 2026 image spec asks for at least 500×500, and recommends about 1500×1500.
Every image has its own alt text, and none of them are placeholders like 'image' or 'product photo'.
Alt text is what multimodal shopping models read when they look at the photo.
Present, and about 15 to 70 characters so a search result does not cut it off.
Shopify's product SEO title. Search snippets commonly truncate near 70 characters.
Present, and about 50 to 160 characters.
Shopify's product SEO description. Snippets commonly truncate near 160 characters.
At least two attribute metafields, such as material, size, care, color, fit, or ingredients.
Shopify: taxonomy attributes and metafields are how agents filter. schema.org Product uses material, color, and size as fields, not sentences.
Every variant has a price above zero. A compare-at price, when set, is higher than the price.
Shopify Catalog sends live price. A zero price or an inverted compare-at price gets filtered out of recommendations.
The product is active. At least one variant can be sold, or the inventory policy keeps selling.
Shopify Catalog syndicates products you sell, with live availability. Draft and archived products stay out.
The store score is 85% the average of eligible products and 15% the policy score. All four policies together are that 15%. One missing policy is a quarter of it, about 4 points on a perfect catalog. A policy shorter than 80 characters scores 12 of its 25 points.