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WooCommerce Merchant Setup

WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, powering roughly 36% of online stores worldwide. Compared to Shopify’s hosted model, WooCommerce’s self-hosted nature gives you more control over AI visibility — but also requires more manual configuration.

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6.1 WooCommerce’s AI Visibility Baseline

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6.2 Action Checklist

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Step 1: Schema.org Product Markup (10 minutes)

WooCommerce does not include structured data markup by default. You need a plugin: Recommended options (choose one):
  • Yoast SEO + Yoast WooCommerce SEO — the most popular combination; automatically generates JSON-LD Product markup for all product pages
  • RankMath — has built-in WooCommerce support; the free version is sufficient
  • ORBEXA WooCommerce Plugin — generates Schema.org markup plus llms.txt and agent.json automatically
After installation, verify with the Google Rich Results Test — test any product page and confirm Product markup is detected.

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Step 2: Create llms.txt (5 minutes)

WooCommerce’s advantage: you can place files directly in the root directory. Via FTP or your hosting file manager, create an llms.txt file in the WordPress root directory:
You can also use a WordPress plugin to maintain this automatically — search for “llms.txt” or use the ORBEXA plugin.

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Step 3: Check and Optimize robots.txt (5 minutes)

WordPress auto-generates robots.txt. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and confirm:
  1. AI crawlers are not blocked (ChatGPT-User, Claude-Web, PerplexityBot, etc.)
  2. The /wp-json/ path is not blocked (the WooCommerce API depends on it)
If changes are needed, install Yoast SEO and edit via SEO -> Tools -> File editor.

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Step 4: DNS Security Configuration (30 minutes)

Configure at your domain registrar:
  1. DMARC: Add a DNS TXT record for _dmarc.yourdomain.com -> v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com
  2. SPF: Add a DNS TXT record -> v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all (adjust based on your email provider)
  3. DKIM: Usually provided by your email service (Google Workspace, Zoho, etc.) with setup instructions
  4. DNSSEC: Enable in your domain registrar’s dashboard

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Step 5: Optimize Sitemap (5 minutes)

Confirm your Sitemap includes all product pages:
  1. Visit yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
  2. Confirm there is a product-sitemap.xml sub-map
  3. Spot-check a few product URLs to make sure they are correct
If you use Yoast SEO or RankMath, the Sitemap is maintained automatically.

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6.3 WooCommerce-Specific Advantages

WooCommerce has several characteristics that are especially favorable for AI visibility:
  1. Full file system control — llms.txt and agent.json can be placed directly in the root directory
  2. Open-source ecosystem — a large number of free plugins support structured data
  3. Customization depth — you can precisely control every field in your Schema.org markup
  4. API-friendly — the WooCommerce REST API natively supports structured data output

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6.4 Verify Your Improvements

After completing these steps, allow 24-48 hours, then re-check your domain’s trust score. Focus on:
  • D dimension: Schema.org Product markup + llms.txt
  • S dimension: DMARC/SPF/DKIM/DNSSEC
  • T dimension: completeness of privacy and return policy pages
Next chapter: Custom-Built Site Setup — the setup guide for non-Shopify/WooCommerce sites