Herald is in early access. Plans and prices may change before launch. Agori Labs
Guide 04

The AI-readiness checklist for sellers

Everything that helps AI read your store, in the order to do it. Most of the high-impact work is free, and you can start this afternoon. The rest is ongoing technical work, which Herald automates. The list is the same for a small shop or a big brand.

~7 min readStart today, freeUpdated 2026
Up to AI-ready, one rung at a time
Clear titles & plain facts Attributes & identifiers Schema & structure Trust signals Published & kept in sync START · hard for AI to read ★ AI-ready
★ AI-ready Published & kept in sync Trust signals Schema & structure Attributes & identifiers Clear titles & plain facts START · hard for AI to read

Swipe the diagram to see all of it →

The free rungs get you most of the way to AI-ready. Each item you finish makes your store easier for AI to read. Herald will help with the rest.

The shape of it

Two halves: what you do, what Herald does

Getting AI-ready has two halves. One half is edits you can make yourself, for free, right now. The other half is technical and ongoing, and it takes steady time. Knowing which is which helps you plan your week.

The two halves
Foundation · DIY

The stuff you control

Titles, facts, use-case language, basic schema and a couple of outside mentions. It's all free.
Cost: freeTime: an afternoon → a week
Infrastructure · Herald

The ongoing technical work

A clean page per product, continuous sync, intent coverage, referral tracking and agent-ready data. Herald does this and keeps it current.
Cost: your time…or automated
Do the free half yourself, because it makes a real difference. The technical half takes steady time, and that's where Herald takes over.
The checklist

In the order to do it

Work top to bottom. The first tier is free and high-impact, and it's where most stores see the biggest gains. Finish the basics before the technical tier.

Tier 1

This afternoon, free, highest impact

~2 hrs
  • Rename products the way people ask: "organic cotton sleep mask" instead of "The Luna." This is the biggest win.
  • Move every fact out of images into text: materials, size, specs. AI reads text best.
  • Say who it's for and when, like "gift for a gardener" or "for wide feet." AI matches products to people.
  • Fill every attribute field: material, size, style, occasion. Each field is another match.
Tier 2

This week, free, a little more effort

~half a day
  • Label your product facts for machines, with price and availability as data (Product & Offer schema).
  • Add your brand and identifiers everywhere, consistently. This lets AI match you across sources.
  • Write a real Q&A / FAQ block per product (with FAQ markup). AI quotes this format often.
  • Tell AI who your brand is with an About page it can read (Organization schema).
  • Let the crawlers in & tell Bing: allow AI crawlers, submit your sitemap and add an llms.txt map.
  • Earn a few real outside mentions: reviews, a roundup, a community post. Corroboration builds trust.
Tier 3 · ongoing

The ongoing work Herald does

continuous
  • A dedicated, machine-readable page for every product.
  • Coverage across discovery, comparison & purchase questions.
  • Prices and stock kept in sync automatically.
  • Tracking every AI referral, so you see what's working.
  • Data an AI shopping agent can act on (Herald's AUX layer).
Where Herald comes inYou can do Tiers 1 and 2 yourself. Herald runs Tier 3 for you, along with the first two, and to publish it all and keep it fresh. Join early access →
Where you'll stand

The free half gets you most of the way

The free DIY tiers cover most of what makes you readable. The technical tier is the last stretch. It takes steady upkeep, so it's the part many sellers like to hand off.

A store's readiness, roughly
AI-readyAll three tiers
The free DIY half (titles, facts, use-case, schema, mentions) does most of the work.
The technical half (per-product pages, sync, coverage, tracking) is the last stretch, which Herald will do for you.
Illustrative only, since the split varies by store. Run your own to see the real number.
Do the free half and you'll feel the difference. Finish the last stretch and you're fully AI-ready.
Keep reading

Where to go next

Guide 02
Why doesn't AI recommend my shop?
Guide 01 · the pillar
What is AEO? The whole picture

Want Herald to handle the checklist?

Herald is in early access. Tell us about your store and we'll be in touch.

Join early access →