INDEPENDENT MERCHANT INTELLIGENCEPUBLIC BETA / SEPTEMBER 2026 BASELINE
learn / Merchant field guide

Merchant readiness: what to verify first

Readiness is a set of observable conditions, not a universal score.

Merchant answer / Editorial synthesis

A permitted crawler needs to reach the right public page. A product needs an unambiguous identity and offer. Check the basics before buying a visibility product: HTTPS, public links, canonical URLs, product data and readable merchant policies. A blocked request may reflect an intentional security policy. It should prompt a review of access rules, not an automatic instruction to weaken protection.

What this establishes
A practical way to inspect evidence and make the next merchant decision.

What it cannot establish
Live merchant deployment, private account eligibility, purchase completion or guaranteed AI selection.

Evidence dates and document versions remain attached to the ledger below. Editorial presentation reviewed 30 September 2026; this is not a new source verification.

Start with access and product truth

A permitted crawler needs to reach the right public page. A product needs an unambiguous identity and offer. Check the basics before buying a visibility product: HTTPS, public links, canonical URLs, product data and readable merchant policies. A blocked request may reflect an intentional security policy. It should prompt a review of access rules, not an automatic instruction to weaken protection.

Use four evidence outcomes

Verified means a defined check observed its expected signal. Needs attention means the sampled evidence shows a specific gap. Cannot verify publicly means the required evidence was unavailable or private. Not applicable requires enough context to know a check does not apply; it should not be used as a convenient replacement for uncertainty. Each result needs a source, timestamp and a bounded claim.

Turn a finding into a small repair

A missing currency property on two sampled products is an actionable issue. “Your store is not AI-ready” is not. Assign the field owner, fix the source record or template, validate visible and structured values, and repeat the same sample. Keep the earlier report. A change in the scanner’s method must not be presented as a merchant improvement.

Your next step

Evidence ledger

Go to the source.

Primary documentation records what is publicly stated. It does not independently prove outcomes or your account’s eligibility.

  • Product structured data

    Google Search Central · official primary · Checked 2026-09-28

    Claim scope: Product markup and merchant listings

    Markup is one input and does not guarantee search appearance.

    Source ID: google-schema · Published: Not stated

  • RFC 9309: Robots Exclusion Protocol

    IETF · official primary · Checked 2026-09-28

    Claim scope: Robots parsing and crawler access

    Scanner uses conservative fail-closed handling on unavailable robots.

    Source ID: robots-rfc · Published: Not stated

  • Get started with commerce

    OpenAI · official primary · Checked 2026-09-28

    Claim scope: Product feed access

    Approved partners; file and API delivery. This is not evidence of universal checkout availability.

    Source ID: openai-start · Published: Not stated

Dispute a fact or suggest a source