Audit your store's SEO with GitHub Copilot
Auditing your Shopify store's SEO with GitHub Copilot means asking Copilot Chat in VS Code, with the StoreSEO server added in agent mode, which products, collections, pages and posts score worst, and getting a ranked worklist beside the theme code you are editing.
Last updated: October 2026
Set up GitHub Copilot for StoreSEO
Skip this if GitHub Copilot is already connected. The full guide, with the alternatives, is on the GitHub Copilot page.
- 1
Add StoreSEO to .vscode/mcp.json
Create or open .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace and paste this. VS Code uses a top-level servers key, not mcpServers, and a remote server needs type http.
JSON{ "servers": { "storeseo": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.storeseo.com/mcp" } } } - 2
Start the server and sign in
Run MCP: List Servers from the Command Palette, pick storeseo and start it. If it asks you to sign in, pick your Shopify store in the browser and approve access. Then open Copilot Chat in Agent mode, check the tools icon lists StoreSEO and ask this.
PromptUse StoreSEO to show me my store's SEO score breakdown.
How does this work in GitHub Copilot?
You are in VS Code with a theme or storefront folder open and Copilot Chat set to agent mode, where the StoreSEO tools show up in the tools picker. You type the audit as a plain request. Copilot calls storeseo_start to open the session, then storeseo_list_resources sorted by score with the lowest first, then storeseo_get_resource_seo for each product it will describe, and each call is listed in the chat. They are all read tools, so the results are quick to review and nothing is written to the store.
The editor is what makes this different from a chat tab. Ask Copilot to put the worklist in a file in the workspace, such as seo-audit.md, and it creates it beside your code, ready to commit or to compare with a later run. Because Copilot can read the project, you can also ask it which Liquid templates render the pages the audit flagged. It will still tell you that the focus keyword and the product title are changed in the StoreSEO app or in Shopify admin, and that StoreSEO tools handle meta, FAQs, the AI snippet and image alt text.
Check the tools picker before you start, since agent mode only calls tools that are switched on and a server that failed to start shows no tools at all. If the audit answers from general advice rather than your store, open the picker and confirm that StoreSEO is listed and enabled for the chat.
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You: Audit my store's SEO and save the worklist in the workspace.
- storeseo_start read-only
- storeseo_list_resources read-only
- storeseo_get_resource_seo read-only
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GitHub Copilot: I created seo-audit.md with the twenty lowest products, their scores and failing criteria. Meta descriptions and alt text are the most common gaps, and three products need a focus keyword from you.
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You: Which of these can StoreSEO fix?
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GitHub Copilot: Meta, FAQs, the AI snippet and alt text on all twenty. Do you want a preview of the meta for the first five?
What to ask GitHub Copilot
Use StoreSEO to list my twenty lowest-scoring products and the top issue on each. Read only, change nothing.
Audit my collections and pages, worst first, and write the worklist to seo-audit.md in this workspace.
Which products have the weakest GEO score, and which of the fixes need me in the StoreSEO app?
- Show me my ten lowest-scoring products and the top issue on each.
- Which collections are not optimized yet, and what is failing on them?
- Give me an SEO audit of my blog posts, worst first.
- Which products have the weakest GEO score for AI shopping agents, and why?
- Summarize my store's SEO: how many products, collections, pages and posts are optimized?
- For the product Linen Shirt, list every failing SEO criterion and say which ones StoreSEO can fix.
What StoreSEO does: store seo audit
StoreSEO scores every product, collection, page and blog post against its SEO checklist, and scores products for AI readiness (GEO) as well. An agent opens a session, lists the weakest resources first and reads the per-criterion analysis for each, so you get a ranked worklist instead of a dashboard to click through.
- 1
Open a StoreSEO session
The agent calls the start tool first. It returns a conversation id every later call needs, plus a snapshot of your store: how many resources are optimized, need improvement or are not optimized, image status, rank tracking and which features are set up.
- 2
List the weakest resources
It lists products, collections, pages or articles sorted by score, lowest first, or filtered to the ones marked not optimized. Products also carry a GEO score and their AI-readiness issues.
- 3
Read the checklist for each one
For each candidate it reads the full SEO record: current meta fields, focus keyword, score, every criterion that passes or fails, image status, FAQs and AI snippet.
- 4
Sort fixes by who can make them
It separates what a StoreSEO tool can fix (meta, handle, FAQs, AI snippet, image alt text, schema) from what only you can change in the app or in Shopify admin (the focus keyword, the product title, category, inventory).
- 5
Report a worklist
You get the resources in order, with the failing criteria in plain words and one suggested next fix. Nothing is written during an audit.
Store SEO audit reference
| Resource types | Products, collections, pages and blog articles |
|---|---|
| Scores | An SEO score for every resource, plus a GEO (AI readiness) score for products |
| Status labels | Optimized, needs improvement, not optimized; GEO adds not analysed |
| Sorting | By score, lowest first, or filtered to not optimized |
| Session | Every call carries the conversation id from the start tool; calls without it fail |
| What it writes | Nothing. Every audit tool is read-only |
| Fixed only in the app | Focus keyword choice, product title wording, Shopify category, product type, inventory, variant data |
| Plan | Any active StoreSEO plan, including the free plan |
Rules GitHub Copilot follows
- Every audit call is a read and runs straight away; nothing in this job changes your store.
- The agent describes criteria by their visible title, never by internal identifiers or raw status values.
- Criteria no tool can fix, such as choosing the focus keyword, are handed to you with a link into the StoreSEO app rather than guessed.
- The agent should offer one next fix at a time, tied to what it just found, instead of dumping the whole list as a checklist.
In GitHub Copilot
On Copilot Business and Enterprise an organization admin has to enable MCP servers in Copilot policy, otherwise StoreSEO will not be usable even though it is in your mcp.json. VS Code reads the servers key in .vscode/mcp.json, not mcpServers, so a snippet copied from another editor will silently show no tools. A .vscode/mcp.json committed to the repository is shared with your team, so keep any token out of it and leave the apply, optimize, generate and delete tools on VS Code's confirmation prompt.
What runs without asking. Reads such as SEO scores, store listings, settings and Google reports run straight away. Generating a preview spends AI credit but writes nothing, and StoreSEO tells the agent to say what a generation will cost before it runs one. Applying content, optimizing images, changing settings, publishing llms.txt or agents.md, writing a product description and deleting anything wait for your yes in the conversation. That yes is an instruction the agent follows, not a lock on the server, so your client's own tool-approval setting is the hard stop.
Questions
Does the Copilot audit need agent mode?
Yes. MCP tools are used by Copilot Chat in agent mode, so switch the chat to agent mode and check that StoreSEO is enabled in the tools picker before you ask.
Can Copilot save the StoreSEO audit in my repository?
Yes. Ask it to write the worklist to a Markdown file in the workspace. The audit tools only read from StoreSEO, and the file is the only thing written.
Does an SEO audit change anything in my store?
No. The audit uses read-only tools: the session start, the resource list and the per-resource SEO record. Your store is only changed later, by a separate step you agree to.
What is the difference between the SEO score and the GEO score?
The SEO score measures a resource against StoreSEO's on-page checklist for search engines. The GEO score applies to products only and measures how ready the product is for AI shopping agents and generative search, using criteria such as FAQs, an AI snippet, alt text and product schema.
Can the agent choose my focus keyword?
No tool can set the focus keyword. The agent can tell you when the keyword is missing or looks wrong and give you a link to set it in the StoreSEO app, and several fixes such as keyword clusters and description writing need it set first.
How many products can the agent audit at once?
The listing is paginated, so the agent can walk your whole catalog page by page. In practice it is more useful to ask for the lowest scores first and work down from there.
Keep going
Store SEO audit with other agents
More GitHub Copilot guides