=== Uttor AEO for WooCommerce ===
Contributors: bytloop
Tags: woocommerce, seo, schema, ai search, product schema
Requires at least: 6.3
Tested up to: 7.1
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 1.0.0
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Answer Engine Optimization for WooCommerce. Get your products cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews.

== Description ==

**Uttor** (pronounced OOT-tor, Bengali for "answer") makes your WooCommerce products *the answer* when AI search engines respond to shopping queries.

Uttor generates rich, correct schema markup — `Product`, `Offer`, `ProductGroup`, `BreadcrumbList`, `CollectionPage`, and more — designed specifically for how AI search engines like ChatGPT Search, Perplexity Shopping, Claude, and Google AI Overviews decide which products to cite.

= Why Uttor? =

Most AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) tooling targets blogs and content sites — headings, FAQ schema, article markup. WooCommerce stores need something different: product schema, variable product structure, category page markup, and store-level entity data.

Uttor focuses specifically on WooCommerce products — complete `Product`, `Offer`, and `ProductGroup` schema, AI crawler controls, and `llms.txt` generation built around how a store catalog actually works. It cooperates with your existing SEO plugin — Yoast, Rank Math, All in One SEO, or SEOPress — filling the gaps they leave, without duplicating what they already do.

= Features (free) =

* **Complete Product schema** per Google Merchant Center guidelines — name, image, brand, SKU, GTIN, price, availability, condition
* **Variable product support** — proper `ProductGroup` with `hasVariant` linking every variation
* **Offer schema** with price, availability, currency, shipping details, return policy
* **BreadcrumbList schema** on every product and category page
* **CollectionPage + ItemList schema** on category pages
* **Site-wide WebSite and Organization schema** with SearchAction
* **Optional Store schema** for physical locations
* **AI crawler controls in robots.txt** — granular per-bot toggles for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Amazonbot, and 15+ other AI crawlers
* **Automatic llms.txt generation** at your site root, listing products, categories, and key pages in LLM-friendly format
* **Open Graph and Twitter Product cards** on every product
* **Meta description auto-generation** for products lacking one
* **SEO plugin detection and handoff** — never emit duplicate schema
* **Health check** — one-click audit of your store's AEO health
* **Live schema preview** — paste any product URL, see exactly what Uttor emits
* **WP-CLI commands** — `wp uttor-aeo audit`, `wp uttor-aeo regenerate`, `wp uttor-aeo validate`
* **HPOS-compatible** and works with all WooCommerce product types
* **Translation-ready** with `.pot` file and RTL support

= Pro version =

[Uttor AEO Pro](https://uttor.bytloop.com/) adds AI-generated LLM-friendly product summaries (bring your own OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google API key), category-level AEO copy, FAQ generation from customer reviews, AI citation tracking, Google Merchant Center feed enhancement, multi-language schema (WPML/Polylang), and priority support. The free plugin is fully functional without it.

= Bundle with Nishchoy Reviews =

Uttor AEO integrates deeply with [Nishchoy Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/nishchoy-reviews/) — the self-hosted alternative to Judge.me, Loox, and Yotpo. Products with rich reviews AND rich schema get cited more often by AI search engines. Available as a discounted bundle — see uttor.bytloop.com.

= Developer-friendly =

Every schema type is filterable. Every text output is filterable. Templates for `llms.txt` sections are overridable in your theme. Full REST API for programmatic access to schema. See the [developer docs](https://uttor.bytloop.com/).

== Installation ==

= Standard install =

1. Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress admin.
2. Search for "Uttor AEO".
3. Click **Install Now**, then **Activate**.
4. Follow the 5-step setup wizard.

= Manual install =

1. Download the plugin ZIP.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Upload the ZIP and click **Install Now**, then **Activate**.

= Requirements =

* WordPress 6.3 or newer
* WooCommerce 8.0 or newer
* PHP 7.4 or newer (8.1+ recommended)

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= What is AEO? =

Answer Engine Optimization. It's like SEO, but for AI search engines — ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot. When a shopper asks an AI which product to buy, AEO is what determines whether YOUR products get cited in the answer.

= I already have Yoast (or Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEOPress). Do I need Uttor? =

Yes. Content SEO plugins do a good job on blog posts and pages. They do a partial job on products — often missing `ProductGroup` for variable products, `Offer` variations, and correct shipping/return policy schema, and typically don't generate `llms.txt` or manage AI crawlers granularly. Uttor detects your SEO plugin and fills the gaps without duplicating what it already does.

= Will Uttor conflict with my SEO plugin? =

No. Uttor's conflict detector explicitly checks what your SEO plugin emits and hands off ownership of overlapping schema types. Zero duplicate JSON-LD. You can see exactly who owns what on the Uttor health check page.

= What is llms.txt? =

An emerging convention (llmstxt.org) for helping AI systems understand your site. Similar to how `robots.txt` guides search crawlers, `llms.txt` provides a curated, LLM-friendly summary of your site's key content. Uttor generates one automatically for your WooCommerce store.

= Can I control which AI companies can crawl my site? =

Yes. Uttor has granular per-bot toggles in `robots.txt` for every major AI crawler. Allow the ones you want to be cited by (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity), block the ones you don't. Uttor writes via the `robots_txt` filter and never overwrites your physical `robots.txt` file if you have one.

= Does it work with my theme? =

Yes. Uttor emits schema and meta tags via WordPress hooks — no theme dependencies. Works with Storefront, Astra, Kadence, Blocksy, GeneratePress, and all modern block themes.

= Is it HPOS-compatible? =

Yes. Uttor is fully compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage.

= Does it slow down my site? =

Schema generation runs on `wp_head` with caching per product. Overhead is negligible — target is under 10ms per page. `llms.txt` is pre-generated on cron and served statically.

= Do I need a paid AI API to use Uttor? =

Only for Pro features that use AI (product summaries, category copy, citation tracking, image alt text). Free features don't require any API keys.

= What happens to my data if I uninstall the plugin? =

Uttor doesn't create any custom data — settings live in `wp_options`, and generated meta values live in standard WooCommerce meta. On uninstall, you're asked whether to delete Uttor's settings and generated meta. Original WooCommerce data is untouched.

= Where can I get support? =

Support is available in the plugin's [support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/uttor-aeo/) on wordpress.org. Pro customers get email support with a 24-hour response SLA.

= I'm a developer — where are the hooks? =

The hooks reference lives at [uttor.bytloop.com](https://uttor.bytloop.com/) and in `/docs/hooks.md` in the plugin.

== Screenshots ==

1. Live schema preview — paste any product URL, see exactly what Uttor emits.
2. AI crawler control panel with per-bot toggles.
3. Health check page with actionable issues.
4. Setup wizard on activation.
5. Auto-generated llms.txt at the site root.
6. Product schema output visualized against schema.org spec.
7. SEO plugin detection and handoff status.
8. Settings overview.

== Changelog ==

= 1.0.0 =
* Initial release.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 1.0.0 =
Initial release of Uttor AEO for WooCommerce.
