Help center
Frequently asked questions
What Cite Me does, what it never touches, and how it keeps you in control.
Getting started
What does Cite Me do?
Cite Me predicts and improves how AI search engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — can read and cite your store. It audits whether AI crawlers can access your storefront, gives every product, collection, page and blog a predicted citability score with a prioritized fix list, and (on paid plans) drafts citable Q&A and structured data grounded only in your own catalog and policies.
How do I install and set it up?
Install from the Shopify App Store and open the app — Cite Me reads your content through the Shopify Admin API and runs a first audit automatically. To publish structured data on your storefront, enable the Cite Me theme app-embed in your theme editor (one toggle). That's the whole setup; there are no scripts to paste.
Do I need any API keys or paid third-party tools?
No. Auditing, scoring and content generation work out of the box. Optionally you can connect your own Google Search Console / Analytics (free, read-only) for measurement, or add your own AI key on higher plans — both are optional.
How it works
Are the scores real, measured AI citations?
No — every score is predicted from heuristics and clearly labelled as such. Cite Me describes likely outcomes across signals like AI-crawler access, citable passages, question headings and structured data; it does not promise rankings, guaranteed AI citations, or rich-result stars.
Does Cite Me read my orders or customers?
No. Cite Me operates at Protected Customer Data Level 0: it does not request the read_orders or read_customers scopes and is structurally unable to read them. It works only with your store content (products, pages, blogs, policies, collections) and public storefront resources.
Will it change my store automatically?
Never. Everything Cite Me generates is a draft you review and approve before anything publishes, and every change is reversible with one-click rollback. It writes only to product / collection / page content, the theme app-embed block, and blog articles — never to orders or customers.
Which AI does it use, and is my content safe?
Text and images are generated with Anthropic and Google (Gemini / Imagen), using your store content only — no orders, customers, or personal data are ever sent to them. Generation runs zero-retention: prompts and responses are not logged; only coarse metadata (token counts, latency) is recorded. Access tokens are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM.
Measuring results
How do I see whether it's working?
Connect your own Google Search Console and Google Analytics (GA4) with read-only OAuth to see your real search metrics and AI-referred traffic — free and revocable anytime. A consent-gated first-party Shopify Web Pixel can also report revenue by channel. Cite Me keeps these measured figures visually separate from its predicted scores.
Does it work on a password-protected or brand-new store?
Yes for auditing and scoring — Cite Me reads your content through the Admin API even when the storefront is private. A few storefront-rendered signals (like live structured data) only become visible once your store is public and the theme app-embed is enabled.
Billing & plans
What are credits?
Content-generation actions (such as drafting an article or a set of citable Q&A) consume credits. Each plan includes a monthly credit allowance; you can buy more, or on higher plans use your own AI key for unlimited generation. Auditing and scoring never cost credits.
Can I upgrade, downgrade or cancel?
Yes — you can change or cancel your plan anytime from the Plan screen in the app. Billing is handled by Shopify and appears on your regular Shopify invoice. Downgrading keeps your data; it only lowers your monthly credit allowance going forward.
Will I be charged while testing on a development store?
No. Shopify does not bill development stores, so you can install and try Cite Me on a dev store at no cost.
Data & privacy
What data does Cite Me collect?
Your store content (read via the Admin API), your shop domain and app settings, billing status, generated content drafts, and encrypted access tokens. If you enable measurement, a first-party Web Pixel records only purchase value, currency, page path, traffic channel and a hashed dedupe key — never names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, or order data.
Is Cite Me GDPR-compliant?
Yes. Cite Me honours Shopify's mandatory GDPR compliance webhooks (customers/data_request, customers/redact, shop/redact). Because it holds no customer personal data, customer requests have nothing to return; a shop-redaction request cascade-deletes all of your shop's data.
Is my data encrypted?
Yes. Shopify access tokens are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, all traffic is served over TLS/HTTPS, and content sent to AI models is processed zero-retention (not logged or stored).
Where is my data hosted?
On a dedicated server hosted in the European Union, with encrypted backups. See our Privacy Policy for the full sub-processor list.
What happens to my data when I uninstall?
Your access token is revoked immediately on uninstall, and your shop data is deleted when Shopify sends the shop-redaction request. Nothing is retained beyond what the compliance webhooks require.
Will uninstalling Cite Me change or delete my products?
No. Uninstalling removes Cite Me's access and deletes the data it stored; it does not touch your products, pages, or blog. Any optimizations you previously approved stay live on your store (and remained reversible while the app was installed).
Still have a question?
Email carcucatalin@gmail.com — we aim to reply within a few business days.