Policy
MEDIUMShipping policy page reachable
A shipping policy page is reachable from the homepage nav or at a platform-conventional URL with non-stub body content. Agents quote shipping terms to shoppers; without a reachable shipping policy they fall back to vague defaults or skip your store.
What this check looks for
We discover candidate shipping-policy URLs in two passes: first by scoring nav/footer anchors on the homepage for keywords like "shipping", "delivery", "dispatch"; then by appending the platform's conventional path (`/policies/shipping-policy` on Shopify, `/shipping-returns/` on BigCommerce, etc.). We probe each URL in order — the first 2xx response with at least 200 characters of HTML-stripped body text passes. A 2xx with less text returns partial (the page exists but is a stub).
Which AI surfaces it affects
- Google AI Mode (UCP)70
- Perplexity50
- Microsoft Copilot50
- ChatGPT (ACP)30
- Meta AI30
Weighted against the live specs — ACP 2026-04-17, UCP 2026-04-08.
How to fix it
Publish a shipping policy page and link it from your site nav/footer
Shopify
A few minutes- Settings → Policies → Shipping policy: paste Shopify's template and customize. Shopify auto-publishes it at `/policies/shipping-policy`.
- Confirm the policy is linked from your footer (Online Store → Navigation → Footer menu) — Shopify usually does this automatically.
BigCommerce
A few minutes- Storefront → Web Pages → New: publish a shipping policy with slug `shipping-policy` or `shipping`.
- Storefront → Navigation: add the page to your footer menu so the nav scan picks it up.
WooCommerce
A few minutes- WordPress → Pages → New: publish your shipping policy with slug `shipping-policy`.
- Appearance → Menus: add the page to your footer menu.
Custom / headless
A few minutes- Publish a shipping policy page at `/shipping-policy` (or your CMS's standard slug).
- Server-render at least 200 chars of body text covering carriers, costs, and delivery timeframes.
- Link the page from your site footer so the homepage nav scan can discover it.
<main>
<h1>Shipping Policy</h1>
<p>
We ship within the contiguous US via USPS Priority and UPS Ground.
Orders placed before 2pm PT ship the same business day. Domestic
delivery takes 2-5 business days; international orders (currently
Canada, UK, and EU) take 7-14 business days. Shipping cost is
calculated at checkout based on weight and destination.
</p>
</main>The spec it's pinned to
Google merchant listing — shipping policy
Google's merchant-listing guidance recommends a reachable shipping policy page so shoppers (and AI agents quoting your terms) can see carriers, costs, and delivery timeframes before checkout.
Does your store pass this check?
Run the full audit — 82 checks across five AI shopping surfaces. Most tools only check whether you get mentioned; we check whether an agent can buy from you.