Shopify stores win AI citations the same way anyone else does: by answering the questions buyers ask before they are ready to buy. Cituna writes those answers from your own search data and posts them to a blog in your store. You connect with a custom app token scoped to a single permission, pick which blog receives the posts, and choose whether articles arrive hidden for review or go straight to the storefront. Because the articles carry proper headings, an FAQ block and structured data, they are built to be quoted by answer engines rather than to pad a category page. This guide covers creating the app, the scope, and what to do when your theme does not show the blog.
What this assumes
1. Create a custom app in Shopify
In Shopify admin, go to Settings → Apps and sales channels → Develop apps, then Create an app. Name it something you will recognise, such as Cituna.
Custom apps are private to your store. Nothing is listed publicly and no Shopify review is involved.
2. Give it write_content, and nothing else
Open Configuration → Admin API integration and grant write_content. That single scope covers creating and updating blog articles.
Do not grant more. A publishing integration has no business reading orders or customers, and a token that can only touch content is a token that can only ever break content.
3. Install the app and copy the token
Install the app, then reveal and copy the Admin API access token. Shopify shows it once.
If you lose it, uninstall and reinstall the app to generate a new one; there is no way to view an existing token again.
4. Connect the store in Cituna and pick a blog
Open Integrations → Shopify, paste your store domain (yourstore.myshopify.com) and the token, then choose which blog receives the posts. Most stores have one, called News; if you keep several, pick the one your theme actually links to.
Cituna verifies the token and the scope before saving, so a Connected badge means it works right now.
5. Choose hidden or visible, then turn the daily article on
In AutoSEO, select Shopify under "Deliver articles to" and pick a delivery mode. Review as drafts creates the article hidden, so it sits in Blog posts until you make it visible. Publish automatically puts it on the storefront immediately.
Switch on Daily article. Connecting a destination does not start anything by itself.
Troubleshooting
The article exists in Shopify but I cannot find it on my store.
Either it was created hidden, which is the default and correct behaviour for review mode, or your theme does not link to that blog. Check Online Store → Blog posts for its visibility, then confirm your theme has a link to the blog you chose.
Will updating an article un-publish it?
No. When Cituna updates an article it already created, it deliberately sends no visibility field at all, so a live post stays live. Visibility is read back from Shopify afterwards rather than assumed, which is why a published article never gets relabelled as a draft in your history.
Shopify is rate limiting the connection.
Shopify allows two API calls a second per store. Cituna retries once, honouring the Retry-After header, and then reports honestly rather than hammering your store. It resolves on its own within a minute; a busy import running at the same time is the usual cause.
Can I publish to Shopify pages instead of blog articles?
No. Pages are for evergreen store furniture like shipping and returns, and mixing generated articles into them tends to bury both. If you need a different destination shape, the webhook destination hands you the article and lets you place it yourself.