Aktio Connector

Basic SEO, schema.org, llms.txt, robots.txt for AI bots, IndexNow and AI visit measurement — standalone or together with Aktio.

Description

Aktio Connector makes a WordPress site easier for search engines and AI bots to read, and lets you check its health remotely, but only on your terms. Every SEO feature works only when no other SEO plugin already provides it, so nothing is duplicated.

What the plugin does

• schema.org structured data (JSON-LD): the business (Organization or LocalBusiness, with description, founding date, contact point, opening hours, location and area served), the website, pages, articles and breadcrumbs. With WooCommerce also products (Product, ProductGroup, offers and ratings) and, if you choose to declare them, a default brand, a return policy and fallback shipping details.
• Basic SEO without an SEO plugin (new in 0.2): meta description, Open Graph and X (Twitter) cards, custom page title, and noindex for internal pages (search results, cart, checkout, account, attachments, empty tags, single-author archives, which are also removed from the WordPress sitemap). Each post, page, product, category and tag gets optional "SEO title" and "SEO description" fields (in the editor, in Quick Edit and on the term screens). If an SEO plugin (or Jetpack for Open Graph) already provides a feature, Aktio Connector stays out of the way.
• Content language (new in 0.2): the language of your content (for example en-IE) can differ from the language of the admin panel. It is used in lang, og:locale, schema inLanguage and llms.txt. The settings screen warns when the content seems to be in a different language than declared.
• Cache purge (new in 0.2): after you save the settings or a product stock status changes, the plugin clears the cache of a detected caching plugin (Cache Enabler, WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache, SiteGround Optimizer, Breeze, Cloudflare). All active caching plugins are purged. A stock status change purges only the product page, and only for plugins that can clear a single URL (Cache Enabler, WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache); for the others it is skipped. There is also a "Clear now" button.
• IndexNow (new in 0.2, off by default): tells Bing and other participating search engines about new, changed and deleted public URLs. Includes a log and a "Submit the whole sitemap" button. Never used on sites that discourage search engines and never for noindex addresses. Bing and Google site verification codes can be entered in the settings.
• AI visit measurement (new in 0.2): counts visits of AI bots and visits coming from AI assistants and AI search (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude), without cookies. See the privacy section below.
• FAQ block and shortcode (new in 0.2): the aktio/faq block and the [aktio_faq] shortcode (Q: ... / A: ... line by line) render questions and answers and add FAQPage schema.
• Catalog scan for the Aktio agent (new in 0.2): read-only REST routes list products (brands, images, missing ALT texts, description lengths) and images without ALT text, and a route to set ALT texts in bulk (up to 50 per call, with the previous value returned for every item). Available to authenticated users with the right capabilities.
• robots.txt for AI bots: appends a block for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended at the end of robots.txt. Bots are allowed by default and you can block each one in the settings.
• llms.txt: serves /llms.txt with a short description of the business, a list of pages, recent posts and products. Password-protected and unpublished content is left out.
• Site Health over REST: Site Health test results and environment information available to logged-in administrators through aktio/v1/health.
• Updates over REST with a log: the list of available core, plugin and theme updates and a way to apply them through aktio/v1/updates. Every update is written to a log (the last 50 entries) shown in the settings. The plugin never rolls anything back automatically.

You edit everything under Settings → Aktio Connector. The screen also shows which features are provided by this plugin and which by another SEO plugin or a physical file, plus the update log.

Privacy and security

• The plugin sends no telemetry and does not require an account. The only outgoing connection is the optional IndexNow notification, which is off by default (see "External services").
• The REST endpoints require authentication (for example a WordPress application password) and capabilities matching the operation, such as manage_options or update_plugins. The only public endpoint is the AI visit beacon described below.
• The plugin stores no secrets. The IndexNow key is a public identifier that must be readable by search engines by design.

Privacy of AI visit measurement

• No cookies and no visitor identifiers are used.
• To avoid counting the same visit many times, a short-lived HMAC (keyed hash) of the visitor's IP address and landing path is kept in a transient for 10 minutes. The transient is stored in the database (in the options table, unless the site uses a persistent object cache) and expires on its own; expired ones are cleaned up daily. The IP address itself is never stored, and neither the hash nor the address is written to the metrics table or to any log.
• Behind Cloudflare or another reverse proxy the plugin sees the proxy's address instead of the visitor's, so different visitors to the same page can share one fingerprint within 10 minutes and be counted once. In that setup the referral numbers are an underestimate.
• Counts are stored in the aktio_metrics table (day, kind, source name, landing path, count). Rows older than 400 days are deleted automatically.
• At most 200 distinct landing paths are stored per day; further visits that day are counted without a path.
• Only visits from bots and AI sources on the built-in list are counted. A visit from any other source is not recorded at all.
• Page caches can hide bot visits, so the numbers may be lower than the real ones.
• Uninstalling the plugin removes the table and the scheduled tasks.

Working with Aktio

Aktio (aktioapp.com) is a tool for managing content and visibility of a site. If you use it, it connects to your site through REST with an application password, and Aktio initiates every connection. Without Aktio the plugin works fully on its own.

External services

This plugin can connect to the following external services. Neither is required.

IndexNow (optional, off by default)

IndexNow (indexnow.org) is a protocol that lets a website tell search engines (for example Bing) which of its pages changed, so they can be crawled sooner.

• What it is used for: notifying search engines about new, updated or deleted public pages, products and categories.
• When: only after the site owner (or Aktio, with the owner's explicit consent) turns IndexNow on in the settings. Notifications are sent in the background about every 5 minutes, and when you click "Submit the whole sitemap" (at most once a day). Nothing is sent when the site is set to discourage search engines or for pages marked noindex.
• What data is sent: only the site host name, the IndexNow key (a random string generated by the plugin and also served publicly at /<key>.txt as the protocol requires) and the list of changed page URLs. No personal data, no content and no visitor data are sent.
• Service: https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow
• Terms of use: https://www.indexnow.org/terms
• Privacy policy: https://www.indexnow.org/privacy

Aktio (optional)

Aktio (https://aktioapp.com) is a service for managing the content and visibility of a site. The plugin never connects to Aktio by itself and sends nothing to it. If you use Aktio, Aktio connects to your site's REST API with an application password and initiates every connection. Without Aktio the plugin works fully on its own.

Installation

1. Upload the aktio-connector directory to /wp-content/plugins/ or install the plugin from the dashboard.
2. Activate it on the Plugins screen.
3. Fill in the business details under Settings → Aktio Connector.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the plugin connect to any server or require an account?

No account is needed. By default the plugin connects to no server and sends no telemetry. The only outgoing connection is the optional IndexNow notification (https://api.indexnow.org), which is off by default and sends only page URLs and the IndexNow key. A connection with Aktio, if you use it, is initiated only by Aktio, through your site's REST API.

I already have an SEO plugin (Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO and others). Will the data be duplicated?

No. If an active SEO plugin or a physical file in the site directory already provides a feature (schema, llms.txt, title, meta description, Open Graph, X cards, robots meta), Aktio Connector does not duplicate it, and the "SEO title" and "SEO description" fields are hidden. Jetpack with Open Graph enabled provides only Open Graph and X cards. The settings screen shows who provides each feature. SEO plugins that are installed but not active are ignored.

My SEO plugin builds its own robots.txt. Where does the AI bot block go?

Aktio Connector does not replace the robots.txt generated by your SEO plugin; it only appends rules for the bots you set to "Block" (User-agent: <bot> with Disallow: /), between # BEGIN Aktio Connector and # END Aktio Connector comments. Allowed bots get no group of their own, so they follow your User-agent: * rules. If robots.txt already names a bot in a User-agent: line (for example a rule you set in the SEO plugin), Aktio Connector adds nothing for that bot, so your own rule is never overridden; change it in the SEO plugin instead. When no bot is blocked, robots.txt is left unchanged. A physical robots.txt file in the site directory takes precedence and Aktio Connector adds nothing to it.

Are updates performed without my knowledge?

No. Updates over REST are performed only by an authenticated user with the right capabilities, and each one is written to the log in the settings. The plugin never turns on automatic updates by itself: automatic updates are changed only by an authorized user, including Aktio over REST with the site owner's consent. The plugin does not roll changes back automatically, so make a backup before updating.

Can I block AI bots?

Yes. Under Settings → Aktio Connector choose "Block" next to any of the six bots. The block is not added when the site is set to discourage search engines.

Does the plugin change what I type in the Merchant fields?

The default brand goes through WordPress text sanitization: HTML tags are stripped and surrounding whitespace is trimmed (up to 100 characters are accepted). Other fields are not corrected: invalid values (for example a wrong country code or a negative cost) are rejected with an error and nothing is saved, because this data is declared to Google. An empty country means the country of your WooCommerce store, including when you change it later.

Does AI visit measurement use cookies or store IP addresses?

No cookies, no visitor identifiers and no stored IP addresses. See "Privacy of AI visit measurement" above.

Changelog

0.2.0

• New: basic SEO without an SEO plugin: meta description, Open Graph, X cards, custom title and noindex for internal pages, with "SEO title" and "SEO description" fields for posts, pages, products and categories. Everything switches off for features already provided by an SEO plugin (or Jetpack Open Graph).
• New: content language independent of the admin language, with a warning when the content seems to be in another language.
• New: cache purge for popular caching plugins after saving the settings or a stock status change, plus a "Clear now" button.
• New: IndexNow (off by default) with a log and "Submit the whole sitemap", and Bing / Google site verification codes.
• New: cookieless measurement of AI bot visits and visits from AI assistants (aktio/v1/metrics).
• New: FAQ block and [aktio_faq] shortcode with FAQPage schema.
• New: extended business data in schema.org and llms.txt (description, founding date, contact point, opening hours, location, area served).
• New: catalog scan and bulk ALT text routes for the Aktio agent.
• New: settings screen with all of the above, Polish translation updated.

0.1.2

• WooCommerce: new Merchant section in the settings (also available to Aktio over aktio/v1/visibility): a default brand for products without their own brand, a declared return policy (hasMerchantReturnPolicy) and fallback shipping details (shippingDetails) used only when WooCommerce shipping zones give nothing. Both declarations are off by default and invalid values are rejected rather than corrected.
• Nothing from the Merchant section is added when an SEO plugin provides the product schema. Without WooCommerce the section only shows a note. An unset country follows the WooCommerce store country, and unknown fields in merchant are rejected.

0.1.1

• robots.txt: only bots set to "Block" get a group (Disallow: /); allowed bots follow User-agent: *, and bots already named in robots.txt (for example by an SEO plugin) are left untouched.
• Settings screen: when an SEO plugin generates robots.txt, the status says Aktio Connector adds AI-bot rules to it.
• WooCommerce: a single BreadcrumbList on product pages when Aktio Connector provides the content schema.
• Uninstall also removes the core auto-update option and the llms.txt cache.

0.1.0

• First release: schema.org, AI bots in robots.txt, llms.txt, Site Health and updates over REST with a log, settings screen.

Upgrade Notice

0.2.0

Adds basic SEO, IndexNow (off by default), AI visit measurement and more. A database table is created on update.