1. Install the Tag

Go to Admin → Install, copy the one-line snippet, and paste it before the closing </head> tag on every page. The tag is highly optimized (~40 KB gzipped, ~35 KB Brotli over the wire) and loads asynchronously – it will not block your page render.

For Shopify, don't edit theme code – install the AXO app from the Shopify App Store instead. It ships the tag as a theme app embed: after linking your store, open Online Store → Themes → Customize → App embeds and toggle on AXO tag. The embed loads the same tag (anti-flicker included) with no code changes.

Headless or custom storefronts (Hydrogen, Next.js, React Router, or any framework that renders its own HTML): the theme app embed does not apply. Add the snippet from the Install page to the document <head> of your storefront's root layout so it ships on every route. On a headless Shopify store, checkout still runs on Shopify's domain, so also add the checkout Custom Pixel shown on the Install page – without it purchases are never recorded as conversions. The tag runs on the fully rendered page, so client-side rendering and hydration are fine; if your framework navigates without a full page load, see the tag reference for what happens on route changes.

2. Define your Brand

Before generating content, AXO needs to know who you are. Visit Admin → Brand to configure your brand voice, tone, and visual identity. You can import your design tokens directly from a Figma file, or click Detect from site to auto-extract colors and typography from your live storefront. This acts as the ground truth for all AI-generated content.

3. Set a Conversion Goal

AXO uses one or more conversion goals to measure lift per segment. Set your primary goal (e.g. /order-confirmation) when creating a Brief, or configure it directly under Conversion goals on Admin → Account. Goals can be URL patterns, form submits, or custom events your code reports with axo.event(). Multiple goals with priority ranking are supported – the primary goal is used for bandit optimization.

4. Discover your Sitemap

Navigate to Admin → Sitemap and trigger a crawl. AXO's AI crawler walks your site, detects page types (Home, PDP, Category, Blog…), and maps each URL pattern to a semantic taxonomy. This powers automatic zone discovery – once the crawl completes, suggested Placements for each page type will appear in your Content tab, ready to be activated with one click.

5. Go Live

New installations start in Pre-launch mode. The tag observes visitors and scores their behavior, but serves no personalized content yet – it's building a behavioral baseline. Once you have enough data, click Go Live on the Launch page. Personalization activates immediately, and a holdout group (10% of traffic by default; adjustable on the AI Scorecard page) is withheld from personalization to continuously measure revenue lift.