No-catalog setup
Can you launch a product advisor without catalog integration?
Many teams assume an advisor starts after a product feed or store API is connected. SiteConsul starts the other way: it reads your public URL. Integration can come later. It is not a prerequisite.
This guide is for teams looking for an advisor without a catalog API, Shopify app or product feed.
Why most setups start with a catalog
Classic chat and recommendation tools want stock, price and SKU from their own database. That works when the store stack is ready. If it is not, the project becomes months of PIM, feeds and field mapping.
What visitors ask is often already on your published pages: names, spec tables, compatibility, delivery, FAQs. The first job is to make those pages readable and evidenced.
What a URL can and cannot read
Public HTML, schema.org markup, tables and support pages can be read. What robots.txt blocks, what sits behind login, or what appears only after client-side rendering is skipped or handled selectively.
That limit should be stated. A price that is not on the page is not presented as fact. A no-catalog setup does not guess hidden stock; it makes what you already publish conversational.
When a catalog connection is required
If you need add-to-cart, order status, or stock locked to your store panel, you need a store connection — SiteConsul does not claim that layer. Price and stock monitoring regularly verifies the values you publish in page source or JSON-LD and passes confirmed updates to the advisor.
On many technical catalogs and B2B sites the gap is not integration. It is that visitors cannot find the right page. That gap closes from a URL.
Checklist before you start
Are product or service pages public? Do specifications live in a table or schema? Do two prices contradict each other? Does robots.txt block the sections an advisor must read?
Check your address on /start. Page estimate, sitemap and robots results appear before you create an account. Then ask real customer questions on the private test surface.
Starting without a catalog on SiteConsul
SiteConsul takes your public website address and structures products, services and support information with sources. It does not ask for a feed, API or data migration.
The demo does not embed on your own site. Publishing is where a paid plan begins. Even then you do not have to connect a catalog.
Frequently asked questions
Before you decide
Can you recommend products without a catalog API?
Yes, if recommendations are grounded in the product and service pages you publish. Stock or prices that are not on the page are not invented.
Do I need Shopify or WooCommerce?
No. SiteConsul is not a store app. It reads public HTML and markup.
Can I connect a catalog later?
If you need to, yes — it is not required to start. Many sites continue on published pages alone.
Try it on your own website.
Add your site, test real customer questions in a private playground, and review the supporting sources.
Analyze my website