Online shopping is changing rapidly. Here’s how e-commerce websites can take advantage.

In April, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Shopping, offering specific product recommendations and direct links for shopping queries. This will bring the product directly to users, bypassing search engines and even allowing them to purchase through the ChatGPT app.

Now Google has announced AI Mode, with new Shopping features, already available in the US and coming to UK users in the next few months. The Deep Search feature will let users type long queries into the search bar, detailing everything they are looking for at once. Gemini (Google’s AI LLM) will then separate this into smaller, separate queries to find answers online and synthesise a response.

So rather than planning a holiday with 10-20 searches, for flights, hotels, sights to see and places to eat, you can make one search with everything you want.

Shopping in AI Mode

Users will refine their shopping ideas, track prices, see Augmented Reality views of products in their own photos, and evenlet Google check out for them. The sci-fi AI assistant is ever closer, but what does it mean for eCommerce?

How to Get Your Products Recommended in ChatGPT Shopping and Google AI Mode

New marketing channels don’t come around every day, so this is worth grabbing with both hands. At eSterling, we are advising clients to act decisively to:

• Maintain search visibility as more users switch to AI Mode
• Corner AI Shopping Results in your industry ahead of your competitors
• Expand your reach among users who are ready to purchase
• Maintain market share in a changing eCommerce landscape
• Improve consumer trust and brand reliability
• Increase revenue for your business

Our Digital Marketing Team is developing methods to support eCommerce SEO clients through this shift. Methods are based on SEO and designed specifically to optimise your product feed for AI Shopping.

It’s commonly becoming known as GEO or Generative Engine Optimisation.

This means optimising your website and product pages specifically for generative engines such as ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. If you want to be cited or recommended by an AI engine, whatever you do to achieve that will be called GEO.

GEO Checklist for eCommerce

Here are the best practices that we can recommend so far (in May 2025).

Edit Robots.txt

This is the documentation to adjust to make sure AI crawlers can find and index your pages. If they can’t index you, they won’t read your pages, and they can’t recommend your products.

Check All Metadata

Implement and improve structured metadata for prices, descriptions, dimensions, reviews, images, features and every detail possible. Both ChatGPT and Gemini need to be able to see the fine detail to match your products to complex queries.

Flesh Out Product Descriptions

Update your product descriptions to include every piece of information logically and clearly. You might need to add additional tabs and text spaces to the page or upload pdf specifications. Use bullet points to make the text scannable and easily summarised.

Don’t rush this stage: dumping a block of unformatted detail into product pages can ruin user experience.

Improve Product Images

Product images are about to become even more important, from all angles, in all configurations. Even better if you can add videos demonstrating the product. This will also help you show up in visual search (using cameras to take pictures of products you want to find).

Update Your Google My Business Profile

To show in searches that specify locations, GMB will link your site to location data, and back up the features you fill in there, such as price range, services, step-free access, busy times, and so on. Long story short: the more you fill in, the better.

Don’t Leave Anything Out

Include every product variation, additional service and special offer as clearly as possible on your site. If you also do repairs, for example, but only mention it in a blog, this won’t feed through to the AI Mode summary.

There’s a lot to do, and it takes time to do it all well. Our digital marketing team is prepared to work with you to get everything up to date, so don’t hesitate to ask for support.

Can we track AI Mode in GSC?

Google have now fixed the bug, as of the 28th of May, that would have stopped marketers from tracking clicks through AI Mode. We’ll be able to see how much of your traffic is coming through Google’s AI Mode and how much is coming through traditional search.

More and more SEO tools are tracking Generative search results. Now we can see when users reached your site through an AI agent in Semrush, SERanking and more. In some cases, we can also view the prompts that led users to you.

Is AI Shopping a flash in the pan?

It looks more like this is just the beginning. Google’s announcements included plans to integrate “many features and capabilities from AI Mode right into the core Search experience.” We’re preparing for a seismic shift in eCommerce marketing, and a huge opportunity for our clients to be among the first brands gaining sales from AI Shopping.

To discuss GEO services and how we can prepare your website for AI Shopping, contact the digital marketing team today.

Call 0121 766 8707 or email info@esterling.co.uk.