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How to think about AI search in retail & ecommerce

A strategic guide

Report cover - How to think about AI search in retail & ecommerce

What's inside?

This report offers a retail-focused examination of AI search. It's designed as a strategic overview, alongside some practical discussion of ecommerce architecture such as product and category pages.

  • Discoverability vs. desirability: The two traits that define AI search success

    Machine-readable catalogues can improve crawlability, but they cannot manufacture differentiation, distinctiveness or cultural relevance. We examine the two-pronged approach that retailers should take.

  • The role of PDPs, PLPs and website architecture

    We look at some rules of thumb for optimising key pages on your ecommerce website.

  • Accessibility and agent-friendliness

    We touch on agentic commerce and accessibility at the end of the report. Building a website that’s easy for AI search crawlers to navigate is not dissimilar to designing for easier comprehension or for assistive tech such as screen readers.

Contents

<p>Shopify’s internal data shows that traffic from AI-powered searches has tripled in the last year. We set the scene for zero-click discovery.</p>
<p>Discussion of the two distinct qualities needed to succeed in AI search.</p>
<p>Pinpointing priority areas for optimisation in ecommerce.</p>
<p>Five areas that retailers should focus on.</p>
<p>Emerging standards are still... emerging. We discuss the uncertainty around technical guidance.</p>
<p>What your category pages should be achieving.</p>
<p>The importance of consistency across your retail website.</p>
<p>How both these disciplines draw on similar principles.</p>
<p>Eight pointers for retail AI SEO strategy. Including where to start and what tools to use.</p>
<p>Why AI search and agentic commerce are part of the same conversation.</p>

Want advice on your AI search strategy?

Get your brand and products mentioned and cited across AI search. From LLM-powered answer engines such as ChatGPT to Google’s increasingly prevalent AI Overviews.

  • Evolve your SEO strategy
  • Enhance topical authority
  • Create machine- and human readable content
  • Build your brand/product entity
  • Track AI share of voice
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