HIGH SALIENCE / INDUSTRIES / ECOMMERCE
Ecommerce AI SEO Agency for Google and AI Search
Ecommerce AI SEO now covers Google and AI search: shoppers ask AI what to buy, and the answer names a few products and the reviews behind them. High Salience is an ecommerce AI SEO agency that measures which products, retailers and reviewers Google's AI features and ChatGPT point shoppers to in your category, and what it takes to be the product they name. Built for brands and retailers with products worth comparing.
Transcript
Buyers ask ChatGPT who to buy from. Does it say your name? It searches the web and reads what others say. Then it names a few brands, and picks one. Here's the catch. Seventy-eight percent of ChatGPT's recommendations went to brands whose own site did not rank in Google's top ten for the question. So how do you become the pick? Be the brand AI recommends. High Salience.
01Why Ecommerce
The three ways shoppers now find products online
A shopper now has three ways to reach your product: Google's results, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, and ChatGPT. Each one reads different sources. Google's AI features lean on its Shopping Graph and Merchant Center data. ChatGPT reads product feeds submitted by merchants and the reviews and tests it finds on the web.
That changes the job. Ranking your product pages still matters, but so does the quality of your product data in two feeds, and your standing with the reviewers AI answers trust.
02Our Data
What 25 product questions showed about Google and ChatGPT sources
The 25 product questions showed Google linking to its own product listings and ChatGPT citing testing publishers.
| Measure (25 questions, September 26, 2026) | Result |
|---|---|
| Google showed an AI Overview | 25 of 25 |
| Overview links from sites in Google's organic top ten | 69 of 117 (59%) |
| ChatGPT cited sites that ranked in Google's top ten | 20 of 83 (24%) |
| ChatGPT cited sites that were also in Google's Overview | 18 of 83 (22%) |
| Reddit in Google's top ten / cited by ChatGPT | 22 questions / 0 answers |
Corrected October 23, 2026: in late September Google answered some automated searches with swapped results pages, and 7 of these 25 Google pages came back that way, so their top ten is now Google's page for the same question on October 23. The Overview link row counts only Overviews from pages that passed that check (18 of the 25 whose sources we could read); the other rows of Google figures use all 25 questions. Before the correction the table read 78 of 163 (48%) for Overview links, 17 of 83 (20%) for ChatGPT's cited sites and 23 questions for Reddit.
We asked ChatGPT and Google the same 25 product questions on September 26, 2026, from running shoes to cookware. Google showed an AI Overview on all 25, and 21 of them linked to Google's own product listings. ChatGPT's most-cited sources were testing publishers: RTINGS (8 answers), WIRED (7) and Tom's Guide (5).
Reddit ranked in Google's top ten for 22 of the 25 questions and Amazon for 17, but ChatGPT cited Reddit in none of its answers. Only 24% of ChatGPT's cited sites ranked in Google's top ten. See the full dataset.
03The Platforms
How product feeds and markup work on Google and ChatGPT
Product feeds and markup work differently on Google and ChatGPT, and reviews come with rules of their own:
- Google: merchant listing markup makes product pages eligible for shopping experiences in Search, and Google recommends pairing structured data with a Merchant Center feed. Free listings can appear across Search, the Shopping tab, Images, Lens, YouTube and Gemini.
- Google AI Mode: shopping in AI Mode launched on May 20, 2025, built on the Shopping Graph, and Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (January 2026) powers checkout in AI Mode and the Gemini app.
- ChatGPT: OpenAI says product results are not ads and ranks merchants by availability, price, quality and whether they are the primary seller. Since March 24, 2026, shoppers check out on the merchant's own site by default.
- Reviews: the FTC's rule banning fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, has applied since October 21, 2024.
For a closer look at the ChatGPT side, see our guide to ChatGPT shopping.
04The Work
What our ecommerce AI SEO services include
Our ecommerce AI SEO services include all four capabilities, run as one engagement and weighted toward wherever the product-question data points.
The product questions in your category, measured
Best-of, versus, for-a-use-case and price questions measured across Google, AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT.
Product data answers can use
Complete, consistent product data across your site, Merchant Center and your ChatGPT feed, with the attributes shoppers ask about.
Category and product pages that rank
Category architecture, product markup and technical SEO for catalogs of any size.
A place in the reviews AI answers trust
Testing publishers, buying guides and genuine customer reviews: the sources product answers are built from.
For how product answers get built and measured, see our AI search optimization work.
05Fit
Who our ecommerce AI SEO agency is built for
High Salience is an ecommerce AI SEO agency built for brands and retailers whose products hold up when shoppers compare before they buy.
High Salience is built for
- Brands and retailers with established products and real search demand
- Categories where shoppers compare before they buy
- Competitors named in AI answers and buying guides where you are not
- A team that can update product data and pages without long delays
Probably not for you if
- You want reviews bought or faked
- You need sales guaranteed by a date
- Your catalog changes faster than your data can
- Evidence will not be allowed to change the plan
06Investment
How much does ecommerce SEO cost?
The cost of ecommerce SEO with High Salience is set per engagement. Evidence from your market sets the scope of each engagement, and the scope sets the price.
From $7,500/month
Focused engagement: typically one market, a concentrated set of constraints and collaborative implementation.
$10,000 to $20,000/month
Work where several visibility layers, workstreams, markets or substantial execution need to move together.
Scope is determined by the market, not a package sheet. Every engagement starts with the $750 Category Salience Brief, credited in full against an engagement signed within 60 days.
07FAQs
Ecommerce SEO FAQs
These answers cover where ecommerce SEO meets AI shopping, from product feeds to checkout.
How do AI answers choose which products to recommend?
AI answers choose products from what they read. In our snapshot, ChatGPT's most-cited sources for product questions were testing publishers such as RTINGS, WIRED and Tom's Guide. Google's AI Overviews linked to Google's own product listings in most answers. Being in the feeds and in the reviews both matter.
Do I need a product feed for ChatGPT?
You need a feed if you want ChatGPT to show your products as products. OpenAI accepts merchant product feeds through chatgpt.com/merchants, and Shopify merchants are included through Shopify Catalog. Google has its own feed through Merchant Center.
Can shoppers buy inside ChatGPT?
OpenAI let shoppers buy inside ChatGPT with Instant Checkout, launched in September 2025 and scaled back in March 2026. Shoppers now go to the merchant's own site by default, so ChatGPT works mainly as a discovery channel.
How does Google AI Mode shopping work?
Google added shopping to AI Mode in May 2025, built on its Shopping Graph, and in January 2026 launched the Universal Commerce Protocol for checkout in AI Mode and the Gemini app. Your Merchant Center data is what those features draw on.
08Sources
Sources and further reading
The sources below range from Google's merchant documentation to our own dataset.
- Google Search Central: Merchant listing structured data
- Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings
- Google: Shopping in AI Mode (May 20, 2025)
- Google: Universal Commerce Protocol (January 11, 2026)
- OpenAI Help Center: Shopping with ChatGPT search
- OpenAI: Powering product discovery in ChatGPT (March 24, 2026)
- FTC: Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (August 2024)
- High Salience: AI answers in four industries (dataset)
09Next Step
See where your products stand when shoppers ask AI what to buy
The Category Salience Brief measures where your products stand when shoppers ask Google and AI what to buy. It runs your shoppers' questions across Google and the AI surfaces, shows which products and reviewers win them, and ranks what to fix first.