How to Improve Your Shopify Store for AI Overviews & ChatGPT Search
A few months ago, I was looking through a client's website analytics and noticed something interesting. People weren't only finding them through the usual Google searches anymore. They were also coming through with much more specific, conversational searches the kind of questions people are now asking ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI results.
Things like:
“Where can I buy Australian designer women’s fashion online that also has clothing, shoes and accessories?”
And this is where search is getting really interesting for ecommerce brands. People aren't necessarily searching for two or three keywords anymore. They're asking full questions, looking for recommendations and expecting search engines and AI platforms to understand exactly what they're looking for.
So your website needs to make it incredibly clear who you are, what you sell, who it's for and why your brand is relevant.
The good news is that this doesn't mean filling your website with awkward AI or SEO copy. In fact, a lot of what makes a Shopify store easier for AI to understand also makes it better for your customers.
At Base Code, there are three key areas we look at:
1. Make your brand easy to understand
Your website should clearly communicate what you sell and what makes your brand different. That includes things like your product categories, materials, price point, location, brand values and the language your customers actually use when they're looking for products like yours.
And importantly, that information needs to be consistent across your website. We're essentially removing the work and saving you time.
2. Give search engines the right information behind the scenes
There is also a technical layer to this. We make sure the structure and schema behind your Shopify store clearly communicates important information about your brand and products through things like pricing, availability, product details and FAQs.
Your customers don't necessarily see this part but it helps search engines and other platforms understand what they're looking at.
3. Answer the questions your customers are actually asking
This is probably one of the biggest opportunities. Instead of creating content around keywords for the sake of having more content, we look at the real questions someone might ask before buying from you.
- What material is this made from?
- Is it suitable for summer?
- How does the sizing run?
- Do you ship to Australia?
- What's the difference between these two products?
Those answers can live naturally across product pages, collection pages, FAQs and editorial content. You're helping your customer make a decision while also giving search engines and AI platforms much better context about your products.
The way people find brands is changing.
SEO still matters. Google still matters. But we're also building websites for a world where someone might discover your brand because they asked ChatGPT for a recommendation.
You don't need to chase every new AI trend or completely rethink your website. You just need to make sure your Shopify store is structured clearly enough that people, search engines and AI platforms can understand what you do and why they should recommend you. That's what good SEO should have been doing all along, really.