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AEO for Ecommerce: How to Get Your Products Found by AI

AEO for ecommerce starts with an accessible website, clear product information and relevant conversations about your brand. Here's how I approach those three pieces.

By Austin Ryder ·

You want your products to show up when somebody asks ChatGPT what to buy. Then you start researching AEO, GEO and AI SEO, and suddenly there are three different names and a whole lot of noise around the same problem.

Here's how I look at it. AEO for ecommerce means making your products easier to find, understand and include in AI answers. Start by making your site accessible, explaining what makes your products different, and looking at what other websites say about them.

I'm Austin Ryder, the founder of Tradewinds Media. In this video, I walk through that approach using golf bags as the example. You can apply the same thinking to your own store.

Watch the full AEO for ecommerce video on YouTube.

What is AEO for ecommerce?

AEO stands for answer engine optimization. For an ecommerce brand, the goal is pretty simple: when somebody asks an AI tool about a product like yours, you want your product to be part of the answer.

You might sell on Shopify, BigCommerce or another platform. The question is the same. Can somebody find what you sell when they're asking about the problem it solves?

People use AEO, GEO and AI SEO to describe overlapping work. I use AEO. The useful part is understanding what you need to do on your site and around your brand so your products can be found.

Think about the questions buyers are asking

In the video, I use this question: "Can you recommend me a cool golf bag that gives a luxury feel?"

That's more specific than just searching for a golf bag. Somebody can add details about storage, the kind of bag they want or how they're going to use it. Those details matter because they tell you what your product information needs to explain.

There are two types of conversation I talk about:

  • Direct product questions. Somebody wants help choosing a product and is asking for options.
  • Exploratory questions. Somebody is learning about the category, comparing features or working out what they need.

This video focuses on the first one. You're trying to get your product in front of somebody who is already thinking about what to buy.

1. Make sure your website can be accessed

The first thing to check is whether search engines and the relevant AI tools can access your website and product information.

Start with your normal SEO checks. Make sure your important pages are crawlable and that key product information is available as text. If the details that explain your product are only written inside an image, put those details into the page copy too.

Google's guidance for its AI search features still points to those fundamentals: accessible pages, useful text, internal links and reliable content. There isn't a separate piece of special AI markup that guarantees inclusion.

Use Google Search Console to check how Google sees your pages. Bing Webmaster Tools is another search tool worth setting up. Search engines and browsers are different things, so focus on the tools that actually help you inspect crawling and indexing.

If you're on Shopify, check the current Shopify Catalog and agentic storefront settings. Eligibility and channel access can affect how products are shared through Shopify Catalog. That sits alongside other discovery methods, including web crawling.

You can also ask an AI tool to look at a few of your product and category pages. Treat that as a quick check. A chatbot answering a question about your URL doesn't prove that every crawler can access your site or that your pages are indexed.

2. Be clear about what you say about yourself

The next thing to think about is what you're saying about yourself on your website.

Your About page should explain what you do and what sets you apart. Your category and product pages should make the actual product clear, including the details a buyer cares about.

I use Ghost Golf in the video to explain this. The positioning I point out is around premium and luxury golf bags. That gives the product a more specific place in the market than just calling it a golf bag.

So ask yourself:

  • What is this product?
  • What makes it different from the other options?
  • Which specific buying questions does it answer?

Make the answers clear on the page. Add the useful specifications and explain what those details mean for the person buying it. More words alone aren't the goal. You want the right information to be easy to understand.

3. Look at what other people say about your products

This is a big part of the work. Your own website is one piece. You also want to understand the conversations happening around your product on other websites.

In the video, I point out sources such as Breaking Eighty and The Hackers Paradise in the shopping example. Those are places where somebody else is discussing products.

Start looking at relevant review sites, buying guides and discussions in your category. Read what people actually care about. Are they comparing quality? Storage? Design? A particular use?

Then look for your own brand. Are you part of those conversations? Are the details about your product clear and accurate?

That doesn't mean every AI tool reads websites in the same order or always uses the same sources. OpenAI describes shopping research as using retailer pages and other public sites, and it notes that the results can still contain mistakes. The practical point is to work on both your own product information and the relevant information around your brand.

What should you do first?

Start with one product and keep the work manageable:

  1. Check the page. Make sure its important information is accessible and written as text.
  2. Collect the buying conversations. Put the useful review pages and discussions into one document.
  3. Use what you learn. Improve your product and category copy so it directly answers the questions buyers are asking.

From there, you can work on getting your brand into relevant publications and discussions. That's a bigger piece of the process, and I go further into it in my high-ticket buyers walkthrough.

The point is to open up another way for people to find your products, so you aren't relying so heavily on paid ads.

FAQs about AEO for ecommerce

Is AEO different from SEO?

The focus is different, but a lot of the foundation overlaps. SEO helps people find your store in search. AEO focuses on how your products can appear in AI answers. Accessible pages and clear product information matter for both.

Do I need to use a different ecommerce platform?

Start with the store you already have. In the video, I mention Shopify and BigCommerce because the same basic questions apply: can your pages be accessed, and do they clearly explain what you sell?

What should I put on my product pages?

Explain the product, its relevant specifications, who it's useful for and what makes it different. Use the real questions you find in reviews and discussions to decide which details need a clearer explanation.

Does getting mentioned by AI mean I'll get an order?

No. Being found is one part of the path to a purchase. A mention, a visit to your store and an order are different things. Keep that distinction when you're checking whether the work is helping.

Get the ecommerce AEO checklist

If you want to get started on your own, download my AEO checklist for ecommerce brands. It'll help you work through what to check on your website.

If you want help with your own products and market, you can book a call with me. You can also read about our ecommerce AEO work at Tradewinds Media.