Google has shown once again why they are unbeatable when it comes to Shopping, releasing their competing product to ChatGPT a few days later.
The release of Google's product recommendations in AI Mode is here, and I'm quite impressed by the experience so far after testing out ChatGPT Shopping.
Here are some important points worth highlighting:
• Consistency: when you submit the same query multiple times in AI Mode, the results don't differ too much. In my opinion, this is how it should be if the AI truly understands the brief (ChatGPT shows completely different results each time)
• Experience: the Shopping experience is much more seamless. While both have the knowledge panel function when clicking on results, Google has a competitive advantage with feeds submitted via GMC Next – making the information much higher quality and accurate
• Difference: the major difference among AI Mode product recommendations and standard free listing results that show as grids is that pages are referenced to uncover products, which are then produced in the free listings form – I can see this being quite useful for shoppers compared to browsing a more extensive catalog of options
• Reference Links: it seems that Google has introduced a new form of reference for product information, providing a thorough overview of product-related information that goes beyond a standard knowledge panel. When opening a link with an underline in a new window, it takes you to a very extensive product-feed driven experience which works quite well
For more difficult queries that standard Google Shopping results weren't providing useful results for, I can see this AI Mode release being especially useful to shoppers. And if you read my ChatGPT Shopping review:
brodieclark.com/chatgpt-shop… this underscores how far ahead Google are in this arena.
For sites that want to optimise for AI Mode Shopping results, the same principles of free listings optimisation tactics apply here:
brodieclark.com/google-organ…. The important difference is that the free listing results are being referenced in specific review articles (which you can check). This, combined with eligibility to appear within the knowledge panel results is the best combination for success.