# How to get your Shopify products recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity

How ChatGPT and Perplexity find products, from their own docs. Then an eight-point checklist for a Shopify store: crawlers, markup, titles, reviews, answers and outside mentions.

By Rohin Aggarwal · 2026-10-21

A shopper types "best linen shirt under $80" into ChatGPT. Five shirts come back, each with a photo, a price and a store. You sell a linen shirt at $68, and it has good reviews. It is not in the list. This guide covers why, and what to change.

**Quick answer**

- **ChatGPT finds products two ways.** Its crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and product feeds.
- **Shopify stores reach ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog.** The store must sell to US customers.
- **Perplexity favours fuller product data.** It names availability, reviews, pricing and specifications.
- **Blocking a crawler drops you from its answers.** Check robots.txt for OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- **Then fix the page.** Product markup, specific titles, readable reviews and answered questions.
- **llms.txt is a proposal.** Google says its search ignores it.

## How ChatGPT picks the products it shows

OpenAI's help page on shopping says ChatGPT picks product results itself. OpenAI says those results are not ads. Its partnerships do not influence them either.

Open a product in ChatGPT and it lists the stores that sell it. That list comes from product and merchant data. The data arrives from third-party providers or from merchants directly.

OpenAI names the factors that rank those stores. They are availability, price, quality, and whether the store makes or mainly sells the item.

Products reach ChatGPT by two routes. OAI-SearchBot crawls public pages. A product feed sends the catalogue straight to OpenAI. OpenAI's merchant page says a feed is optional if ChatGPT already crawls your site. A feed gives you more say in how products appear.

For Shopify stores, OpenAI says product data already reaches ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog. It says individual merchants need no extra work. Shopify's help centre adds conditions. The store must sell to US customers. Products must be eligible for Shopify Catalog. You must accept the Agentic Storefronts supplemental terms.

Shopify opened this to millions of merchants on 24 March 2026. That week OpenAI stepped back from Instant Checkout. Shoppers now finish the purchase on your own checkout. As of October 2026, OpenAI's merchant page says shopping is live for US users. More countries are planned.

## How Perplexity picks the products it shows

Perplexity launched its shopping features on 18 November 2024. It also opened a free Merchant Program. Merchants in it share product data with Perplexity.

Its help centre says merchants with richer details get recommended more often. It names availability, reviews, pricing and specifications. It says an algorithm decides every listing, on relevance and ratings. Perplexity says listings are not sponsored.

Perplexity's crawler is PerplexityBot. Its docs say the bot surfaces and links websites in Perplexity search results. Perplexity says it is not used to train foundation models. It asks sites to allow the bot in robots.txt and to allow its published IP ranges.

Instant Buy lets US shoppers check out inside Perplexity, through PayPal. The retailer stays the merchant of record. It works only with merchants that support Perplexity's agentic checkout.

|  | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search crawler | OAI-SearchBot | PerplexityBot |
| Product data route | Crawl, a direct feed, or Shopify Catalog | Crawl, or the free Merchant Program |
| What its docs say helps | Availability, price, quality, being the maker | Availability, reviews, pricing, specifications |
| Paid placement in results | No. Ads are kept separate | No. Listings are not sponsored |
| Where the order happens | Your own store checkout | Your store, or Instant Buy with supported merchants (US) |

_From each company's own docs. Checked 21 October 2026._

For what these answers look like in practice, read our [12 conversation teardowns](/blog/how-ai-agents-actually-choose-products-12-conversation-teardowns). They show four assistants choosing a product turn by turn.

## The checklist: eight things to check

| What to check | Where | How |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI crawlers allowed | yourstore.com/robots.txt | No Disallow for OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or User-agent: * |
| Shopify Catalog connection | Shopify admin, Agentic Storefronts | ChatGPT channel on, US sales on, products eligible |
| Product markup | Product page source | Product with an Offer: price, currency and availability |
| Rating markup | Product page source | AggregateRating and Review that match the visible reviews |
| Specific titles and descriptions | Product admin | Material, fit, size range, care and use in plain words |
| Readable reviews and photos | Product page, near the buy box | Review text present in the page HTML |
| Answered questions | Product page | Real shopper questions with one or two sentence answers |
| Outside mentions | Review sites, gift guides, comparison posts | Ask your category question and note the cited sites |

_Work top to bottom. The first row can hide a store on its own._

### Let the crawlers in

OpenAI's crawler docs are direct about this. Sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. They can still appear as plain navigation links. A robots.txt change takes about 24 hours to reach OpenAI's systems.

OAI-SearchBot is separate from GPTBot, OpenAI's training crawler. You can allow search and block training. OpenAI's advertiser guidance adds a detail for feeds. Let OAI-SearchBot fetch your product image URLs too.

```text
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
```

On Shopify, you edit robots.txt through a theme template called robots.txt.liquid. Shopify warns that a wrong edit can lose all your search traffic. Save a copy of the current file before you change it. Our [AI visibility check](/tools/ai-visibility-check) reads your robots.txt for you.

### Mark up the product

Structured data is code that states facts about a page. For products, schema.org defines Product, Offer, AggregateRating and Review.

Google's docs say Product markup can make a page eligible for merchant listings. Those need an Offer. Product snippets need one of review, aggregateRating or offers.

Google also says its own AI features need no special markup. The markup still puts price, stock and rating in one labelled place. A crawler can read them without guessing from your layout.

Keep the markup in step with the page. The rating in the code should match the rating a shopper sees. Test a page with our [review schema validator](/tools/review-schema-validator). Our guide to [AggregateRating schema](/blog/aggregate-rating-schema-and-rich-snippets) covers the rules.

### Write titles and descriptions that answer questions

Shoppers ask assistants in full sentences. "A linen shirt under $80 that doesn't crease much." "Running shoes for wide feet."

Perplexity says fuller specifications help a product get recommended. So put the facts people ask about in plain text. Cover material, weight, fit, size range, care and what it is for.

"Effortless summer essential" tells a crawler nothing it can match. "100% linen, relaxed fit, XS to 3XL, machine washable" answers four questions. Our [PDP audit](/tools/pdp-audit) scores a product page for AI search.

### Make reviews and customer photos readable

Perplexity names reviews as a detail that raises a recommendation. It ranks listings on relevance and ratings. OpenAI says shopping research reviews quality sources across the internet.

Reviews only count if a crawler can read them. Some review widgets load after the page, through JavaScript. Open the page source and search for a line from a review. If it is missing, a crawler may miss it too.

Customer photos show fit, colour and scale in real light. Tag each one to the product it shows. A tagged photo ties that evidence to the right item.

### Answer the questions on the product page

Shoppers ask an assistant what they would ask a person in a shop. Does it run small? Is it see-through? Can it go in the dryer?

Answer those on the product page, in text. Take the questions from your support inbox and your reviews. Keep each answer to a sentence or two.

### Get mentioned on the pages assistants read

OpenAI says shopping research searches across the internet and reviews quality sources. Perplexity says it ranks products much as it ranks sources, on authority and relevance.

So pages about you count as well as your own. That means review sites, gift guides, comparison posts and forum threads. Ask your category question in each assistant. Write down which sites it cites. Those are the pages to be on.

Send samples to the people who write those lists. Ask happy customers to review you on the sites the assistant already cites. Our [AEO brand report](/tools/aeo-brand-report) checks how citable your brand is.

### Publish an llms.txt, last

llms.txt is a text file at the root of a site. It lists the pages an AI should read first. Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI proposed it in September 2024.

It is still a proposal. Google says its search ignores llms.txt and similar AI files. We found no statement from OpenAI or Perplexity that their assistants read it.

It is cheap to publish and does no harm. Do it after the seven fixes above. Our [llms.txt guide](/blog/llms-txt-tiny-file-decides-catalogue-2027) explains the format.

## Where Idukki fits

We make Idukki. It collects reviews and customer photos and videos, and tags them to products. On Shopify it adds Product, Review and AggregateRating JSON-LD to product pages. Each store also gets an agent feed. It serves products, UGC and reviews as JSON, JSON-LD and an llms.txt. Idukki does not send product feeds to OpenAI or Perplexity for you.

## How to test whether you show up

**A monthly check**
1. **Write five questions** — Use the words customers use in reviews and support emails.
2. **Ask both assistants** — Run each in ChatGPT and Perplexity. Note the products and cited sites.
3. **Check one page** — Run the AI visibility check on your best-selling product page.
4. **Fix the gaps** — Crawler access first, then markup, then reviews and answers.
5. **Ask again** — Same questions a month later. Compare the answers.
_Repeat it once a month._

Answers change between runs and between people. OpenAI says ChatGPT considers the shopper's context, including memory and custom instructions. So look for patterns across several runs.

When an agent tries to buy, other things break. We let one buy from our test store in [We let Perplexity buy from our store](/blog/perplexity-bought-from-our-store). For try-on in ChatGPT, read [ChatGPT can try on your products now](/blog/chatgpt-virtual-try-on-can-it-find-your-products).

**Where to start:** Open your robots.txt today. Then make price, stock, reviews and answers readable in the product page itself.

### Questions merchants ask

**Q: Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT or Perplexity?**

A: OpenAI says ChatGPT picks product results itself and keeps ads separate. Perplexity says its listings are not sponsored.

**Q: Does my Shopify store need a ChatGPT product feed?**

A: OpenAI says Shopify product data reaches ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog. Shopify requires that the store sells to US customers and that products are Catalog-eligible.

**Q: If I block GPTBot, am I hidden from ChatGPT search?**

A: GPTBot is OpenAI's training crawler. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI treats the two settings separately.

**Q: Do I need an llms.txt file?**

A: OpenAI and Perplexity do not ask for one in the docs we read. Google says its search ignores it. Publish one after the other fixes if you want it.

**Q: How fast do robots.txt changes take effect in ChatGPT?**

A: OpenAI says about 24 hours.

### Sources
- [OpenAI Help Center: Shopping with ChatGPT Search](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11128490-shopping-with-chatgpt-search) — Results picked by ChatGPT, ads separate, merchant ranking factors, Shopify Catalog. Read 21 October 2026.
- [OpenAI: Power product discovery in ChatGPT (merchants)](https://chatgpt.com/merchants/) — Feeds optional if crawled, apply for feeds, US availability. Read 21 October 2026.
- [OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) — OAI-SearchBot opt-out, GPTBot separate, about 24 hours to update.
- [OpenAI Help Center: Advertiser guidance for allowing OpenAI web crawlers](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001243-advertiser-guidance-for-allowing-openai-web-crawlers) — Allow OAI-SearchBot on product image URLs.
- [OpenAI: Introducing shopping research in ChatGPT](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-shopping-research/) — Researches across the internet and reviews quality sources.
- [CNBC: OpenAI revamps shopping in ChatGPT after Instant Checkout](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/openai-revamps-shopping-experience-in-chatgpt-after-instant-checkout.html) — 24 March 2026. Merchants use their own checkout.
- [Shopify: Millions of merchants can sell in AI chats](https://www.shopify.com/news/agentic-commerce-momentum) — 24 March 2026. Agentic Storefronts and ChatGPT.
- [Shopify Help Center: Agentic Storefronts, ChatGPT](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/agentic-storefronts/chatgpt) — US sales, Catalog eligibility, supplemental terms, own checkout.
- [Shopify Help Center: Editing robots.txt](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/seo/editing-robots-txt) — robots.txt.liquid and the warning about lost traffic.
- [Perplexity: Shop like a Pro](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/shop-like-a-pro) — 18 November 2024. Shopping launch and free Merchant Program.
- [Perplexity Help Center: What is Instant Buy?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352906-what-is-instant-buy) — Richer details recommended more often, listings not sponsored, US only.
- [Perplexity: Shopping that puts you first](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/shopping-that-puts-you-first) — PayPal checkout, retailer stays merchant of record.
- [Perplexity docs: Perplexity crawlers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers) — PerplexityBot purpose, robots.txt and IP ranges.
- [Google Search Central: Intro to Product structured data](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/product) — Product snippets and merchant listings.
- [Google Search Central: Merchant listing structured data](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/merchant-listing) — Merchant listings need an Offer.
- [Google Search Central: Review snippet structured data](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippet) — Review and AggregateRating.
- [Google Search Central: AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) — No special markup or AI text files needed; Google Search ignores them.
- [Answer.AI: /llms.txt, a proposal](https://www.answer.ai/posts/2024-09-03-llmstxt.html) — Jeremy Howard, 3 September 2024.
- [llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org/) — The current version of the proposal.

---
Canonical: https://idukki.io/blog/get-shopify-products-recommended-by-chatgpt-perplexity
Tags: chatgpt, perplexity, ai-search, aeo, shopify, structured-data, reviews