AI SEO Playbook for E-Commerce: When GEO Meets Your Product Pages

The numbers are in and it seems the game is over for traditional SEO. Or is it?

Until recently, getting to the top of Google’s search results was the ultimate win for any ecommerce business. If your product page was #1, you could count on steady clicks and conversions. Not anymore. Consumers are no longer relying on a list of blue links to make decisions. They’re turning to AI for direct answers, product comparisons, and recommendations.

A recent University of Virginia Darden School study found that nearly 60% of consumers already use AI to shop. Even more striking, 77% said AI helps them make decisions faster, and 46% admitted they trust AI more than a friend when it comes to style or product advice (so much for friendships!).

The good news: AI is still new, so not everybody is using it to search for and buy products — but that’s changing fast. According to estimates by Statista, 36% of adults in the U.S. will use generative AI for online search by 2028. Shopping is the most affected category, with AI queries doubling in the first half of 2025.

It’s a wakeup call for anyone who relies on search to find customers. SEO is no longer enough unless you merge it with GEO (generative engine optimisation).

GEO for E-Commerce: What It Really Means

With Chat GPT handling over 2.5 billion prompts per day last month the AI market expanding at a whopping 30% CAGR, E-commerce SEO isn’t just about getting your products onto page one anymore. With AI now mediating a fast-growing proportion of shopping decisions, the bigger question is:

Is your product information clear enough, structured enough, and trustworthy enough for an AI engine to pick up and showcase directly? Because if it’s not, you risk losing traffic in the imminent future.

That’s where GEO becomes your cup of tea. It simply involves optimising your product and category pages so they’re easy for AI to parse, summarise, and recommend.

Instead of treating SEO as a way to rank in search, think of GEO as training your site to become a source that AI systems can easily cite.

It’s not rocket science; it’s the way you present your products, write your descriptions, and format your details so that your content doubles as an AI-ready product card.

How AI Has Compressed the Buying Journey

The customer journey is no longer a neat funnel where people move from awareness to consideration to purchase. With AI-driven search, those steps collapse into a single moment.

Someone asks: “What’s the best 7kg carry-on backpack for Qantas flights under $200?” Within seconds, they see a shortlist with specs, pros and cons, and even purchase links, often without clicking into a single site.

If your product data isn’t clean, visible, and structured, your brand simply doesn’t make the cut. This compressed journey means you don’t get a second chance.

You have to deliver answers at the exact moment someone asks, and you need to do it in a way that AI can understand and trust.

Optimising for AI – The GEO-SEO Playbook

So, is SEO really dead? The answer is no; but it’s no longer the only or best option. Ecommerce businesses and SEO professionals need to future-proof their digital visibility by blending SEO with GEO. What follows is a 7+1 step framework, complete with real examples, to help you adapt.

Step 1: Make Your Product Pages Crystal Clear

Your product page is the first impression for both shoppers and AI. If your titles are vague and your descriptions are thin, you’ll get skipped. Strong titles and concise intros give people — and algorithms — what they need immediately.

• Use precise, descriptive titles rather than generic ones.
• Add a short intro that explains who the product is for and why it’s worth buying.
• Highlight three to five benefits in bullet form.
• Keep specs like size, materials, or compatibility in plain text.

Case Example: How a Backpack Found Its Way Into AI Search

A Brisbane luggage store learned this the hard way. Their “Travel Backpack 35L” wasn’t showing up in AI search results. After renaming it to “Carry-On Backpack 35L — Cabin-Friendly, Water-Resistant, Laptop Sleeve” and adding a clear two-line intro, the product began surfacing in AI answers about carry-on luggage for Qantas flights.

Step 2: Structure for Humans and Machines

A well-structured page works like a tidy shop floor: people can find what they need quickly, and AI doesn’t have to guess.

• Break content into clear sections like Overview, Features, Specs, and FAQs.
• Keep paragraphs short and easy to scan.
• Use bullet points for specs and delivery information.
• Place essentials like price and availability at the top.

Picked by AI: How a Skincare Brand Stopped Hiding Its Strengths

A Sydney skincare brand used to bury key details like “fragrance-free” inside long paragraphs. By moving ingredients, usage instructions, and sensitive-skin notes into separate sections with bullet points, they made it easy for AI to lift those claims into summaries.

Step 3: Label Everything with Schema

Schema is the product label for search engines. Without it, AI has to guess what your content means.

• Add Product schema with details like name, brand, description, and images.
• Include Offer schema for price and availability.
• Use Review and FAQ schema so AI can cite ratings and customer questions.
• Add Breadcrumb schema to clarify site hierarchy.

Got Questions? How a Simple FAQ Helped a Coffee Shop Break Into AI Results

An Adelaide coffee equipment shop put schema markup on its grinder page, including a FAQ about espresso compatibility. Soon, their grinder was showing up in AI-generated answers for people searching “best espresso grinder under $300.”

Step 4: Clean Up Your Product Feeds

Your Merchant Center feed is like the catalog AI systems read. If it’s sloppy, your products won’t get recommended.

• Match feed titles and descriptions with on-page copy.
• Fill in GTINs, sizes, colors, and variants.
• Write descriptive titles that include attributes buyers care about.
• Fix errors and disapprovals quickly.

From Hidden to Highlighted: The Feed Fix That Put a Perth Retailer Back in the Game

A Perth outdoor retailer wasn’t seeing its hydration packs appear in AI shopping results. After updating missing GTINs and rewriting titles to specify capacity and features, the products started showing up with full specs in AI panels.

Step 5: Surround Products with Helpful Content

AI rewards topical depth. If all you have are isolated product pages, you won’t look like an authority.

• Create buying guides and comparisons that answer common questions.
• Link guides, categories, and product pages together.
• Use consistent terms and synonyms to reinforce connections.

From Product Pages to Authority: How One Retailer Won With a Buying Guide

A bedding store in Melbourne went beyond product listings by building a “Pillow Guide” that explained the differences between memory foam and latex and linked directly to product pages. AI engines began citing that guide for searches about the best pillows for side sleepers.

Step 6: Build Trust Beyond Your Site

AI engines scan the wider web to confirm your credibility. If you’re only talking about yourself, you’ll get overlooked.

• Reach out to reviewers, bloggers, and niche publications.
• Contribute useful insights on forums like Reddit and Quora.
• Share your expertise in industry roundups or guest articles.
• Highlight reviews and mentions on your own site.

Surfing Success: How a Single Blog Review Put a Surf Brand Into AI Results

A surf brand on the Gold Coast sent its new fin design to a respected surf blogger. When the review went live, their products started appearing in AI results for “best beginner surfboard accessories.”

Step 7: Show the Human Side of Your Brand

Customers and AI both look for signs that you’re a real, trustworthy business.

• Add founder and team bios with photos.
• Publish return, shipping, and sustainability policies.
• Share behind-the-scenes stories about how you work.
• Respond to reviews and show you value customer feedback.

Winning with Chocolate: The Cocoa Story That Made AI Take Notice

A chocolate maker in Hobart created a “Meet the Makers” page with photos of their team and details about where they source their cocoa. That transparency made their products more visible and credible in AI-driven shopping results.

Bonus: Don’t Neglect Your Category Pages

Category pages often get overlooked, but they carry a lot of weight. AI looks there for context, not just lists of products.

• Write a short intro that explains what’s in the category.
• Add a “Quick Picks” block with recommendations and reasons.
• Include FAQs about sizing, compatibility, or use cases.
• Link to guides and best sellers.

A Bike Ride into AI Results: Turning Category Pages into Buying Guides

A Canberra bike shop turned its commuter e-bike category page into a mini buying guide with a short intro and a Quick Picks section. That page was later cited in AI results for “best commuter e-bike under $2k.”

Final Word: Adapt or Miss Out

AI has flattened the buying journey. Customers are deciding faster, and they’re doing it inside AI answers. To stay visible, every product and category page needs to be written and structured like it’s pitching to an AI system. Clear details, trust signals, and human touches aren’t extras anymore — they’re the difference between being chosen or ignored. To make sure your ecommerce site is properly optimised for AI, talk to the SEO services professionals at eMarket Experts: Melbourne’s most awarded SEO agency.