How to Get Your Products Recommended by ChatGPT (and Why It Matters for Ecommerce)

AI is fast reshaping the way consumers discover and buy products online.

Today, when someone asks ChatGPT, “What’s the best face serum for dry skin?” or “Which protein powder is best for beginners?”, consumers aren't met with a list of blue links.

Instead, it gives 1 - 3 direct product recommendations based on relevancy and information from trusted sources across the web.

For ecommerce brands, that means being mentioned is everything. And if your products aren’t actively being recommended by ChatGPT in these responses, you’re invisible in the new era of AI search.

This guide breaks down how ChatGPT recommends products, what influences those decisions and what your brand can do to become a go-to answer.

Step 1. On-Site Optimization: Help AI Understand Your Catalog

Before ChatGPT or any LLM can recommend your products, it needs to actually understand them. That starts with the basics (clear titles, natural language descriptions and detailed specs) but it goes a step further.

You need to spoon feed the machine the right signals in the right format. That’s where structured data comes in.

By using schema markup on your product pages, you’re essentially giving ChatGPT a cheat sheet:

“Here’s the product name. Here’s the brand. It’s in stock. It costs $42.99. It has 148 reviews with a 4.6 average.”

This is how you make your catalog legible to a machine, and it dramatically increases the chances your product will show up in an AI-generated recommendation.

If you're on Shopify, tools like Tiny-IMG can generate this markup automatically for your entire catalog. That saves you time and ensures consistency across your product pages. For custom build ecom platforms or larger catalogs, it makes sense to bring in a specialist GEO agency like Future Theory to optimize your data for you.

But structured data is only half the equation. Think of it as context — the who, what, where.

The other half is content — the why. And this is where most brands fall short when it comes to getting their products recommended by ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is looking for helpful, human-friendly context that shows what your product actually does and who it’s for.

Which means below-the-fold sections like FAQs, use cases, benefits and ingredient breakdowns give models the contextual information they need to match your product with the right prompts.

Think of it like this: If someone types, “Best retinol serum for sensitive skin,” ChatGPT needs more than a product name and a description — it needs clear, digestible signals that your product fits that bill.

Step 2. SEO Foundations

Here’s what most brands haven’t caught onto yet: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) doesn’t replace SEO; it builds on top of it.

Which means the brands that consistently show up in AI search recommendations almost always have a strong organic foundation already in place.

Core SEO elements like authoritative backlinks from high-DR sources, well-structured internal linking between product and category pages, and clear trust signals across your domain still play a crucial role in GEO.

But the third and final piece of the puzzle is where we believe 90% of the battle will be fought in 2025 and beyond — and that’s how well your brand is represented, mentioned and framed in the sources ChatGPT trusts most.

3. Mentions and Sentiment

Until now, strong SEO was often enough to dominate keywords across your product catalog — like “best shampoo for greasy hair and dry ends.”

And honestly, it didn’t matter much if your product actually worked. If it ranked, it got clicks (and usually, sales).

But when it comes to ChatGPT product recommendations, what people are saying about your brand is where the real battle is won or lost.

That’s because ChatGPT heavily relies on external, organic sources like Reddit, Quora, review sites and media outlets to determine both sentiment and relevance.

And those sources need to be specific.

A Reddit comment saying your shampoo arrived quickly won’t get you cited. But something like “{{your brand}} is awesome for oily roots and dry ends... been using it for years and it always works” gives ChatGPT the kind of organic proof it looks for when deciding what to recommend.

To influence this, you can start by simulating real prompts your customers might use — like “best face cream for sensitive skin” — and see which products are being mentioned.

Then identify the sources driving those mentions.

If your brand isn’t showing up, you’ll need to get cited in similar places. That could mean engaging in Reddit threads, publishing review-style content, reaching out to journalists or using PR tools to distribute product-focused stories.

Just like SEO backlinks, a few strong citations can dramatically improve your visibility.

And here’s the bonus: unlike SEO, ChatGPT moves fast. A handful of well-placed sources can make a noticeable impact on your product visibility within days.

Final Thoughts

The way consumers find products is shifting — fast. In a world where people trust ChatGPT as much as a friend, showing up in AI product recommendations is no longer optional. It’s the new frontier of brand visibility.

At Future Theory, we help ecommerce brands earn those recommendations through structured data, rock-solid SEO, clarity-led content and smart visibility strategies that influence how AI tools think and talk about your brand.

If you'd like to find out where your brand stands, request a FREE AI Visibility Audit and let’s take a look.