You know what's wild?

Our customers are telling us they're seeing traffic spikes from ChatGPT (and soon Gemini and Perplexity). And get this… some are reporting 30% higher AOV from ChatGPT-referred customers compared to their other channels.

It's becoming clear that AI search results are quietly driving thousands in new revenue for brands that know how to show up. The brands that figure this out early are going to have a huge advantage. Similar to early days of SEO.

So here's the playbook. This is what multiple 8-figure brands are doing right now to optimize for what we call GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) or sometimes Answer Engine Optimization. It's basically SEO for LLMs.

What Is GEO (And Why Your DTC Brand Needs It)

GEO is optimizing your brand to show up when people ask AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude (less so), or Perplexity (much less so) questions about products in your category.

Think about it: when someone asks "What's the best sustainable water bottle for hiking?" you want your brand mentioned in that response. That's your potential customer getting direct recommendations from AI.

And here's the kicker—people trust AI recommendations. They're not scrolling through 10 pages of Google results. They're getting curated answers and acting on them.

The 8-Step GEO Playbook That's Working Right Now

Step 1: Make Sure AI Can Actually Find You

Before anything else, check if the OpenAI search bot can crawl your site.

Go to your robots.txt file (usually at yoursite.com/robots.txt) and make sure you're not blocking OpenAI-SearchBot. If you see something like this, you need to remove it:

Step 2: Write Product Titles Like Humans Actually Search

Stop with the creative product names. "Tumbler 2.0" tells AI nothing.

Instead, use descriptive titles that match how people actually search:

• ❌ "Tumbler 2.0"

• ✅ "Eco-Friendly Carbon Fiber Tumbler with Leak-Proof Lid"

Think about the exact phrases your customers would use when asking an AI about your product category.

Step 3: Add Structured Data to Your Product Pages

This is a much more miner optimization, but some said they saw positive results by using JSON-LD schema markup on your product pages.

At minimum, include:

• Product name

• Price

• Availability

• Customer reviews/ratings

• Brand information

• Product description

Most Shopify themes handle this automatically, but double-check by using Google's Rich Results Test tool.

Step 4: Upload Your Products to Google Merchant Center

While it doesn't appear to be a direct source for ChatGPT, Gemini is going to be looking to their data from Google Merchant Center.

Set up your Google Merchant Center feed if you haven't already. This gives AI chatbots structured access to your product catalog, pricing, and availability.

Step 5: Fill Out OpenAI's Official Form

OpenAI has an official form to help ChatGPT discover your products. Most brands have no idea this exists.

It's still unclear how much of an impact this will have, but it's worth watching since it will be a direct source for ChatGPT.

Step 6: The Secret Weapon—Optimize for Bing

This is the hack that's working right now and everyone overlooks because Google was the obvious KING for SEO. But for GEO/AEO, ChatGPT is king, which means Bing optimization is most important.

Get your products into Bing Merchant Center to boost the GEO/SEO of your eCommerce store

We heard from multiple brands that as soon after they started doing this, they began seeing sales with "ChatGPT" as the referring UTM source.

Why? Because if ChatGPT has to look something up, it uses Bing as its search infrastructure. The results on Bing are different than the results on Google, too. So this is a must.

Step 7: Use Shopify's Knowledge App

Shopify released a Knowledge app that helps AI systems understand your products better. Install it and fill out your product information completely.

Step 8: Track Your Share of Answer

This is where you understand how often your brand shows up when people ask AI about your product category.

Share of Answer = When a customer asks a question you want to show up in, how often does your brand get mentioned in the response?

Here's a simple way to track this:

How to Measure Your Share of Answer (The Manual Method)

While you can automate this process (hit me up if you want to know how), here's the simple approach to understand your current share of answer:

Test #1: Brand Awareness Check

Load up ChatGPT and use this prompt:

I'm researching brands in the [your product category] space. 
Can you tell me:
1. What you know about [Your Brand Name]

This tells you how well AI "knows" your brand and what it associates with you.

Test #2: Product Category Questions

Ask the 3 most important questions your prospects might ask where you want to show up. Not sure what those are? Check your Google Search Console for your top relevant search queries and adapt them.

Here are some example prompts for different industries:

For skincare brands:

For fitness/supplement brands:

For home goods/kitchen brands:

Pay attention to:

1. Which brands get mentioned (and in what order)

2. Which articles or sources get referenced (this tells you what content to create or optimize for)

Test #3: Source Attribution Check

If the AI didn't include citations in its response, use this follow-up prompt:

This helps you understand what type of content and authority signals AI systems are weighing when making recommendations.

How to Use Content To Show Up In ChatGPT

Once you've run these tests, you'll have a clear picture of:

• How visible your brand is to AI systems

• What questions you're winning (or losing) on

• What type of content and sources AI values in your category

If you're not showing up well

There's a whole more in-depth guide needed just for this. But here's what we've seen work well if you're not showing up in answers:

1. Take the citations you mined out during the "How to measure share of answers"

2. Analyze each of those links to see what they cover

3. Take a look at the top 5 results on bing for searches that might lead you to those pages and see what they cover

4. Write a new, detailed pillar post that covers in more depth what the citations did. Data shows that you don't need a huge amount of content to get noticed, you just need a single, high quality post following E-E-A-T standards

More time consuming, but getting more third-party mentions and reviews will help as well.

If you're already winning:

• Expand to adjacent product categories

• Create content for related questions in your space

• Monitor for new competitors entering the conversation

The Bottom Line

GEO/AEO isn't just coming, it's here. The brands that optimize for AI search now are going to dominate the brands that wait.

Start with the technical basics (steps 1-7), then use the share of answer testing to understand where you stand. Once you know your baseline, you can start optimizing systematically.

And remember: AI-referred customers are converting at higher rates and spending more. This isn't just about traffic, it's about getting better traffic and into the "mindshare" of the LLMs.