Picture a shopper planning a weekend hike. She asks ChatGPT for a waterproof backpack under $150 and gets three suggestions, each with a link to a store. Her friend types the same question into Google and reads an AI Overview before a single regular search result appears. In both cases, an AI tool has gathered information, picked a handful of products and decided which stores to mention.
The good news is that you can influence those picks. Most of it comes down to two things you already work with every day: your theme and your product content.
This article walks you through how AI tools read your store, what your theme takes care of behind the scenes, and where your own words make the biggest difference.
Short on time? Jump straight to the seven quick checks.
How AI finds and reads your store
AI tools reach your store in two main ways, and both matter.
Through your pages. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on the same index as regular Google Search. Google says plainly that you don't need extra files, special markup or any other tricks to appear in them. If your pages are indexed and their content is clear and useful, Google can use them in its AI answers. ChatGPT can also search the web and read store pages. Here your theme sets the structure and presentation, and your content gives the pages their substance.
Through your product data. With Shopify's agentic storefronts, Shopify Catalog shares your titles, descriptions, images, prices, options and availability straight from your Shopify admin with AI channels such as ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. Agentic storefronts are active by default for eligible stores. Here the theme steps back, and the details you enter for each product take center stage.
Put simply: Taiga gives your content its structure and stage, and your words and product data do the talking, for Google and ChatGPT alike.
What your theme already does for you
Every Taiga page carries a layer of information that shoppers never see but machines read closely. This layer is called structured data. It tells search engines and AI tools exactly what a page is about: this is a product, this is its price, this is a blog article, this is the store behind it. The theme adds it automatically, so there is nothing for you to set up.
Google's Rich Results Test reading a product page from our demo store: product type, brand and description all come from the structured data the theme adds.
Here is what the theme already describes for you:
- Product pages carry product structured data generated with Shopify's own structured_data filter. It covers the product name, description, images, brand, price, availability and variants.
- Blog posts carry article structured data, so your guides and stories are recognized as articles.
- FAQ content in the Accordion / FAQ section and the FAQ blog template is marked as clear question and answer pairs.
- Breadcrumbs on product pages and collection banners are marked so search engines can follow how your store is organized. This works when breadcrumbs are turned on in the product and collection templates.
- Store information such as your store name, plus your logo and social media profiles if you've added them, appears on every page. On your homepage, the theme also tells Google your store's name, which Google can use as your site name in search results.
- Page basics such as meta descriptions, canonical URLs and social sharing tags are included on every page.
Using a third-party app that adds its own product structured data? Turn off Taiga's version in Theme settings > Advanced > Disable product structured data so the two don't overlap.
Where your theme's role ends
A few things sit outside the theme, and it helps to know where the line runs:
- Your theme doesn't control what Shopify shares with ChatGPT and other AI channels. That data comes from your Shopify admin.
- A custom robots.txt file isn't part of the theme. Shopify serves a default robots.txt for every store. If you want to change which crawlers can access your store, follow Shopify's guide to editing robots.txt.liquid.
- Return policies, shipping details and product reviews aren't part of the theme's structured data. Review apps usually add review markup themselves.
Your content, your advantage
Structured data tells AI tools what a page is. Your visible content tells them what is worth saying about it. This is where your store gets its voice, and where you have the most room to stand out.
Google recommends unique, helpful content written for people. Shopify's advice for AI channels points the same way: give detailed product information that answers the questions real customers ask. Your theme gives each type of content a natural home.
Describe your products in plain, specific words
Your product description is the heart of the page. Use it to explain what the product is, who it's for and what makes it different. Specific beats clever every time. "Waterproof 30 L hiking backpack with a padded laptop sleeve" gives an AI tool something concrete to work with, while "Your perfect adventure companion" leaves it guessing. Add specifications such as dimensions, weight and materials to the description itself, or to a Collapsible Item or Text block on the product page.
Size guides, materials and care in their place
The details that help a shopper decide often live just below the fold. Put them in a Collapsible Item or Size guide block on the product page. Shoppers open them when they need them, and the text is still part of the page for search engines and AI tools to read. Shopify notes that this kind of supporting content can sit lower on the page, so your layout stays clean and easy to buy from.
The Size guide block on a product page in our demo store. The size chart and fit note are real text on the page, so shoppers and AI tools can read them.
FAQs that work on their own
Every question your customer service answers twice is a good candidate for the Accordion / FAQ section. Shipping times, returns, sizing and product care are classic examples. Write each answer so that it stands on its own and makes sense even when it's quoted without the question around it. Google rarely shows FAQ results as a special search feature for online stores, so treat this section as helpful content, not a ranking trick.
Tell your story and share what you know
Your brand story and expertise belong here. Use the Rich text section, the Image with text section or any other section that holds text to tell who you are and to share buying guides, how-to articles and product comparisons. Your blog is a natural home for longer guides, and every blog post you publish gets article structured data from the theme automatically. Google lists this kind of content among the things that help an online store appear across its services.
One rule makes all the difference: keep your words as real text. Text you type into a section's fields is readable for search engines and AI tools. Text that is part of an image file, such as a slogan designed into a banner image, isn't. If a message matters, write it into the section's heading or text field and let the image support it.
Images that machines can read too
Clear product images help shoppers and machines alike. Add alt text that describes what each image shows. You can add it to product media on the product page in your Shopify admin and to other images in Content > Files.
Writing with AI? Make it your own
AI writing tools can be a great starting point. Google doesn't penalize content just because AI helped write it, but content made mainly to manipulate search rankings goes against its policies. Review and edit AI-written text so that it's accurate and specific to your products, and let your own knowledge shine through.
Fine-tune your product data in Shopify admin
For ChatGPT and other AI shopping channels, your Shopify admin is the main stage. Shopify uses these fields when it shares your products with AI channels, and some of them also appear in the structured data your theme adds to your product pages. A few minutes per product here goes a long way.
- Product title: Say what the product is. Include the product type and a key attribute.
- Vendor and product type: The theme uses these as the brand and category in your product's structured data, so keep them accurate.
- Product category: Choose the most specific category from Shopify's standard product taxonomy.
- Category metafields: Fill in the attributes Shopify suggests for the category, such as color, material and size. They give shoppers and AI tools more precise product details.
- Variants: Use clear option names such as "Size" and "Color," and keep each variant's price and stock up to date.
- Barcodes: Add GTIN, UPC or ISBN codes when your products have them.
- Policies: Keep your refund, shipping and terms of service policies current in Settings > Policies. AI tools can use them to answer shopper questions.
Seven quick checks for your store
Ready to put this into practice? Start with these seven steps:
Steps
- Product titles say clearly what each product is.
- Each product has a specific category and filled-in category metafields.
- Product descriptions include specifications in plain language.
- Size guides, materials and care details are in relevant content blocks.
- The Accordion / FAQ section answers the questions customers ask most.
- Images have descriptive alt text.
- Store policies are up to date.
Official guides to explore next
Want to go deeper? These guides come straight from Google and Shopify:
- AI features and your website (Google): How AI Overviews and AI Mode use your site, and why no special setup is needed.
- Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google's AI experiences on Search (Google): Google's own content tips for AI search.
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (Google): Questions you can use to review your own pages.
- Optimizing your store for AI (Shopify): What product content Shopify recommends for AI channels.
- Optimizing your products for AI platforms (Shopify): Which product fields AI platforms use.
- Shopify Catalog and product discovery for agentic storefronts (Shopify): How Shopify shares your product data with ChatGPT and other AI channels.
- Agentic storefronts (Shopify): Which AI channels Shopify sells through and how the feature is turned on for your store.
Ready to see how it works in your own store? Try Taiga for free and explore its presets in the Shopify Theme Store.