How AI Product Recommendations Are Reshaping Search – And What Business Owners Should Do About It
ChatGPT Isn’t Just Chatting – It’s Becoming a Search Engine
If you’ve used ChatGPT recently, you might have noticed something new — it’s no longer just answering questions. It’s starting to recommend products, services, and even link directly to websites. Thanks to OpenAI’s new Search Product Discovery feature, ChatGPT is becoming a full-blown discovery engine.That means people can now ask questions like “What’s the best accounting software for small businesses?” or “What’s a thoughtful gift under $30?” — and receive actual AI product recommendations right there in the chat.
This shift has big implications for business owners. It’s not just about ranking on Google anymore. You now need to make sure your website is discoverable by AI tools like ChatGPT, especially as they start shaping real buying decisions.
This is digital artificial intelligence at work — changing the way customers find and trust businesses online.
Where Is ChatGPT Pulling Product Data From?
Here’s the part that surprises most people: when ChatGPT recommends a product or links to a page, it’s usually getting that information from Bing.com — not Google.
That’s right. Microsoft’s Bing powers ChatGPT’s web browsing functionality (especially in GPT-4o with browsing enabled), and it’s Bing’s index that determines what gets seen and shared. So, if your product or service pages aren’t showing up well in Bing, they’re unlikely to show up in ChatGPT either.
It’s time to start thinking beyond Google. This is where artificial intelligence for business becomes real.
Submit Your Sitemap to Bing (Yes, Really)
If you’ve only ever worried about Google, it’s time to expand your horizons. One of the easiest ways to make sure Bing (and by extension ChatGPT) understands your website is to submit your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools.
This helps Bing properly crawl and index your pages — especially key ones like product listings, service pages, and blog content.
You can submit your site to Bing Webmaster Tools yourself (or if this is scary, no judgement — contact us and we can organise it for you).
Don’t Block the AI Crawlers
Just like Google uses bots to crawl your site, ChatGPT has its own web crawler: OAI-SearchBot. If you’re accidentally blocking it in your robots.txt file, your site won’t appear in AI product recommendations — even if your content is great.
Check your robots.txt file to ensure OAI-SearchBot isn’t being blocked.
If you’re not sure how to do that (and seriously, don’t attempt DIY — you can really stuff things up if you don’t know what you’re doing), we can help.
How to Optimise for AI Product Recommendations
Let’s be honest — most business owners aren’t sitting around worrying about schema markup or how Bing indexes their product pages. But if you want your product or service to show up when someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation, you do need to start thinking about this stuff.
This is part of embracing growth AI strategies — not just getting more traffic, but being found in smarter ways.
Here’s the big picture:
1. Structure Your Product Info So AI Can Understand It
You know what your product is — but does a search engine?
We use something called schema markup (a bit of behind-the-scenes code) to clearly tell search engines the name of your product, its description, price, availability, and brand. This helps AI tools like ChatGPT know your product is legit — and recommend it accordingly.
2. Write the Way People Ask Questions
AI tools respond to questions like a real person would ask them. That means your website should too.
Instead of vague product blurbs, we build pages that answer things like:
- What’s the best tax software for sole traders?
- Are beeswax candles non-toxic?
We format content so it’s easy for both people and AI tools to understand and recommend. It’s also a great starting point if you’re wondering how to use AI in your SEO strategy.
3. Show You’re a Trusted Source
ChatGPT wants to recommend trustworthy sites — so you need to prove yours is one.
That means:
- Real customer reviews
- Clear shipping and returns info
- Contact details that are up to date
- A site that doesn’t look like it’s from 2007
These trust signals matter more than ever.
Don’t stress if this all sounds overwhelming. You don’t need to know how it works — you just need someone who does.
If you’re confused and just want it done, contact us and we’ll sort it out for you. Whether it’s SEO, Google Ads, or making sure you’re showing up in AI product recommendations, we’ll help you stay ahead of the curve.
Coming Soon: Product Feed Submissions
OpenAI is working on a direct way for merchants to upload product feeds straight into ChatGPT — meaning your listings could be more accurate, up to date, and visible inside AI conversations.
Fill out this interest form on ChatGPT to be notified as soon as product feed submissions open. We recommend doing this sooner rather than later.
This is the next wave of search product discovery in ChatGPT — and a major opportunity for businesses in Australia and beyond.
This Isn’t the Future — It’s Already Here
The way people search is changing. Tools like ChatGPT are becoming part of how users discover products, solve problems, and make purchasing decisions — right from a conversation.
If you want to make sure your business isn’t left behind, now’s the time to act.
Submit your sitemap.
Optimise your content for AI tools.
Check your robots.txt file.
Let us help you make sense of it all — and get your brand visible in this new era of artificial intelligence in Australia.