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Guide for Salla, Zid and Shopify stores

How do online stores get shown by ChatGPT and Gemini?

ChatGPT and Gemini show products from the product data they can read: the markup on your product pages, product feeds and data from third-party providers. OpenAI says Shopify product data already reaches ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog. A store on Salla, Zid or another platform depends on complete product pages, product identifiers such as the GTIN, and Google Merchant Center listings, which Google says can show products in Gemini.

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Where do ChatGPT and Gemini get product data?

AssistantWhere the product data comes fromWhat a store can do
ChatGPT“Structured metadata from first-party and third-party providers”, such as price and product description, according to OpenAI. Shopify stores are connected through Shopify Catalog. Other merchants can apply to send OpenAI a direct product feed.Complete product pages with markup, the same price everywhere, and a direct feed once accepted.
GeminiGoogle says products in Merchant Center free listings may appear on Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, the Shopping tab and Gemini.A Merchant Center account with complete product data, shipping settings and a return policy.

Neither place is sold. OpenAI writes that product results are “selected independently by ChatGPT and are not ads, nor influenced by any OpenAI partnerships”, and Google’s free listings show products at no cost.

How does ChatGPT choose which store to show?

When ChatGPT lists where to buy a product, OpenAI says it ranks merchants on:

“availability, price, quality, and whether they are the maker or primary seller of that item.”

Availability and price come from your product data, so they have to be correct and current wherever the product is listed. A brand that makes its own products should say so clearly on the product page. Review summaries are generated from reviews on public websites, which OpenAI says it does not verify.

What should a Salla or Zid store fix first?

  1. Product identifiers. Add the GTIN (the number under the barcode) and the MPN to every product that has them. Google recommends including all applicable global identifiers, and Salla’s help centre has a guide on adding MPN and GTIN to products.
  2. Product markup. Each product page needs Product markup with the name, an image and an offer with a price above zero and its currency (SAR, AED). Test a few pages with Google’s Rich Results Test; if the price or availability is missing, fix the product data or the theme.
  3. Shipping and returns. Google recommends one store-wide shipping and return policy in your Organization markup, and Merchant Center asks for shipping settings and a return policy for free listings.
  4. Google Merchant Center. Verify your store with Google (Salla explains Google site verification), then submit your products for free listings. The attributes Google lists include ID, title, link, image link, price, description and availability.
  5. Arabic and English names. Customers ask in Arabic, in English and in a mix of both. Put the Arabic product name and the English brand or product name, written the way customers type it, on the same page.
  6. One price everywhere. If your store, a marketplace and your social accounts show different prices for the same product, an assistant that ranks on price sees conflicting data. Keep them the same.
  7. Real reviews on public pages. ChatGPT’s review summaries come from reviews on public websites, so genuine reviews belong on pages anyone can open.

Shopify stores: OpenAI says no extra work is needed for Shopify product data to reach ChatGPT. Availability, price and the other ranking factors still decide which store is shown.

How do you know whether it worked?

Write down 15 to 30 questions your customers ask, in Arabic and in English, for example “where can I buy original oud perfume online in Riyadh” and “عطر عود أصلي توصيل جدة”, plus a few control questions about products you did not change. Ask them in ChatGPT and Gemini every month, on the same settings, and record which stores are named. Merchant Center’s diagnostics show which products are approved for free listings. Our AI visibility check explains the method step by step.

Questions and answers

Do I have to pay to appear in ChatGPT’s product results?

No. OpenAI says product results are selected independently and are not ads. ChatGPT also shows ads, and OpenAI keeps them separate from product results.

Is a Salla or Zid store at a disadvantage compared with Shopify?

OpenAI names Shopify Catalog as a built-in connection and offers direct product feeds to other merchants. It does not say how often stores on other platforms are shown. What a Salla or Zid store controls is the quality of the data assistants can read: identifiers, markup, Merchant Center and consistent prices.

Does an llms.txt file help a store appear?

Google has said llms.txt files neither help nor harm visibility in Google Search, because Search ignores them. For products, the data that matters is product markup, Merchant Center listings and product feeds.

Can AYKA guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my store?

No one can. We measure which stores ChatGPT and Gemini name for your customers’ questions, fix the product data, and measure again with the same questions.

Sources

  1. OpenAI Help Center: Shopping in ChatGPT
  2. OpenAI: Product feed reference
  3. Google Search Central: Merchant listing (Product, Offer) structured data
  4. Google Merchant Center Help: Free listings for products
  5. Salla Help Center: Add MPN and GTIN to improve product visibility on search engines
  6. Salla Help Center: Verify site ownership through Google site verification
  7. Search Engine Land: Google says llms.txt files won’t harm or help your search rankings