Highlights:
- Product feeds power ChatGPT shopping.
- Your feed is the main signal.
- Fresh, accurate data boosts ranking.
- Add videos, 3D models, and reviews.
- Use custom variants for precision.
- Update feeds regularly to stay visible.
OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol just made ChatGPT Product Feed, the most important part of your e-commerce strategy. If you’re treating ChatGPT like another search engine, you’re missing the point.
This works completely differently than Google. Your product feed isn’t a technical checklist anymore. It’s your main marketing tool for conversational commerce.
ChatGPT Treats Your Feed Differently
Google crawls your website, looks at links, and uses hundreds of factors to decide rankings. ChatGPT takes your structured merchant feed and treats it as the main source of truth about your products.
Your feed doesn’t compete with other signals. It is the signal.
Price, stock, and product details come straight from you. ChatGPT uses that information to match searches, suggest products, and help people buy.
This changes generative engine optimization in three ways:
- The feed runs everything. ChatGPT uses your product feed for indexing, matching, and ranking.
- You’re the trusted source. ChatGPT doesn’t check your merchant data against other sources. If you list your desk as mahogany and 48 inches wide, that’s what ChatGPT knows.
- Ranking happens in conversation. There’s no Page 1. Products get suggested based on how well your feed matches what someone asks.
What You Must Include?
The ChatGPT Product Feed Specification takes TSV, CSV, XML, or JSON files. You can update them as often as every 15 minutes.
Required fields:
- Product ID, title, description, price, availability, and weight
- Merchant information like seller name, seller URL, and policy links
- Media like a main image
Missing or wrong required fields will kick your products out of search or checkout. Check your product data now and set up updates so stock and pricing stay current.
Optional Fields That Set You Apart
ChatGPT added new ways to stand out that didn’t exist in Google Merchant Center.
Performance Signals
You can add popularity score, return rate, product review count, and average rating right in the feed. In Google, reviews live outside the feed. In ChatGPT, you provide them yourself, giving you more control over how quality looks.
Rich Media
Video links and 3D models work here. For video, use public URLs, YouTube is the safest option, as the spec requires HTTPS access. Keep videos short and product-focused.
For 3D models, the spec takes GLB or GLTF files. This is particularly helpful for products where size and shape matter, such as furniture, electronics, or any item where dimensions significantly impact the buying decision.
Custom Variants
You can add unique details beyond color and size. Someone asking for “mahogany desk, 48 inches wide” gets matched by how well your feed shows those traits.
You can set up three custom variant categories, with each category holding up to 70 characters and each option up to 40 characters. This lets you match the exact words shoppers use.
Geographic Targeting
Different prices and stock for different regions can go right in the feed. If you sell to multiple markets with different pricing, ChatGPT handles that at the feed level.
Multiple Categories
Google Merchant Center lets you pick one category per product. OpenAI’s documentation hints these feeds might let you use more than one path, though they haven’t confirmed it. If multiple category paths work, listing products in several places would help visibility.
Making the Most of Optional Fields
Popularity score: You can add a score from 0–5. OpenAI says this affects ranking. Use real sales numbers. Fake numbers will hurt trust later.
Return rate: Add this as a percentage. Lower numbers show reliability and help build trust.
Custom variant fields: Think like a shopper talking to someone. What extra details would they type into ChatGPT? If your feed shows those traits, you’re more likely to get suggested.
Character Limits Matter
OpenAI’s spec sets maximum lengths:
- ID: 100 characters
- Title: 150 characters
- Description: 5,000 characters
- MPN: 70 characters
- Brand: 70 characters
- Material: 100 characters
- Item group title: 150 characters
- Custom variant categories: 70 characters
- Custom variant options: 40 characters
Use the space well. Write descriptions for clarity and what people want. But cutting a field short means missing chances to match searches.
What We Know About Ranking?
OpenAI’s documentation says feeds get pulled in, checked, and indexed for retrieval and ranking.
What we know:
- Fresh data matters. The spec lets you update every 15 minutes
- Your feed, site, and policies need to match
- Correct availability and accurate prices help reliability
What seems likely:
- Review speed and quality will matter
- Products with better media will do better in conversations where visuals help
- Merchants with more complete details might rank higher for specific questions
Think of this less like page rankings and more like getting mentioned in conversation. Being thorough might be what tips things your way.
Why This Is GEO, Not SEO?
Regular SEO focuses on fixing webpages. Generative engine optimization focuses on how AI systems put together answers.
The ChatGPT merchant feed sits in the middle. It’s structured like schema but trusted like your product page. It’s the data ChatGPT looks at and uses to think.
It adds new tools, performance metrics, custom variants, rich media, that Google didn’t give us in one place. The ChatGPT merchant feed is one of the first big public examples where structured data directly controls what an LLM shows for shopping.
The Best Thing To Do Right Now Is..
- Sign up as a merchant so you can submit your feed directly and see how your products perform.
- Check your current product data. Find what’s missing, like material, sizes, or variants.
- Make media beyond images. Plan for videos and 3D files.
- Gather reviews. Get your product review counts and ratings ready.
- Write complete titles and descriptions. Think like someone asking ChatGPT a question.
- Match feed data to your site schema. Your structured markup needs to line up with the feed.
- Set up update schedules. Old pricing or stock info will hurt visibility.
- Get your trust signals ready. Have working policy pages, accurate return windows, and seller details.
- SEO and marketing teams should control how products get described, sorted, and trusted in conversational search.
Do We Know What Happens Next?
We don’t know yet how OpenAI weighs each signal, and paid placements will probably show up. Shopping carts with multiple items and grouped suggestions seem likely too.
But the path is clear, merchant feeds are becoming the base of conversational commerce and discovery. Brands that move now will be ready when AI systems become where shopping starts.
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