For over two decades, Google search results have been the driving force behind e-commerce visibility. Brands that have mastered SEO can reliably count on a steady flow of customers, but 2025 feels different: a new competitor has entered the field of conversational AI.
Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are not just tools; they’re new gateways between your store and the customer, and the balance of traffic is shifting. According to recent estimates, traditional search still drives the majority of organic clicks (around 65–70%), while AI Overviews already account for 13–20%, and AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini capture another 5–10%.
That means the rules of the game have changed. If you want your store to thrive, you need to win on both Google and within AI’s ecosystem.
The Core of Success Still Lies in SEO
Despite the noise around artificial intelligence, the document reminds us of a fundamental truth: SEO remains the foundation. Roughly 70% of AI visibility still depends on how well your site performs in search.
The guide outlines ten practical steps that every e-commerce brand should take, from getting the basics right (clear titles and H1s, canonical tags, and structured data) to more advanced tactics, such as topic clusters, internal linking, and AI-friendly content formatting.
It’s not glamorous, but it’s powerful. When Google and AI crawl your site, they don’t reward creativity for creativity’s sake. They reward clarity, structure, and authority.
Beyond SEO: Where AI Changes the Game
But here’s the twist: while SEO is the bedrock, AI adds new layers of visibility, the guide highlights four additional strategies:
Be present in digital conversations. Reviews on Trustpilot, threads on Reddit, answers on Quora, even YouTube comments, AI tools scan them all. Your brand should live where people talk.
Write like a human, not a machine. Forget keyword-stuffed jargon. Instead, explain things the way you would to a friend: “Cotton vs. linen shirts – which is better for summer?” That’s the kind of phrasing AI loves.
Make your site accessible to AI bots. If GPTBot or PerplexityBot can’t crawl your store, you’re invisible to entire channels of customers.
Test what AI knows about you, type your brand name into ChatGPT or Gemini, and see what results you get. If the answer is vague or absent, you’ve got work to do.
Why This Matters
The shopping journey no longer follows a straight path from Google query to checkout. Today’s consumer might search on Google, glance at an AI Overview, cross-check on Reddit, and finally ask ChatGPT for a recommendation, at each step, your brand has a chance to appear or to vanish.
Winning e-commerce traffic in 2025 means weaving yourself into all of those touchpoints: the structured world of Google SEO, the conversational world of AI, and the chaotic world of online communities.
Final Thought
The playbook is clear: SEO is your engine, AI is your amplifier. If you want your store to stand out tomorrow, start building visibility today, not just in search results, but in the spaces where AI listens, learns, and answers.
