Guide
How to check if ChatGPT recommends your products
Ask the questions your buyers ask, in a clean session, several times, and record which products AI names. Here is how to do it by hand, step by step.
The check, defined
To check whether ChatGPT recommends your products, ask it the questions your buyers ask, without your brand name, in a fresh chat. Ask each one several times, on more than one day, and record which products it names, in what order, and which sites it cites. Then do the same in Perplexity and Google.
01
The short version
Five steps, a spreadsheet and about an hour. It works for any store on any platform.
- 01
Write the questions a buyer asks before they know which product they want. Leave your brand name out.
- 02
Ask them in a clean session in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, so your own history doesn't shape the answer.
- 03
Record every answer: which products are named, in what order, and which sites are cited.
- 04
Repeat each question several times, on more than one day. One answer proves little.
- 05
Read the pattern: how often you're named, where, who wins instead, and which sites AI reads.
of consumers have used AI assistants for online shopping.
Your buyers are asking alreadySource: Adobe Consumer Survey, July 2026of Google visits led to a click on a search result when an AI summary appeared, versus without one.
Fewer shoppers scroll past the answerSource: Pew Research Center, 2025of visits with an AI summary led to a click on a link inside the summary itself.
Being named matters more than being linkedSource: Pew Research Center, 202502
Step 1: Write your buyer questions
The questions decide the result, so spend most of your time here. Start with one product or category and write a few questions for it.
Leave out your brand name
"Is Brand X's serum good?" tells you how AI describes you, not whether it recommends you.
Include the need
"Best moisturizer for oily skin in winter" is how people ask. "Best moisturizer" isn't.
Write prices with a currency symbol
"Under $40", not "under 40". Without the symbol, AI can misread the number.
Cover different moments
A "best X for Y" question, a comparison between two options, and a "what should I buy for…" question.
| Weak question | Better question | Why it's better |
|---|---|---|
| best dog leash | What's the best leash for a large dog that pulls? | States the dog and the problem |
| Acme hiking boots review | Which waterproof hiking boots are best for wide feet under $200? | No brand, a fit need, a budget with currency |
| vitamin C serum | What vitamin C serum works for sensitive skin? | Names who it's for |
03
Step 2: Ask in a clean session
Assistants can remember earlier conversations and adjust to you. To see what a new shopper sees, start clean every time.
ChatGPT
Use a Temporary Chat or turn off memory. Check that the answer used web search: it shows sources.
Perplexity
Use an incognito thread. Every answer lists its sources.
Search in a private window and note whether an AI Overview appears. For many searches it doesn't, and that's a result too.
Location matters
Answers depend on where the shopper is. If your customers are in the US, check from the US, or the answer can name different products and stores.
04
Step 3: Record every answer
One row per answer. Write products down exactly as named, and note when the answer gives general advice instead of naming products. That isn't a mention.
| Date | Assistant | Products named, in order | Yours? | Sites cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 20 | ChatGPT | 1. Trailhound No-Pull · 2. Bramble Lead · 3. Kestrel Bungee | No | 2 review sites, 1 forum |
| Oct 20 | Perplexity | 1. Bramble Lead · 2. Your leash | #2 | Retailer, your product page |
| Oct 20 | No AI Overview | — | — | |
| Oct 21 | ChatGPT | 1. Bramble Lead · 2. Trailhound No-Pull · 3. Your leash | #3 | 1 review site, Reddit |
| Oct 21 | Perplexity | General advice, no products | — | 2 vet blogs |
Illustrative example. Products are invented.
05
Step 4: Repeat
AI answers are generated fresh each time, so the same question can name different products an hour later.
Ask each question several times and come back on another day before drawing a conclusion. Stop when the pattern stops changing: if your product is named in roughly the same share of answers each time you check, you have a reliable reading.
Why one check isn't enough
A product named in one answer out of many is in a very different position from one named in most of them. A single screenshot can't tell those apart.
06
Step 5: Read the results
Four numbers tell you where you stand. In the example above, three answers named products, and the leash was in two of them.
67%
Visibility
The share of answers that name your product.
#2.5
Average position
Where you appear when named: second and third here. First beats fourth.
3
Who wins instead
Products named where you aren't: your real competitors in AI answers.
3 of 3
Top competitor
Bramble Lead was named every time. Find out what its page and its reviews say that yours don't.
If your product never appears, open the product pages that do and compare them with yours. Look for the details they state and you don't: who the product is for, materials or ingredients, sizes, limits. That gap is the first thing to look at.
07
Where the manual check stops working
The manual check is the right way to start. It gets hard to keep up past a handful of products.
More products
Every product needs its own questions, asked on every assistant.
Change over time
A trend needs the same questions asked the same way, every week.
Did a fix work?
Telling whether a page update made a difference needs a before and an after on the same questions.
Produkto does this for Shopify stores: it asks your buyer questions in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity daily, each several times, and shows which of your products are named, the competing products AI picks instead, and the sites it cites.
08
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT give everyone the same answer?
No. Answers vary between runs, and memory, location and whether web search is used all change them. That is why you check in a clean session and repeat each question.
Should I include my brand name in the question?
Not for this check. A question with your brand name tells you how AI describes you. A question without it tells you whether AI recommends you to someone who hasn't heard of you yet.
How many times should I ask each question?
Several times, on more than one day. Stop when the pattern stops changing: if your product is named in roughly the same share of answers each time, you have a reliable reading.
What if AI recommends my product but describes it wrongly?
Note it and check the sites it cites. Wrong details often come from a page AI read, such as an old listing or a retailer page, and fixing that source is the place to start.
Sources (2)
- Adobe Digital Insights, AI Traffic Trends Report, August 2026.
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results, July 22, 2025.
See which of your products AI recommends
Produkto measures your whole Shopify catalog in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and shows who AI picks instead.