Shopify Catalog: what data AI channels read and how to improve it

Answers the question: What product data do AI assistants read from Shopify, and how do I improve it?

Shopify’s own argument is that data quality pays. In May it said that searches powered by Catalog converted at twice the rate of general AI searches that rely on scraped or outdated data, as reported in coverage of its first-quarter results. Treat that as Shopify’s claim, not a promise for your store.

Eight ways to improve your product data

1. Write titles that say what the product is. Put the product type, the material or main feature, and the key variant first. Skip keyword lists.
2. Lead each description with facts. An assistant answering a shopper needs four things quickly: what the product is made of, what it is for, its size or dimensions, and one specific attribute. State them in the first lines, then tell the story.
3. Name options and variants clearly. Use the same names for sizes and colours across products, so an assistant can compare them.
4. Use more than one clear image. Show the product from different angles and in use.
5. Keep price and availability accurate. A sale price, a stock status or a currency that differs between your page and your data gets a product dropped or misquoted.
6. Fill in the attributes Shopify offers. Where your products have specifications such as materials, capacity or ingredients, enter them in structured fields and not only in the description. Shopify’s help pages also describe ways to map custom product fields into Catalog.
7. Publish your policies. Shipping, returns, privacy and terms should be live and clear. For ChatGPT, Shopify’s help page also asks that any legal disclosures appear within the first 6,000 characters of a product description.
8. Say only what is true. Never add an attribute you cannot verify to make a product look complete. An invented fact is worse than a missing one, and it should match what you say on your own site and any marketplaces.

Which products can use direct checkout?

Not every product in Catalog can be bought inside an assistant. Shopify’s help pages exclude subscriptions, bundles, customisable products and B2B-only products from direct checkout, and local delivery and pickup are not supported. These products can still be discovered.

How to check your data

Pick your twenty best sellers and read each description as if you were an assistant with no other information. Can you tell what it is made of, what it is for and how big it is? If not, those are the first edits to make.