Google AI Shopping: How to Optimize for Product Visibility in AI Mode

What was once a multi-step purchase journey for online shopping (that classic awareness → research → decision model) has collapsed into itself like a dying star. Drama aside, shopping is getting a major upgrade, and if your brand isn’t ready, you’re probably already getting left behind without even knowing it.

In case you’ve been living under a digital rock, Google has rolled out Shopping in AI Mode, which means that consumers can now browse, compare, buy, and even try on (hello, future) products through a conversational, AI experience rather than a traditional list of links. 

For eCommerce brands and merchants, this should sound an alarm bell or two: optimizing for visibility in AI Mode is no longer optional. It’s essential.

What Is the New Google AI Tool for Shopping?

When Google ever so sneakily integrated AI Mode as the first option in the search options, we marketers raised an eyebrow.

Now, Google is upping its game with a new AI Mode shopping experience that blends generative AI with Google Shopping Graph (over 50 billion product listings, refreshed hourly). That means the engine now serves visually rich panels, smart filters, and agentic checkout options.

• Virtual Try-On (VTO): Upload a full-length photo that follows Google’s guidelines to see how apparel looks on you in real time.
• Agentic Checkout & Price Tracking: Set size, color, or price preferences and let Google track the deal (and even complete checkout for you via Google Pay).
• Conversational Product Discovery: Ask complex queries like “waterproof hiking boots under $150 for rainy fall trips” and get curated visual panels.

In Short, your customers don’t have to leave the tab they’re in to find, try, and buy. Doesn’t that make your website feel a little useless? (spoiler alert: it’s not).

How to Use Google AI for Shopping?

Getting started with Google AI Shopping is fairly straightforward for consumers; for brands, however, it requires more intentional optimization. Here’s how to use it and what to focus on:

For Users

• Go to Google Search or Google Shopping.
• If AI Mode is available in your region, you’ll see the “AI Mode” label or tab on the left side of your screen.

• If you’re looking for the Virtual Try-On experience, upload a photo of yourself according to the guidelines outlined below. If you’re looking to chat with the AI, simply start with a natural-language query.
• Explore curated product panels, set price alerts, or finalize purchase with Google Pay. 

For Brands

• Ensure your product feed in Google Merchant Center is as detailed as possible; that means using high-res images, listing full product attributes, sizes, and color options. 
• Use structured data markup like Product schema, Offer schema, and the new TryOn markup (where applicable).
• Optimize PDP content where possible for conversational queries and context (e.g., “what to wear for May trip to Portland”).

How to Use Google AI Try On Clothes (& How Brands Can Be Part of It)

Apparel brands in particular must pay special attention, given the VTO capability. Here’s how the user flow will look:

• The customer will see the “Try It On” badge on eligible listings. 
• When prompted, the customer will upload a full-body photo that follows these guidelines. The guidelines are:
  
  • Full body
  • Good lighting
  • Just you
  • No hands in pockets
  • Fitted clothes
• The VTO program will then use Google’s custom image generation model to simulate drape, stretch, and fit across the customer’s body, giving them an idea of how the clothing article will fit.

For things like this, including accurate material and sizing information for apparel items is vital, as this can impact how Google’s model simulates the garment.

Pro Tip: While it’s true that features like this are so new that they’re still widely considered “cool to try” (many customers won’t take them as the end-all-be-all purchase decision-driver), it won’t be that way forever; just look at how quickly people adopted AI search as a behavior.

How Brands Should Optimize Google AI Try On Listings

We’re not saying you need to rebuild your entire website and eCommerce funnel (though if you’ve been meaning to, now would be a great time to kill two birds with one stone), but there are a few extra things that DTC brands should be paying attention to when creating or optimizing product listings:

• Ensure that product imagery has a clean background, consistent image formatting, and full-body shots.
• List the product under categories tagged for Try-On via Merchant Center (make sure the product actually belongs there; don’t game the system. Google knows all).
• Include high-quality “fits like” descriptive text and size charts to assist the AI in realistic rendering.
• Encourage reviews and user-generated photos from verified purchasers.

Why This Matters for Product Visibility

Google’s AI Shopping updates are more than “cool to try” new features that will fade into obscurity after a few months; Google’s new launches rarely go that way. Rather, these updates redefine how products are discovered online. Here are the key implications:

• Traditional clicks may decline (even further than they already have with zero-click search) as users get answers and purchase options directly in AI Mode.
• Brands with incomplete feeds, weak imagery, or lacking structured data risk being omitted from AI Mode panels.
• Visual-first, conversational, and personal experiences aren’t an option anymore; they’re a necessity for discoverability and sustained growth.
• Optimizing for AI visibility in general (using Answer Engine Optimization, which we know a thing or two about) becomes part of your eCommerce strategy in parallel with SEO.

Optimize for Product Visibility in Google AI Shopping: Best Practices

We’d be remiss to tell you how important it is to optimize your PDPs for AI visibility without offering specific insights, so here you go! Without further ado:

• Optimize product feeds. Include full attributes (size, color, and materials), high-res images, and accurate stock data.
• Implement structured data and schema. Use Product, Offer, Review schemas where relevant; also, look into TryOn and VisualSearch tags.
• Keep visual readiness in mind for imagery. Best practices dictate white-background product shots, lifestyle images, and full-body model shots for apparel.
• Write conversational, contextual copy. Product descriptions should be optimized for natural language queries (“eco-friendly hiking boots under $200 for fall”) as opposed to just good old short-tail keywords.
• Prepare for price and agentic checkout. Keep a close eye on price monitoring, availability, and cart stability.
• Start measuring AI visibility. Use analytics (we’ll get into this more below) to track when your products appear in AI panels, virtual try-on stats, and agentic checkout conversions.

That last tip may seem like a big undertaking, since many organic search monitoring platforms have been fairly slow to catch up (we’re looking at you, Ahrefs and Semrush). Lucky for you, if you’re reading this article, you’ve already pretty much got it figured out. Goodie is here to save the day.

How Goodie Helps You Win in Google AI Shopping

AI Mode Shopping optimization extends farther than just succeeding on one platform; it’s about keeping pace with agentic commerce, where AI agents actively discover, compare, and purchase on behalf of consumers. Given that Amazon, Google, and OpenAI were first-to-market with their agentic commerce platforms, it’s likely that competitors will soon follow suit, too.

What we’re trying to say is: get ahead of the game now, so you can smoke your competition later.

If you’re reading this article, take that as a good signal that you’re on the right track; Goodie is the first platform built to help brands monitor, measure, and optimize visibility across AI shopping environments (that includes Google AI Mode, Shopping Graph, Rufus, and more).

Here’s how Goodie supports AI eCommerce:

• AI Shopping Visibility Tracking: Goodie scans AI-generated shopping panels in near real-time to surface where (and how) your brand appears in AI Mode, Gemini, and agentic product listings.
• Agentic Commerce Optimizer: Built from the same technology that powers our Agentic Commerce framework, Goodie connects your product data, structured content, and shopping feed to optimize how AI agents retrieve, evaluate, and recommend your products.
• All-in-One Optimization Hub: Instead of manual guesswork, Goodie’s system suggests schema fixes, product feed enrichments, and content improvements directly in-platform.
• Traffic & Attribution Analytics: Visibility by engine, market, and category; global retail teams can monitor how Google’s generative surfaces perform across regions.

Ideal For: Retail, fashion, and DTC commerce teams ready to future-proof their product visibility in AI-driven shopping.

Pricing: Custom enterprise plans; schedule a demo to see your AI shopping coverage in action.

AI Mode Shopping: Closing Thoughts

Google AI Shopping via AI Mode is not a nice-to-have. It’s a paradigm shift in how consumers browse, try, and buy products online. For brands, especially in apparel, lifestyle, and retail, adapting to this new experience means optimizing every layer: feed quality, imagery, conversational copy, and data infrastructure.

Brands that get ahead (and stay ahead) of the game will appear in the right conversations, for the right queries, and end up in the right carts. Ready to get started? 👀