Genview for Shopify › Series: Shopify × AI Search

ChatGPT and Gemini Cite Shopify Stores Differently: What to Do for Each AI and How to Check

Last updated: October 2, 2026 / Genview team, FID Ltd.

This is Part 3 (AI by AI) of our series "Shopify × AI Search."

• Part 1: AI Cites Shopify Stores' Blog Posts, Not Their Product Pages [A Study of About 4,000 AI Citations]
• Part 2: How to Write Articles That AI Cites [A Practical Guide for Shopify Stores]
• Part 3: ChatGPT and Gemini cite stores differently (this article)

Key points

• In our Part 1 study, Shopify stores' share of the pages cited by AI was Gemini 36%, ChatGPT 25%, Grok 14%, Perplexity 5%, a 7x gap between AIs
• Each AI gathers the information it draws on in a different way, so the same store may be cited differently by different AIs
• The first things a Shopify store should set up are a foundation that search engines can read correctly (sitemap and indexing) and a check that you aren't blocking AI crawlers
• Check whether you've been cited for each AI, with the same questions, on a regular schedule

Contents

1. Differences between AIs found in our study
2. Why each AI cites pages differently
3. Getting cited by Gemini
4. Getting cited by ChatGPT
5. The basics every Shopify store should have in place
6. Check that you aren't blocking AI crawlers
7. How to check whether each AI cites you
8. FAQ

1. Differences between AIs found in our study

In Part 1, we asked four AIs 50 shopping questions in English, twice each, and checked all 3,432 cited pages one by one.

This tells us two things.

• By count, Gemini is far ahead: Of the 704 Shopify store citations, about two-thirds came from Gemini. Gemini lists many sources per answer, and more than 1 in 3 of them are Shopify stores
• ChatGPT has fewer citations, but its share isn't low: ChatGPT lists fewer sources per answer, so its count was about one-sixth of Gemini's. Still, Shopify made up 25% of its sources. Perplexity, on the other hand, listed many sources, but only 5% were Shopify stores

"Being cited by AI" looks very different depending on which AI you mean. Checking just one AI tells you nothing about how you're doing on the others.

2. Why each AI cites pages differently

What follows is a general explanation based on each company's public information. Much of how these systems work is not public, and it can change.

When AI answers using information from the web, it usually searches first to collect candidate pages, then picks material for its answer from them. Each AI uses a different search system and picks candidates in a different way, so the pages cited can differ even for the same question.

If Gemini builds on Google Search results, that is consistent with our finding that Shopify store articles indexed correctly by Google tend to be cited. However, this study did not test the cause.

3. Getting cited by Gemini

Gemini is a Google service, so we think the foundation is having your articles read correctly by Google Search.

• Set up Google Search Console: You can check whether your store's articles are indexed
• Submit your sitemap: Shopify creates /sitemap.xml automatically. Submit it under Sitemaps in Search Console
• Check that your articles are indexed: Look up each article's URL with URL Inspection in Search Console
• Cover the basics of ranking in search: Content that answers the question, clear headings, fast loading and other SEO basics are also the foundation for being cited by Gemini

4. Getting cited by ChatGPT

ChatGPT lists few sources per answer, and in our study its citation count was about one-sixth of Gemini's. With fewer source slots, what matters is whether you get into one of those few slots. Shopify stores made up 25% of its sources, so there is plenty of room for store articles to be chosen.

• Check that you aren't blocking OpenAI's crawlers (see the next section)
• Set up Bing Webmaster Tools: OpenAI has said ChatGPT's search feature also uses external search systems. It's reassuring to be read correctly by search engines other than Google too
• Put the answer at the top of your articles: The writing approach from Part 2 works the same no matter which AI
• Have comparison and "how to choose" articles: When asked for recommendations, ChatGPT often builds answers that compare several options, so we think articles that give it something to compare are more likely to become the answer

5. The basics every Shopify store should have in place

Whichever AI you're thinking about, have these four things in place.

If password protection is on, neither search engines nor AI crawlers can read your store. This often happens with stores that haven't launched yet.

6. Check that you aren't blocking AI crawlers

AI companies run crawlers that read web pages. If your store's robots.txt blocks them, AI can't read your store's pages.

Main crawlers (from each company's public information):

How to check on Shopify

1. Open your store URL with /robots.txt added to the end
2. Check that none of the names above has Disallow: /
3. Shopify's default robots.txt doesn't block these AI crawlers. If one is blocked, check whether your theme's robots.txt.liquid has been edited, or whether an app that changes robots.txt is installed

If you don't want your content used for training, you can block only GPTBot and leave OAI-SearchBot, which is used for showing pages in search, unblocked.

7. How to check whether each AI cites you

Check by hand

1. Pick 5–10 questions your customers are likely to ask (see "Five places to find questions" in Part 2)
2. Ask the same questions to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and others
3. Record whether your store's URL appears in the sources of each answer
4. Repeat with the same questions, for example once a month

AI answers change from day to day. Don't judge from a single result; keep recording with the same questions.

Check with an app

Genview for Shopify is a Shopify app that creates questions your customers are likely to ask from your product data, actually asks them to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude, and shows whether each AI cited your store. It also drafts articles that answer the questions where you aren't cited (your store reviews them and decides whether to publish).

Note: Genview for Shopify does not measure Gemini. To check Gemini citations, use the "Check by hand" method above.

8. FAQ

Q. If Gemini cites me, will ChatGPT cite me too? A. Not necessarily. In our study, Shopify stores' share of the pages cited by AI varied widely, from 36% on Gemini to 5% on Perplexity. You need to check each AI.

Q. I don't want AI to train on my content, but I do want to be cited. A. Some AIs use separate crawlers for training and for search. For example, OpenAI separates GPTBot (for training) from OAI-SearchBot (for ChatGPT search). If you block only GPTBot, you keep showing up in search without letting your content be used for training.

Q. If I change robots.txt, does it take effect right away? A. It takes effect the next time a crawler reads your robots.txt. Your citations won't change right away.

Q. Is this different from Google's AI Overviews? A. AI Overviews are AI summaries shown at the top of Google Search results pages, which is a different place from the Gemini app. Both are Google systems, but they appear in different places and are used differently.

That wraps up our series "Shopify × AI Search."

• Part 1: AI Cites Shopify Stores' Blog Posts, Not Their Product Pages
• Part 2: How to Write Articles That AI Cites [A Practical Guide for Shopify Stores]