How to · UK food and drink

How to get your food or drink brand recommended by ChatGPT and AI search

There is no secret trick to appearing in ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews. There are five plain steps, and a small team can do all of them.

By Pasi Sipilä, founder of Ziild · 14 October 2026

In short

Let the AI crawlers read your site, get your product data into ChatGPT shopping, and write clear answer-first pages for the questions your buyers ask. Then measure what happens and decide deliberately whether you want to be in AI answers at all.

Why this is worth a day of your time

Google says AI Overviews now has over 2.5 billion monthly active users, and AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly users.

When someone asks for a gift wine under £20 or a vegan granola, the answer arrives as a summary with a handful of links. You are in it, or you are not.

The good news is that the rules are simple. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page has to be indexed and able to show in Google with a snippet.

So what the industry calls generative engine optimization, or GEO, is mostly doing the basics properly. Here are five steps.

Step 1: Let the AI crawlers read your site

OpenAI says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search. To be summarised and cited, your site must not block OAI-SearchBot, OpenAI's search crawler, in robots.txt. That is the file that tells crawlers what they may read.

Many sites block it by accident, through a security plugin or an old blanket rule. Ask your developer to check. It is a short job.

For Google, the test is the one above: indexed, and able to show with a snippet. This is a summary, not legal advice.

robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot.
Your product, stockist and about pages are indexed in Google.
Those pages are allowed to show with a snippet.

Step 2: Get your products into ChatGPT shopping

When a question shows buying intent, ChatGPT can show product cards with images, details and links. OpenAI says it weighs price, reviews and the user's context, including Memory. Some products can be bought without leaving ChatGPT, through Instant Checkout.

OpenAI says these product results are chosen independently and are not ads. You cannot buy your way in. Your data has to be good.

Shopify merchants' products are already included through Shopify Catalog. OpenAI's merchant page says Shopify and Etsy sellers need no setup. Everyone else applies with a product feed that meets OpenAI's specification, and applicants sit on a waitlist.

We could not confirm whether ChatGPT shopping and Instant Checkout are fully available to UK brands at the time of writing. Check the merchant page before you plan around it.

Because reviews count, only use genuine ones. For alcohol, keep product listings factual: style, origin, ABV, food match.

On Shopify or Etsy: check your catalogue is complete and accurate.
On anything else: apply for a feed now, because there is a waitlist.
Keep prices, stock and descriptions current.

Step 3: Write for the questions behind the question

Google's AI features use what it calls query fan-out. AI Mode divides a question into subtopics and searches for each one at the same time, then builds one answer.

So "good English sparkling wine for a wedding" becomes several searches: styles, price, where to buy, how many bottles. Each of those needs a clear page somewhere. Ideally yours.

Write the page that answers one real question, and answer it in the first two sentences. Then add the detail.

One page per real buyer question, not one page per keyword.
Answer first, explanation second.
A where-to-buy page with current stockists.
Plain facts on every product page: ingredients, allergens, vegan or not, ABV, serving suggestion.
Four good pages a month beats forty thin ones.

Step 4: Make your facts easy and safe to quote

AI answers lift sentences from your site. Give them correct sentences to lift: awards with the year, named stockists, origin, ABV, pack sizes.

Anything about health, nutrition or sustainability will be quoted out of context. Only publish claims you are permitted to make, and have them checked against the UK advertising and food rules that apply to your category before they go live.

Your own site is not the only input. OpenAI says ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers plus partner content. What trade press, retailers and review sites write about you also shapes the answer. Make it easy for them to get the facts right.

Keep a one-page fact sheet that matches your website word for word.
Send it with every trade press release and retailer listing.
Do not mass-produce AI-written pages. Thin pages at volume help nobody.

Step 5: Measure, then decide your position

OpenAI says ChatGPT referral traffic shows up in tools like Google Analytics. Set up a simple report so you can see it each month.

Then do a manual check. Write down the 20 questions your buyers actually ask, put them into ChatGPT and Google once a month, and record whether you appear. It takes an hour.

Google says it has added more links inside AI answers. It has also brought Preferred Sources into AI Overviews and AI Mode, so users can choose to see their favourite sites more prominently. Ask your newsletter readers to pick you.

Finally, Google is testing a new Search Console switch that lets site owners choose whether their site appears in, and is used to supply facts for, AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI Overviews in Discover. Google links this to its work with the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Most brands will want to be in. Make it a decision, not an accident. This is a summary, not legal advice.

What to do on Monday

Ask your developer to check robots.txt. Check whether your shop platform already feeds ChatGPT, and apply if it does not. List your 20 buyer questions and see which ones you have no page for.

If you want this run for you, Ziild CMO does this kind of work from one chat; across a recipe network it logged 210,000+ Google AI-answer impressions in three months. You can book 15 minutes at https://ziild.co.uk/book.

Questions people ask

Is generative engine optimization different from SEO?

Mostly not. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimisations to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page needs to be indexed and able to show with a snippet. The difference is in writing answer-first pages for the follow-up questions AI searches break a query into.

Should I block AI crawlers?

If you block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, OpenAI says your site cannot be summarised and cited in ChatGPT search. Google is also testing a Search Console switch to opt in or out of its AI features. Decide deliberately. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT product results?

No. OpenAI says product results are chosen independently and are not ads. It weighs price, reviews and the user's context, so accurate product data and genuine reviews matter.

Does ChatGPT shopping work for UK brands?

We could not confirm UK availability of ChatGPT shopping and Instant Checkout at the time of writing. OpenAI's merchant page says Shopify and Etsy sellers need no setup and others can apply with a product feed, joining a waitlist. Check the page for the current position.

Sources

Written by the Ziild machine from the sources above and approved by Pasi before publishing. Spotted an error? pasi@ziild.co.uk