Three Mistakes Brands Make In The Age Of AI Driven E-Commerce

Large language models increasingly determine what shoppers see, unbundling the traditional role of the homepage and replacing search engine optimization with generative engine optimization. Producing large volumes of machine-like filler content can degrade performance because models suppress pages that read as AI-generated slop. Success depends on providing novel, unique, authentic content that models reward, and then measuring visibility and conversion from LLM-driven traffic. Shopping interfaces are shifting toward conversation, with shoppers already using AI tools to decide purchases. Adding a chatbot that mimics general-purpose assistants often creates friction, especially when users must summon it, and bolt-on bots can be less accurate than helpful.

"The webpage is being unbundled. For decades your homepage was the front door, and brands worshipped Google to be found. Now large language models decide what gets recommended, and a new discipline, generative engine optimization, is replacing search engine optimization. I have argued that Amazon's homepage is dying and that retail is being unbundled the way media was a decade ago."

"They assume that because more pages once won at SEO, more AI-generated content will win at GEO. The opposite is true. AI trained on AI degrades, and model providers actively suppress pages that read like machine-generated filler. Pumping out slop is the fastest way to become invisible to the very engines you are chasing."

"The fix is to give models what they actually reward: novel, unique and authentic content. That is exactly why large language models lean so heavily on sources like Reddit and LinkedIn when they train. Then measure how you show up. I recently interviewed Alex Dees, the founder of Meridian, on this very topic, and I built my own monitoring engine, QueryEdge. The payoff is real. In my research, traffic that arrives from LLMs converts up to nine times better than ordinary channels."

"Shoppers already use ChatGPT and Claude to decide what to buy, and I have shown how I bought coffee without ever touching a browser. So brands rush to add a chat box. They try to mimic ChatGPT, and they fail. We saw the same pattern in the early days of Google, when every site tried to build search as good as Google's and could not."

Read at Forbes