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🤖 Free Research Report July 2026 · London

Understanding
AI Search
Free Research Report

Based on manual analysis of over 10,000 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity – this is the most comprehensive primary research on AI search behaviour in ecommerce published to date.

– 10,000+ prompts manually analysed

– 4 ecommerce niches tested 

– Signed-in and logged-out accounts compared
Platforms researched
🤖 ChatGPT 💦 Gemini 🔍 Perplexity

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10,000+
Prompts manually analysed across 3 AI platforms
95%
More likely to appear
in AI if ranking positions 1-3 on Google
4
Ecommerce niches tested with signed-in
and logged-out accounts

ABOUT THIS REPORT

The most pressing question in Ecommerce right now answered.

How do AI search engines decide which ecommerce stores and which products to recommend? This is the question every Ecommerce Manager is asking in 2026 – and until now, nobody had answered it with real primary research.

Search Magic spent months manually analysing more than 10,000 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, across 4 ecommerce niches, testing real buyers’ journeys , both signed-in and logged-out accounts to isolate the effect of personalisation.

95%
Products ranking in positions 1-3 of Google's organic results are 95% more likely to appear in AI search engine answers
90%
Products appearing in Google's Product Listings are 90% more likely to be surfaced by AI search engines
SEO is not dead
Classic SEO is not being replaced by AI search - it is becoming the ticket into it. The Google ecosystem is the gateway.

KEY FINDINGS

What we discovered after testing 10,000 prompts.

🌎 95%
Google Rankings Are the Gateway to AI Search
Products ranking in positions 1-3 of Google's organic results are 95% more likely to appear in AI search answers. AI engines are not discovering products independently — they lean heavily on the existing Google ecosystem.
📌 Never
Category Pages Almost Never Appear in AI Answers
Category pages - the backbone of traditional ecommerce SEO - almost never appeared in AI engine answers. Instead, AI engines surface product pages, About Us pages, and articles or FAQs that provide short, targeted answers.
🎯 Dual
A Dual Strategy Is Now Essential
The exact same prompt can return a list of ecommerce stores, a list of products, or a combination of both. Brands need to build visibility for the brand itself and for individual products in parallel.
⭐ Critical
Trust Signals Determine Who Gets Recommended
Mentions on Reddit, Wikipedia and trustworthy news sites, Google and on-site reviews, and presence in third-party listicle articles are the key trust signals that determine which stores AI engines recommend.
💬 Decisive
Reviews and Purchase Information Are Decisive
Visible reviews and clear purchase information proved decisive. Even for prompts written in Greek with explicit local buying intent, AI engines recommended international platforms with thousands of reviews.
👤 Isolated
Personalisation Effect Isolated for the First Time
By testing both signed-in and logged-out accounts across all three AI platforms, the research isolated the specific effect personalisation has on AI search results - a finding with major implications for SEO strategy.

What's Inside

  • ✓
    How ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity each decide which products to recommend - and where they differ
  • ✓
    The exact relationship between Google rankings and AI search visibility, with data
  • ✓
    Which page types appear in AI answers - and which never do
  • ✓
    The trust signals that determine which brands get recommended by AI engines
  • ✓
    The role of review volume and visibility as an AI ranking signal
  • ✓
    How personalisation affects AI search results - and what this means for your strategy
  • ✓
    Actionable recommendations for ecommerce managers to act on immediately
Platforms researched
🤖 ChatGPT 💦 Gemini 🔍 Perplexity

THE RESEARCH

Primary Research. Real Data. No Assumptions.

This report is based on extensive primary research conducted by the Search Magic team – not surveys, not secondary analysis, not assumptions.

📋 10,000+
Prompts analysed
Manually crafted and tested, not automated
🌏 3
AI platforms
ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
🚩 4
Ecommerce niches
Tested across distinct product categories
👤 2x
Account conditions
Signed-in and logged-out tested separately

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Just the most comprehensive research on AI search behaviour                                             in ecommerce published to date.

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