> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://apidocs.writesonic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Overview Shopping shows how AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews recommend your products, and where they send shoppers to buy them. When someone asks an AI platform for product recommendations, the answer may show products with prices and buy links. Shopping tracks both the brands being recommended and the merchants receiving those buy links. Writesonic Shopping covers both brands and merchants: * **For brands:** How often your products are recommended, how high they rank, and how many buy links go to your own website instead of retailers. * **For merchants:** How often AI platforms send shoppers to you, where you rank among the buy options, which competing merchants link to the same products as you, and which product categories you cover. If you're both a brand and a merchant, you can track both. ## Navigating Shopping Go to **Shopping > Overview** to access three views: * **Brand:** See how your products perform against competing brands. * **Merchants:** See which retailers AI platforms recommend as places to buy, including your own store. * **Competitors:** Compare your shopping performance with competing brands across product categories. ![Screenshot 2026 11 04 At 1 33 08 AM](https://mintcdn.com/writesonic/C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9/images/Screenshot-2026-11-04-at-1.33.08-AM.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9\&q=85\&s=51264de9536938671f50b42658ada40e) Two additional pages provide more detailed data: * **All products:** View every product mentioned in AI-generated shopping answers, including your products and competitors' products. * **All merchants:** View every merchant AI platforms link to as a place to buy. Click an individual product or merchant to explore its performance in more detail. You can also upload your product catalog to track the specific products you sell, including those AI platforms haven't recommended yet. ## Key terms and metrics An answer is in **shopping mode** when it displays product recommendations with prices and buy links. A **buy link** takes shoppers to a page where they can purchase a product. The website behind that link is the **merchant**. A brand can also be its own merchant. ### How AI platforms display shopping results | AI platform | Products | Buy links | | :- | :- | :- | | ChatGPT | Product cards with images and prices | A buy options panel showing merchants for each product | | Google AI Overviews | Product names displayed in a list | Selecting a product opens a store panel with available merchants | Writesonic uses consistent metric definitions across both platforms. ### Shopping metrics | Metric | What it measures | How it's calculated | | :- | :- | :- | | **Shopping mode rate** | How often AI answers display shopping results | Answers in shopping mode ÷ all answers × 100 | | **Mention** | Each appearance of a product in a shopping answer | Counted per product. One answer can contain multiple mentions | | **Shopping visibility** | How often your brand appears in shopping answers | Answers showing your brand ÷ all shopping-mode answers × 100 | | **Shopping share of voice** | Your share of product mentions compared with tracked competitors | Your product mentions ÷ all tracked brands' product mentions × 100 | | **Shopping rank** | Your products' average position in shopping results | Average position of your highest-ranked product across answers where you appear | | **Direct buy link %** | Share of buy links for your products that lead to your website | Buy links to your website ÷ all buy links for your products × 100 | | **Buy link %** | A brand or merchant's share of buy links | Buy links attributed to the brand or merchant ÷ all buy links × 100 | | **Buy links** | Number of unique product buy links from a merchant | Counted across shopping-mode answers | | **Avg. merchant rank** | A merchant's average position among buying options | Average position of the merchant in product buy options | | **Co-occurrence** | How often a competitor appears alongside your brand | Answers mentioning both brands ÷ answers mentioning your brand × 100 | **Note:** Shopping visibility counts your brand once per answer, even when several of your products appear. For Shopping rank and Avg. merchant rank, a lower value indicates a better position. **Direct buy link % vs. Buy link %:** Direct buy link % measures how many buy links for your products point to your own website. Buy link % measures a merchant's share of buy links across products, including competitors' products. ## Brand view The **Brand** view shows how your products perform in AI-generated shopping answers compared with competing brands. Go to **Shopping > Overview** and select **Brand**. At the top, you'll see five performance metrics: * Shopping visibility * Shopping mode rate * Shopping share of voice * Direct buy link % * Shopping rank Each metric shows its change from the previous reporting period. ![Screenshot 2026 11 04 At 1 47 17 AM](https://mintcdn.com/writesonic/C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9/images/Screenshot-2026-11-04-at-1.47.17-AM.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9\&q=85\&s=be4529bdb73720399e6d3f7516b9fa93) Below the summary metrics, you'll find: * **Trend chart:** Track shopping metrics over time and compare them with competitors. * **Leaderboard:** Compare brands using Shopping visibility and Direct buy link %. * **Shopping mode by platform:** See how frequently each AI platform displays shopping results for your tracked prompts. * **Top 10 products:** View products ranked by shopping visibility. Switch between **Top**, **Bottom**, **Rising**, and **Falling** to identify products that need attention. * **Categories:** Analyze your performance across product categories, such as running shoes or athleisure. Use the filters at the top to narrow results by market, topic, product, product category, platform, or prompt type. ## Merchants view The **Merchants** view shows where AI platforms direct shoppers to buy products, from your own website to third-party retailers. Go to **Shopping > Overview** and select **Merchants**. This view helps you understand: * **As a brand:** Which retailers receive buy links for your products instead of your website. * **As a retailer:** How often AI platforms direct shoppers to your store compared with competing merchants. At the top, you'll see your **Buy link %**, **Avg. merchant rank**, and best- and worst-performing merchants. ![Screenshot 2026 11 04 At 1 34 51 AM](https://mintcdn.com/writesonic/C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9/images/Screenshot-2026-11-04-at-1.34.51-AM.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9\&q=85\&s=aff4f3f5ce3dc6a83d1f67d5013dd7a9) Below the summary metrics, you'll find: * **Merchant buy link % trend:** Compare your share of buy links with competing merchants over time. * **Leaderboard:** Compare merchants using Buy link %, Avg. merchant rank, and product coverage. * **Buy link % by category:** See how merchants perform across product categories. Green indicates the category leader, while red indicates the weakest performer. * **Top merchant buy links:** Identify the strongest and weakest buy links. Switch to **Rising** or **Falling** to see how performance is changing. Writesonic identifies competing merchants automatically from buy links in AI-generated answers. You don't need to add them manually. Competing brands, however, are based on the competitors configured in your Writesonic project. For a detailed breakdown, see [All Merchants](https://apidocs.writesonic.com/docs/shopping-all-merchants). ## Competitors view The **Competitors** view shows how your brand compares with competing brands in AI-generated shopping answers. Go to **Shopping > Overview** and select **Competitors**. ![Screenshot 2026 11 04 At 1 36 02 AM](https://mintcdn.com/writesonic/C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9/images/Screenshot-2026-11-04-at-1.36.02-AM.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=C1oYwia6Ur1ALDp9\&q=85\&s=948ac79d71812521dd0e61e192f3d40a) You'll find: * **Strongest and weakest competitor:** Identify brands leading or trailing in shopping visibility and buy link share. * **Share of voice:** Compare your share of product mentions with competitors. * **First-rank win rate:** See how often each brand is recommended first. * **Competitor co-occurrence:** See how frequently competitors appear in the same answers as your brand. * **Competitor leaderboard:** Compare brands using share of voice, buy links, and co-occurrence. * **Shopping visibility by category:** Compare performance across product categories. Green indicates the category leader, while red indicates the weakest performer. ## Add your product catalog Uploading your product catalog helps Writesonic identify the products you sell and measure their visibility in AI-generated shopping answers. Without a catalog, Shopping can report on products already appearing in AI answers. With a catalog, you can also identify products that haven't been mentioned. Go to **Shopping > Overview** and find **Add your products**. ![Image](https://mintcdn.com/writesonic/ADNbsY026aUpR6G3/images/image-23.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ADNbsY026aUpR6G3\&q=85\&s=3a61f6ff9518e573323787ad02aee7bd) You can add products using one of two methods. ### Option 1: Connect your Shopify storefront If you sell through Shopify, Writesonic can import your products, prices, and stock information through a one-time sync. 1. Under **Connect your storefront**, enter your Shopify store URL, such as `yourstore.myshopify.com`. 2. If your project already has a website configured, the URL may be filled in automatically. 3. Click **Connect**. **Note:** Changes to products, prices, or stock made in Shopify after the initial import won't automatically update in Writesonic. ### Option 2: Upload a CSV Use this option if you don't use Shopify or want to choose which products to track. 1. Under **Upload products**, click **Download template** to get a CSV template in Google Merchant Center format. 2. Fill in the template with your products, or use an existing Google Merchant Center feed. 3. Click **Upload products**. 4. Drag and drop your files or select **Browse files**. 5. Click **Upload**. You can upload multiple files, up to 50 MB each. ### What happens next Processing your products can take up to an hour. You can leave the page while Writesonic processes your catalog. You'll receive a notification when your products are ready. Once your products are added, you can identify: * Products appearing in AI-generated answers to your tracked prompts. * Products covered by your tracked prompts but not appearing in AI answers. * Products that aren't covered by any tracked prompts. For products without prompt coverage, consider adding prompts related to their categories or use cases. You can explore your complete product list under [All Products](https://apidocs.writesonic.com/docs/shopping-all-products.md). ## Frequently asked questions ### Do I need to upload a catalog to use Shopping? No. Shopping works with products already appearing in AI-generated answers. Uploading a catalog also lets you identify products that haven't been mentioned yet. ### Does Writesonic automatically sync changes from Shopify? No. Connecting Shopify performs a one-time import. Subsequent changes to products, prices, or stock aren't automatically reflected in Writesonic. ### What CSV format should I use? Use Google Merchant Center format. You can download the template from **Upload products** to see the required columns. ### Do I need to add competing merchants manually? No. Writesonic identifies competing merchants automatically from buy links in AI-generated answers. ### Why don't I see shopping results for every prompt? AI platforms don't display shopping results for every question. Product recommendations with buy links are more common for prompts with purchasing intent. Check **Shopping mode rate** to see how frequently shopping results appear across your tracked prompts. ### Which AI platforms does Shopping track? Shopping tracks supported AI platforms that display product recommendations and buy links, including ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. *** This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.