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Product feed
Also known as: Merchant feed · Catalog feed
A structured export of product data (title, price, availability, attributes, images) that a merchant submits to an agent surface for indexing. Base-layer infrastructure for AI Search Visibility.
A product feed is the machine-readable file (usually XML or JSON) that a merchant submits to an agent surface - ChatGPT Merchant Center, Bing Shopping, Google Merchant Center, Amazon Marketplace listings, etc. - to make products discoverable.
Feed quality is a load-bearing signal. Rich, complete, fresh feeds outrank sparse, stale ones. Key attributes: stable product ID (GTIN preferred), complete title + brand + category, all applicable structured attributes, current price + availability + shipping data.
Refresh cadence matters. Daily is table stakes. Hourly is better. Real-time webhooks are the gold standard for high-velocity categories (fashion, seasonal, promotional).
For merchants on Shopify, product feeds to Google + Bing + ChatGPT are largely automated. Custom stacks need explicit feed generation and submission. In both cases, feed hygiene should be part of the ongoing operational rhythm.
See also
Agent-ready product data
Product data structured, complete, and machine-readable enough that an AI agent can confidently discover, compare, and transact it.
ChatGPT Merchant Center
OpenAI's product-feed submission channel - the direct path for brands to submit product catalogs to ChatGPT's shopping subsystem.
Canonicalization
The process by which an AI agent decides which brand's version of a product is the 'canonical' one to recommend when multiple brands sell similar SKUs. Built over time via content depth + review + external authority.
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