Google AI Mode linked only to Google in nearly half of US product answers. Here's what CPG brands should fix in their Shopping feed

Search Engine Land reported on October 29 that Findrix measured 55,198 AI answers to 18,400 U.S. buyer questions. In product answers, Google’s AI Mode linked only to Google’s own pages 46.5% of the time, and 57% of the links in those answers pointed at Google Shopping product pages. ChatGPT and Gemini did not behave the same way. For a CPG brand in beauty, sun care or apparel, the Shopping listing behind Merchant Center is often the answer itself.

Here’s the category data, how the three engines differ, what Amazon’s new Shop Direct portal adds this week, and a feed checklist you can run before Black Friday traffic peaks.

What did Findrix find about Google AI Mode product answers?#

Findrix asked about 526 buyer questions per market across 35 U.S. markets from October 14 to 17, 2026. Each question went once to ChatGPT, once to Gemini and once to Google AI Mode. The study counts links shown in answers, not clicks or purchases. Treat the category figures as a four-day snapshot.

The Google-only pattern was strongest in fashion and beauty:

Swimwear answers stayed on Google in 60.4% of cases. Women’s everyday fashion hit 57%, sun care 54.1% and activewear 53.8%. Sports nutrition was the exception at 7.6%. Local services and software looked nothing like retail: 5.1% of AI Mode links for plumbers, lawyers and dentists went to Google pages, and 1.1% for software questions.

Findrix co-founder Yosif Merman told Search Engine Land the split tracks Google’s product database. When price, ratings and inventory already sit inside Google, AI Mode can build an answer with fewer outside links. That is exactly where packaged goods live. Your website may never appear. Your feed almost certainly will.

How do ChatGPT and Gemini link differently?#

ChatGPT put about 25 links in a typical answer, against about three for AI Mode. In product answers it linked to Walmart in 45.1% of cases and Amazon in 6.1%. It cited Reddit in 35.6% of all U.S. answers, versus 5.1% for AI Mode and 1.5% for Gemini. None of Gemini’s measured links went to google.com.

Findrix Radar’s U.S. citation list for ChatGPT reads like a beauty aisle. Across the 35 markets, ulta.com led with 15,397 citations (3.3% of ChatGPT’s U.S. citations, in only 6 of 35 markets). Reddit followed at 14,013 (every market). Then walmart.com (9,921), sephora.com (5,920), nih.gov (5,215), google.com (4,820), nordstrom.com (4,614) and target.com (4,433). For beauty and personal care, the retailer PDP and the Reddit thread are often the pages ChatGPT reads before it names you.

Source concentration tells the same story another way. On AI Mode, half of all citations sat on 53 domains, and the single top domain held 29.5%. ChatGPT needed 324 of 52,463 domains to reach half. Gemini needed 326 of 10,907. Findrix’s rule of thumb fits: the steeper the curve, the shorter the list you have to be on. On AI Mode that list is short and mostly Google. On ChatGPT it is long, and your brand site is one small source among hundreds.

Openness by category also differs. On ChatGPT, Findrix Radar’s top-five share of mentions was 14% in haircare (most open of the 35 markets on that table), 23% in sun care, 24% in sports nutrition, facial skincare and makeup, 30% in oral care and 35% in pet food. A challenger brand in haircare has more room to be named than one in pet food. These shares are ChatGPT only; AI Mode’s brand mix likely follows Shopping listings more closely, but Findrix did not publish that split.

Why does Amazon’s Shop Direct portal matter this week too?#

On November 4 Amazon launched the Shop Direct Merchant Workspace, a free self-service portal for eligible merchants who do not sell the item in Amazon’s own store. Merchants create an account, verify their website and share a catalog through providers such as Feedonomics, Salsify, CEDCommerce and VersaFeed, or through the Selling Partner API. Selection can show in Amazon search and in Alexa for Shopping. Shoppers tap through to the merchant site, or use Buy for Me when the product is eligible. There are no fees, merchants choose which items to include, and they can opt out.

Amazon said tens of millions of customers have already discovered hundreds of millions of unique products from other stores through Shop Direct, and that those products appear in hundreds of millions of searches monthly. Amanda Doerr, vice president of Core Shopping, framed the goal as making Amazon and Alexa the start of any shopping journey, whether the item is in Amazon’s store or elsewhere on the web.

That is the same structural bet Google is making with AI Mode and Merchant Center: the feed is the front door. A CPG brand that sells DTC or only through other retailers now has two self-serve feed paths into agentic discovery. Dirty titles, missing GTINs, stale availability or mismatched claims will show up in both.

What should a CPG brand fix in its Shopping feed this week?#

Score yourself against the work that actually shows up in AI Mode and Alexa answers. We would start with Merchant Center, then mirror the same fields into any Shop Direct catalog you turn on.

Google’s Merchant Center help lists six optional conversational attributes meant for AI Mode and similar surfaces: question_and_answer, document_link, related_product, item_group_title, variant_option and popularity_rank. They sit on top of the primary feed. If you already put the same facts in description, product_highlight or product_detail, do not duplicate them. For CPG, the useful ones are usually Q&A on allergens and usage, PDF manuals or ingredient sheets, and clear variant options (scent, size, pack count).

Our take#

AI Mode is not a referral channel you measure the old way. Nearly half the time a U.S. product answer never leaves Google, and most of those links are Shopping pages. ChatGPT still leans on Ulta, Reddit, Walmart and Sephora. Amazon just made the off-Amazon catalog path self-serve for Alexa. The common job is feed hygiene, not another homepage rewrite. For terms, see GEO, AEO and Google AI Mode in our glossary.

Want to know which of your SKUs AI Mode and ChatGPT name, and whether the facts they show match your feed? Run a free audit or book a demo. Or see how SearchPanel scores AI visibility per product.