What does WRKNG Digital do?

WRKNG Digital helps Shopify store owners optimize for AI-powered product discovery. We build the structured data, content strategy, and product feed optimizations that get your store recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.

Who is WRKNG Digital for?

Shopify store owners and DTC brand operators doing $500K to $10M+ in annual revenue who want to understand how AI is reshaping product discovery — and what to actually do about it.

What is the Free AI Commerce Audit?

A free tool that scores your Shopify store for AI discoverability across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Copilot, and Perplexity. Identifies gaps in structured data, product feeds, and content extractability. Results delivered in 24 hours.

How does AI change product discovery for Shopify stores?

AI shopping assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity now recommend products directly in conversation — without sending users to a search results page. Stores that aren't optimized for AI extraction are invisible to these systems, regardless of their Google SEO.

How do Conversational Attributes affect Google AI Mode results?

Google AI Mode uses a query fan-out process, it expands a single buyer question into multiple sub-queries to find the best product match. Conversational Attributes give the AI specific natural-language context about your product. Better context means stronger matching to those sub-queries, which means your product shows up in more AI Mode results.

Do Shopify stores automatically get Conversational Attributes in Google Merchant Center?

The Conversational Attributes field is available in Merchant Center but you have to fill it in manually. Shopify's Google channel app syncs standard product data automatically, but conversational descriptions aren't pulled from your Shopify product page. You write them directly in Merchant Center for each product.

What's Ask Advisor in Google Merchant Center?

Ask Advisor is a new AI-powered tool in Google Merchant Center, also launched in May 2026, that lets you ask natural-language questions about your product listings. You can ask 'Which products have missing GTINs?' or 'What's affecting my AI Mode visibility?' and get specific answers without running manual reports.

What's the difference between standard product description and Conversational Attributes?

Standard product descriptions are written for human readers on product pages and optimized for text search keywords. Conversational Attributes are written for AI systems to answer shopper questions in a chat interface. They should be plain, specific, and answer natural-language queries directly, not keyword-stuffed or SEO-formatted.

Google Merchant Center Added Conversational Attributes. Most Shopify Stores Haven't Used Them.

By Steve Merrill | May 24, 2026

Google Merchant Center rolled out two new tools in May 2026 that most Shopify stores haven't touched yet: Conversational Attributes and Ask Advisor. Both are designed specifically for how AI Mode and Gemini surface products in chat-based search results. Both are free. Most stores are missing both.

Here's what they are and why they matter for your product data strategy right now.

What Are Conversational Attributes in Google Merchant Center?

Conversational Attributes are a separate product description field in Merchant Center that you write specifically for AI assistants. Your regular product description is built for human readers on a product page. This field is written for how people talk to Google AI Mode when they're shopping conversationally.

The difference matters. When someone searches "best waterproof jacket under $200," Google returns keyword-matched results. When someone asks Google AI Mode "I need a jacket for hiking in the rain that packs small enough for my daypack, what should I look at?", that's a conversational query. AI Mode does a query fan-out process, expanding that single question into multiple sub-queries to find the best matching products.

Conversational Attributes feed that process. A product with a well-written conversational description, "Designed for day hikers who want waterproof protection that packs down to the size of a water bottle, suitable for use in 30-55 degree weather", matches far more of those sub-queries than a title-keyword description.

Why Do Standard Product Descriptions Fall Short for AI Mode?

Standard product descriptions are written for two audiences: human readers and text-based search crawlers. They're optimized for keywords and scannable formatting.

AI Mode doesn't work that way. It's looking for semantic meaning, what the product actually does, who uses it, and when it's the right answer. That requires plain-language specificity, not keyword density.

A product description written for Google Shopping text ads in 2020 will not serve you well in 2026's AI Mode. The content that worked for "waterproof jacket Shopify" as a keyword query is a different thing entirely from what matches "I'm planning a fall camping trip in the Pacific Northwest, what jacket do I need?"

The May 2026 Merchant Center update gives you a dedicated field to write for that second question. Most stores haven't filled it in.

How Do You Write a Good Conversational Attribute?

Think about the question a buyer would ask an AI assistant, then write the description that answers it. A few frameworks:

For outdoor/apparel products: Who is it for, what activity, what conditions, what size/fit context, any key spec that determines fit for purpose.

For home/kitchen products: What problem it solves, who has that problem, how it compares to the manual alternative, how long it takes to work.

For personal care/health products: What it treats or addresses, skin/body type it's designed for, when in a routine to use it, how long before you see results.

Two to four sentences per product. No bullet points, no keyword stuffing. Write it like you're explaining the product to a friend who just asked for a recommendation.

What Is Ask Advisor and How Does It Help Shopify Stores?

Ask Advisor is a natural-language query tool inside Merchant Center, also live as of May 2026. You can ask it direct questions about your product listings and get specific answers.

Useful queries to run immediately:

"Which products have missing GTINs?", GTINs are required for AI shopping indexing on both Google and Perplexity.
"What products have incomplete attributes?", Shows you exactly where your feed has gaps.
"Which products aren't showing in AI Mode results?", Directly surfaces your AI visibility gaps.
"What's my brand's performance on AI surfaces this month?", Tracks whether your AI Mode appearance is growing or flat.

This replaces a manual reporting process that used to take hours. A store with 500+ SKUs can now find feed issues in minutes and focus on which products to fix first.

What Should You Do This Week?

Two concrete moves. First, log into Merchant Center and check if Conversational Attributes is available for your account. If yes, write conversational descriptions for your top 30 revenue SKUs. Focus on specificity, who uses this, when, and why it's the right choice over alternatives.

Second, try Ask Advisor on a few diagnostic questions. Find your GTIN gaps. Find products with incomplete attributes. Those fixes improve performance across Google Shopping, AI Mode, and Gemini simultaneously.

The stores doing this work right now are building an AI data advantage before BFCM. The ones waiting will pay more to acquire the same buyers later, or miss them entirely.

Ready to see how your store's AI readiness compares? Check Your Store's AI Readiness →