One of the main differences that’s often drawn between search engine optimization and pay-per-click is that there are industries that cannot advertise through PPC models.

Just a few of these are sellers of tobacco and alcohol, THC and CBD product resellers, retailers of adult products, and anything that Google considers a “weapon,” which includes guns, gun parts, knives, swords, and replicas.

It is quite a burden on these businesses as they cannot pay to advertise. This leaves them with only SEO as a viable avenue for organic search engine marketing.

At the end of the day that’s not a big deal considering the fact that SEO tends to return far more than even the best-run PPC models, but it does entail a lot of work up-front and plenty of on-going work.

The same thing looks like it’s happening now with AI systems, specifically with ChatGPT. Herein lies the main limit of eCommerce AI optimization services.

What’s the Problem with eCommerce AI Optimization Services?

The problem is not necessarily with eCommerce AI optimization services themselves, but with the AI platforms themselves.

The thing is, recently, AI-powered models like ChatGPT have started censoring themselves in a bad way, worse even than it appears Google ever did.

It wasn’t always this way but for some reason or another ChatGPT is getting very badly neutered.

Take this for instance: while Google censors its advertising partners, it doesn’t seem to do that with the organic search results.

You can ask Google for gun parts and it will not only furnish you with good information but it will also offer you a bunch of venues where you can get the parts you’re looking for.

ChatGPT isn’t just unhelpful, it flat out refuses answers to questions like that. Not only will it not offer you eCommerce merchants, it won’t even answer basic questions about gun parts.

Which is not helpful, considering the economic value associated with that search term, along with the sheer volume of people looking for information in that vertical. Now keep in mind this is not a problem of generative AI; if you try to use ChatGPT as a search engine, there are some questions it will not answer.

Needless to say it will likely not go well for ChatGPT if it continues down that route. You can fool some of the people some of the time but fooling all of the people all of the time is a tough ticket. AI driven models are not going to get used if they don’t answer the questions they are asked.

The bottom line is if ChatGPT doubles down on censorship and other AI models follow suit,  usership numbers are going to drop even if they do remain relatively strong.

Once again, Google reigns supreme.

How They Work

That being the case, the good news is you can invest in eCommerce AI optimization services and SEO in one fell swoop.

The former is all about good content, because that’s what you need to get seen in AI models. The latter is mostly about content with a little technical stuff mixed in.

Honestly, you could invest in either. A good SEO campaign that leans on content will get you more visibility in AI engines, and eCommerce AI optimization services, since they must also necessarily rely on content, will effectively guarantee an increase in performance in search engines.

Of course this only paints a very high level picture, but the takeaway is that there is an enormous amount of crossover between what makes SEO and AI SEO work, and investing in one will have positive impacts on the other.

Get Started Today

Thinking it’s about time for you to invest in eCommerce AI optimization services, or just in traditional SEO, so you can build new traffic and capture new leads in 2026? Get started with a provider that specializes in your industry - that’s the best bet that you’ll be getting good content in the mix which will have the greatest impact on either type of campaign, regardless of your goals.

For more information about Bigcommerce Partner and Shopify SEO Company Please visit: 1Digital Agency.