Product pages rarely make it into AI answers. In a test across 14 pre-purchase questions about electronics — where to buy an original iPhone with a warranty, where to pick up a MacBook today, where instalments are offered — AI assistants returned 243 links to retailer pages. Ten pointed to a product page. The rest went to catalogue sections and terms pages.
What it means for SEO
Spending on product-page optimisation for AI answers puts resources in the wrong place. A product page gets cited when the shopper is after one model or same-day stock. Otherwise the engine picks the page that answers the question whole: ask about iPhones and it links the iPhone catalogue section, ask about instalments and it links the instalments page.
The logic is simple. The answer engine wants one source that closes the question in a single click. A product page handles a narrow query — specs, price, reviews. The question of where to buy an original iPhone with a warranty is wider. It needs warranty terms, a model list, maybe a comparison. A catalogue section or terms page delivers that at once. Start with the catalogue sections, and treat the terms pages — instalments, warranty, returns, pickup — as sources engines quote readily. Product pages come later, when the shopper has already chosen and is checking stock.
