Back when we chatted with Heather Earl, E-commerce Manager at Nutrition Warehouse, she dropped a golden nugget that had the whole Add To Cart community buzzing. While most retailers are still wondering how to “show up” in ChatGPT or Perplexity, Heather’s already doing it -and seeing results.
Instead of chasing SEO hacks, she’s using Shopify’s Knowledge Base to train the machine. That means teaching large language models (LLMs) exactly how to understand her store, from product details to reviews and policies, so when customers ask “where can I find this near me?”, Nutrition Warehouse appears as the answer.
And it’s working.
Since rolling out this setup, Heather’s seen a 300% increase in ChatGPT-driven traffic. It’s early days, but this shift from keyword stuffing to AI comprehension is the kind of forward thinking that sets the next generation of ecommerce leaders apart.
“We didn’t chase SEO hacks. We focused on training the machine.”
Heather explains that Shopify’s Knowledge Base lets retailers define structured data, telling AI models what’s a product, what’s a review, what’s a policy, and what’s important to show customers. It’s a foundation move: not glamorous, not noisy, but game-changing.
By setting up clear, structured information for AI to crawl, Nutrition Warehouse is ensuring that their products (and not someone else’s) get recommended when customers use chat-based searches. It’s the new frontier of visibility.
Data Integrity Comes First
It’s simple: what Heather’s really doing here is building trust through data.
Before you can optimise anything, you need to trust your product data. If the machine can’t understand your product, it can’t recommend it.
It’s an idea that echoes Abel Butler’s approach at HealthPost, where product data is treated as a compliance gateway: suppliers can’t make the range unless they can provide transparent, detailed data. Beyond helping customers shop ethically, it’s also quietly preparing HealthPost to win in AI-driven discovery.Clean data builds trust. Structured data builds access.
Together, they form your AI infrastructure, the new SEO.
Don’t Abandon SEO. Build on It
But here’s the trick. AI discovery doesn’t replace search; it extends it.
SEO legend Harry Sanders from StudioHawk reminds us that everything still starts with structure. The same crawlable, well-organised site that ranks well on Google is also what AI models rely on to interpret your content.
Run your audits. De-index the junk. Make sure your sitemap actually makes sense to a machine. Then go test it: search your own brand and products across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity. See if you show up. If you don’t, your structure probably needs a refresh.
Heather’s work builds on these same principles. She’s not reinventing SEO, but she’s reinforcing it for the next wave.
The Future of AI Discovery
Heather’s approach proves that ecommerce success in the AI era isn’t about chasing algorithms. It’s about clarity, structure, and access.When the machines understand you, they recommend you.
And that’s what makes Nutrition Warehouse built for life – and built for AI.
In this Playbook:
- How Shopify’s Knowledge Base can train AI models to understand your store
- Why structured, transparent product data is your new growth engine
- The lessons from HealthPost, she wear, and StudioHawk on building AI-ready systems
- How to make your brand discoverable across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini
- Why clean data, structure, and speed matter more than hacks
🎧 Listen to the full Playbook with Heather Earl from Nutrition Warehouse, now on Add To Cart.
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