When AI Becomes the Ultimate Shopping Assistant

Imagine asking an AI, “Find me a sunscreen for oily skin under $50” – in 2025, such conversational searches happen over 80 million times daily on platforms like DeepSeek and Doubao. A Boston Consulting Group survey reveals a striking trend: 28% of Chinese consumers now rely on AI recommendations for cosmetics, with this number soaring to 47% among Gen Z.

The GSO Paradigm: From Search Engine Optimization to Answer Generation

Traditional SEO focused on keyword rankings. Generative Search Optimization (GSO) represents a radical shift – making brand content the default answer in AI-generated responses.

Key Algorithmic Preferences

Research from Chinese AI giant Mingxi Technology highlights three critical factors that influence AI content selection:

• Authoritative Sources: Content referencing national statistics or industry reports sees a 62% higher citation rate.
• Contextual Relevance: Descriptions with specific tags like “Must-Have for New Moms” or “Camping Essential” boost click-through rates by 300%.
• Multimodal Content: Combining images, videos, and data visualizations increases AI reference probability by 40%.

A prime example is the beauty brand Huaxizi. By transforming product manuals into 500 scenario-based Q&As and embedding user review videos, they increased their AI search exposure by 320% in just three months.

Three Major Trends in China’s 2025 GSO Landscape

1. Platform Wars: AI Search Positioning by Tech Giants

• Baidu Ecosystem: Wenxin Yiyan + DeepSeek covers 120 million business users, with Baidu’s content receiving a 78% priority in AI answers.
• Tencent Ecosystem: WeChat’s embedded Yuanbao AI boosts service account FAQ document engagement by 65%.
• ByteDance Ecosystem: Douyin’s Doubao AI enables real-time video content analysis. Clothing brand UR reduced customer acquisition costs by 42% by embedding product specifications.

2. Content Infrastructure Revolution: From Keyword Databases to Knowledge Graphs

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology recommends a three-tier content structure:

• Foundation Layer: Technical product specifications
• Scenario Layer: User decision-making tags
• Cognitive Layer: Industry knowledge integration

Haier’s approach is noteworthy: They developed a semantic library with 2,000 home appliance usage scenarios, increasing their dehumidifier recommendations in AI responses from 17% to 53%.

3. The Hidden Tech Battle: Large Model Training Data Competition

Top AI platforms refresh their data source whitelist quarterly. Q1 2025’s top three content types:

• National Quality Inspection Center Reports (38% weight)
• Highly-upvoted Zhihu long-form articles (29%)
• Douyin videos with million-view captions (21%)

Practical GSO Strategy: A Five-Step Guide for Brands

1, Structured Knowledge

• Deconstruct product manuals into Q&A formats
• Example: Babycare’s “Parenting Survival Guide for 0-3 Years”

2, Scenario Granularization

• Generate 500+ long-tail questions
• Use AI content analysis tools to match user intent

3, Trust Signaling

• Embed third-party certification data
• Certified content sees a 55% higher AI citation rate

4, Multimodal Penetration

• Add AI-readable subtitles to product videos
• Douyin tests show 70% improved AI parsing efficiency

5, Dynamic Competitive Monitoring

• Track competitor AI answer presence
• Real-time content optimization

Conclusion: The Three-Year Window of Opportunity

Gartner predicts that by 2026, AI-driven purchase decisions will exceed 40% of the Chinese market, with traditional search traffic declining by 52%.

The ultimate marketing battlefield is no longer prime e-commerce real estate, but that single line of recommendation in an AI conversation box.

The new golden rule? “Make AI believe your product is the best.”