AI Shelf Index · Running shoes
Which running shoe brands does AI recommend?
Every month we ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the same 3 running shoes questions with web search on, and count the brands they name. Same prompts every month, so the trend is the story.
The first running shoes edition is being collected.
An edition publishes once at least 90% of the month's answers are in. Below are the exact prompts it asks and what each one needs from a product page. To track your own brand now, start a weekly Shelf Watch.
What the prompts ask for
How a running shoes brand gets named
Running shoe prompts are fit and use questions: flat feet, marathon cushioning, beginner trail. The shoe that answers them has its stack, drop, support type and terrain written down, per model and per variant.
Put each fact on the product page as text, in your Product structured data (as an additionalProperty where schema.org has no field for it), in your Shopify category metafields and in your Merchant Center feed's product_detail and product_highlight. Then check whether the sites assistants cite say the same thing.
| The shopper asks | The fact that answers it |
|---|---|
| “for flat feet” | Support category (neutral, stability, motion control) and arch support, stated per model |
| “cushioned, for marathon training” | Stack height, heel-to-toe drop, weight and midsole foam, with the size the numbers were measured on |
| “trail shoes for beginners” | Terrain, lug depth, waterproofing and a plain-language difficulty or use statement |
Panel
The 3 running shoes prompts
- 1.What are the best running shoes for flat feet? I'm shopping online in the United States.
- 2.Recommend cushioned running shoes for marathon training. I'm shopping online in the United States.
- 3.Which trail running shoes are best for beginners? I'm shopping online in the United States.
Fixed since the first edition. How the count works and its limits are on the Index page; journalists and researchers can find citation terms and raw data on Research.
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