You may have noticed shopping results in Google AI Mode recently. This is because Google released Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for retailers. Partnering with brands and platforms like Shopify, Etsy, Target, Walmart, and more. Pilot merchants include Petco and Samsonite. This protocol promises to make AI Mode & Gemini shopping a seamless experience. The UCP release is in response to ChatGPTs ACP from late 2025.
UCP is another zero-click technology embedded in Google Search, designed to keep users locked into their platform while shopping rather than clicking through to websites. While these enhancements to Google’s Search LLM are potentially disruptive technology for retailers, there are still big questions as to how quickly these tools will be adopted by shoppers.
With a majority of LLM / AI power users in their 20s and most of the buying power in the USA currently in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, you can see there is a wide gap to close in order for these new tools to reach the most affluent buyers. Its likely Google is playing the long game by going after LLM users in shopping.
We’re continuing to see agentic product releases in 2026 from Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Amazon’s massive investment in technology. The only question is how well these tools will integrate with existing platforms and how quickly adoption picks up. Will they be a net benefit for advertisers, retailers, and consumers?
Speaking of AI Mode…
Sean Hecking Consulting published a deeper dive into what’s driving most of the AEO, GEO, AI SEO buzz. We try to bust myths around AEO and GEO experts pitching their wares. The SHC post is in addition to other research from SEM Rush on the overlap of LLM Search results with normal SEO results. Check out the AI Mode Overlap with Google Search below.
A Not-So Common Crawl
@metehanyesilyurt notes in a recent article that Common Crawl (CC) is a major citation source for most AI / LLM query recommendations. CC has been the subject of much controversy over the last few years. CC allowed AI companies open access to research papers and major media paywalled content. Check to see if your domain exists in the Common Crawl dataset here.
Google Ads Investment Strategy Tool
Fall of 2025, Google quietly released an updated forecasting tool inside of Google Ads called Investment Strategy. This tool works similar to Performance Planner in forecasting your results based on changes to spend using the current campaigns. The tool mainly works with automated bidding formats like PMax. It offers a simplified version of Performance Planner which small businesses will find useful.
Its Just A Good Guess
I would caution anyone using these tools to take their data as Google’s “best guess”. Ramping an account up 40-50% in a short period of time will most likely not reach some of their lofty goals. I find the tools provide the best data for minor updates and increases to existing campaigns that have reached modest spend levels that just need a little boost. Spending $25 a day is going to be too little for accurate data.
