By Charlie Brown, PPC
Google has announced a new feature as part of its ongoing efforts to streamline the conversion journey for users through AI. The change will allow users to purchase without ever having to leave the Google ecosystem, through AI mode and Gemini AI agents.
This follows ChatGPT's Instant Checkout and Microsoft Copilot Checkout features. While adverts have yet to hit UK AI models, advertisers are already gearing up for the day in which sponsored, brand-led content can play a role in these new purchase journeys.
Google’s move towards ‘zero-click’ searches has become more and more evident with the mainstream use and push of AI, through AIOs (AI Overviews) and Gemini. These features are already cutting out a lot of the research phase for consumers. They may be driving higher intent clicks to websites, but they do so at the cost of first-party data for businesses. This can limit marketing effectiveness across channels, and is set to become a wider issue as businesses start to see zero-click conversions. How data will be reported in Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Merchant Center remains unclear at this time.
This new feature is being powered by Universal Checkout (UCP), Google’s new commerce system. The merchant will still be the source of the sale, with Google’s AI going into the back end of the seller's website to complete the purchase. The idea is this will remove multiple steps for the user, streamlining the path to purchase.
Whether customers will trust these AI agents with payment information and to complete a purchase without error will be very interesting to see. For businesses and advertisers, this appears to be the direction of travel and commerce sites will soon need to have their sites set up to maximise the change, rather than risk being left behind. So far, big names like Shopify and PayPal have already made changes to prepare for agentic storefronts, along with brands like Monos and Gymshark aiming to secure first-adopter advantage.
Success with these changes will revolve around optimised feeds in the Merchant Center and updated technical SEO best practices being followed on the site to make it as machine-readable as possible. Google has already taken steps recently in making it easier for AI to pull information from the Merchant Center, and additional attributes are being added to feeds. Taking advantage of this feature is another priority for advertisers and businesses looking to be as effective as possible in UCP.
Google and other AI agent providers are leaning into this type of agentic sale journey, with Google calling it the ‘conversational commerce era’. However, as mentioned, success will likely fall back to businesses putting investment into SEO and their back end feeds, a requirement in line with Google’s usual strategy. Opting out won’t be a simple switch either, so how people adapt to these changes will be key over the coming months.
