The biggest SEO news stories so far in 2026

Jack highlights Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for agentic commerce and checkout capabilities, Google’s Business Agent for brand-voice shopper conversations, and Google’s Personal Intelligence initiative that personalises experiences by connecting Gemini to apps like Gmail, YouTube, Photos, and Search.

He also covers:

• Gemini-powered AI Insights in Google Trends, Chrome’s agentic “auto browse” features that can complete multi-step tasks

• A SparkToro study showing AI/LLM recommendations are highly inconsistent

• The February 2026 Google Discover core update aimed at reducing sensational clickbait, improving local relevance, and addressing self-promotional “self-ranking” listicles.

Jack notes plans for ongoing monthly news recap episodes and points viewers to links in the show notes for all sources.

1. https://developers.googleblog.com/under-the-hood-universal-commerce-protocol-ucp/

2. https://support.google.com/brandprofile/answer/16410382

3. https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/

4. https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/google-trends-explore-with-ai/

5. https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/gemini-3-auto-browse/

6. https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/

7. https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/02/discover-core-update