Google’s New Agentic Capabilities: Information Agents & Universal Cart
Implement UCP in your store, optimize high‑intent pages, and use Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit to monitor agentic traffic.
Implement UCP in your store, optimize high‑intent pages, and use Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit to monitor agentic traffic.
Summary
Google I/O 2026 unveiled new agentic features for Search, including information agents that continuously scan the web and provide synthesized updates, and Universal Cart, which aggregates products from multiple retailers using the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for transactions. Information agents are available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, while Universal Cart launches on Google Search and Gemini in the U.S., with YouTube and Gmail support to follow. Additional updates include the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), allowing users to set guardrails for budget and brand preferences, and expanded agentic booking for local experiences and services. Checkout experiences via UCP are expanding to Canada, Australia, and the UK.
For e‑commerce brands, UCP readiness is the immediate priority, as Universal Cart will only include stores that support UCP. Marketers should optimize high‑intent pages and use the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit to track agentic traffic and citations.
Key changes
- Information agents continuously scan the web and return synthesized updates
- Universal Cart aggregates products from multiple retailers using UCP for transactions
- Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) lets users set guardrails for budget and brand preferences
- Agentic booking expands to local experiences and services
- Checkout via UCP is expanding to Canada, Australia, and the UK
- Universal Cart launches on Google Search and Gemini in the U.S., with YouTube and Gmail later
- UCP readiness is the immediate priority for e‑commerce stores
- Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit helps track agentic traffic and citations