Google just made some of the most significant changes to Search in decades. A new AI model now powers AI Mode, the search box now shapes how users ask questions before they finish typing, and autonomous agents are now scanning the web on users' behalf around the clock. For marketers, the mechanics of how brands get found, recommended and considered across Google interfaces have significantly shifted.
What did Google announce?
The keynote at Google I/O on May 19, 2026 announced four major changes that impact how brands show up in AI search. Google VP of Search Elizabeth Reid framed the goal of these changes as bringing together "the best of a search engine with the best of AI."
1. Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model powering AI Mode in Google Search globally
Google describes it as delivering frontier-level intelligence at 4x the output speed of comparable models. Google also confirmed Gemini 3.5 Pro is already in internal use, with broader availability planned for next month.
2. The search interface received its most significant redesign in 25 years
The input field now dynamically expands, anticipates user intent and accepts text, images, files, videos and Chrome tabs as inputs. AI-powered suggestions go beyond autocomplete, and users can flow from an AI Overview directly into a conversational back-and-forth with AI Mode, with context carrying across the session. This is rolling out today in all countries and languages where AI Mode is available.
3. Google is launching "Search agents"
Information agents are persistent, Gemini-powered systems that operate in the background 24/7, scanning blogs, news sites, social posts and real-time data across finance, shopping and sports. A user describes criteria once; the agent monitors continuously and sends synthesized updates with the ability to take action. Information agents launch for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers this summer, with agentic booking capabilities expanding to home repair, beauty and pet care, including the ability to have Google call businesses on a user's behalf.
4. Google is launching the Universal Cart, a new agentic shopping experience that works across Google's entire ecosystem
Users can now add products to a single cart while browsing Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube or reading Gmail. The moment a product is added, the cart begins working in the background, monitoring for price drops, flagging alternatives and checking compatibility. Checkout happens through Google Pay or a direct transfer to the merchant's site. Early partners include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and Shopify merchants including Fenty and Steve Madden. The Universal Cart is rolling out across Search and the Gemini app in the U.S. this summer, with YouTube and Gmail to follow.
What does this mean for marketers?
1. Brand discovery is increasingly happening without a user-initiated query
Google reported that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch. Total search queries reached an all-time high last quarter. Users are not moving away from search; they are using it more, and increasingly through an AI layer that selects, synthesizes and presents information on their behalf. When Google's information agents are scanning the web continuously on a user's behalf, brand discovery is no longer an active decision triggered by a search. The agent encounters and filters brands before the user initiates anything. Being part of what an agent considers a credible, relevant result determines whether a brand enters a user's awareness at all.
2. Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the gatekeeper
Because Gemini 3.5 Flash now powers AI Mode, the Gemini app and agentic tools simultaneously, how a brand is represented inside the foundational knowledge of Gemini 3.5 Flash determines how it shows up across every Google interface. A brand that is absent, ambiguous or poorly defined in Gemini's foundational knowledge will be inconsistently represented across all the interfaces.
3. The search box is now shaping users’ prompts
The redesigned search box doesn't just accept queries; it anticipates and suggests them. Google is now partly determining how users formulate questions in your category before they've finished typing. The distribution of queries any given brand competes on is increasingly shaped by what Google's AI decides to surface as a suggestion, not just what users organically think to ask. A brand that is well-represented for those suggested phrasings has a structural advantage that builds over time. One that isn't may be effectively invisible to queries it never knew were being generated on its behalf.
4. The stakes are high for retail and local brands
Google's Universal Cart and agentic booking capabilities together represent a fundamental change to how consumers discover and purchase products and services. Users can now add products to a cart from anywhere inside Google's ecosystem, with the cart proactively surfacing deals and alternatives without the user asking. For service categories like home repair, beauty and pet care, Google can call a business on a user's behalf and complete a booking without the user ever visiting a website. The traditional discovery funnel (search, click, browse, convert) is being replaced by an AI-mediated sequence. Complete and accurate product and business information across every surface Google draws from is the baseline requirement for being actionable by an agent.
3 Predictions For What Happens Next
Based on what Google has announced, here is where we think this is heading. We'll be tracking the data closely and will follow up with research once we see how it plays out in practice.
1. AI Mode usage is about to accelerate
Google has made it seamless to move from an AI Overview directly into a full AI Mode conversation, with context carrying across the session. Now that AI Overviews functions as an on-ramp to AI Mode, casual users who never sought out AI Mode will find themselves inside it without making a deliberate choice. AI Mode traffic will likely grow, and brands that aren't visible there will feel it.
2. Fresher content will likely get an advantage in agentic surfaces
Information agents are designed to monitor for changes and surface new developments, which suggests Google will favor recently published or updated content when deciding what's worth flagging to a user. We'll see how the ranking logic develops, but brands that treat their content as a living asset rather than a static archive are better positioned for how this appears to be heading.
3. The brands already in Google's agentic commerce infrastructure have a head start that will be hard to close
Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart and Wayfair are already live as Universal Cart partners. As agentic commerce scales and more users shop through Gemini-powered surfaces without ever visiting a retailer's website, being an established presence in that infrastructure will matter more than brand awareness alone. The consideration set for agentic shopping is being set now, by the brands willing to move first. Every retailer not yet in that ecosystem should be asking how quickly they can get there.
The brands building AI visibility now are shaping how Gemini understands their category. Those waiting to see how it develops are ceding that ground to competitors. Book a demo with Evertune to see where your brand stands today.
P.S. Check out our AI Model Release Dashboard to stay up to date on all new model releases.
Evertune is the AI marketing platform for brands that want to own the AI customer journey. Evertune analyzes prompt responses at scale across all major LLMs, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, AI Overviews and more, to deliver statistically significant visibility data, then closes the loop with tools to act on it: website optimization, data-driven content creation, most influential sources, and paid activation through affiliate and programmatic AI retargeting partners. Where most tools tell you where you stand, Evertune tells you what to do about it. Founded by early executives of The Trade Desk and backed by $20M from leading investors.
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