Google opens AI performance insights in Merchant Center to five markets

Google said on 16 September that AI performance insights are now broadly available in Merchant Center. The report works in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the United States. It shows how shoppers find a brand through AI surfaces, and how that compares with rival brands.

Merchant Center compares brand share of voice on AI surfaces

Until now most sellers could not tell how often an AI answer named them. Google says the report puts a brand’s share of voice next to other brands on surfaces such as AI Mode and AI Overviews. Sellers read it inside the panel they already use for product feeds.

Shopping is moving from a list of links into answers. We looked earlier at how ChatGPT picks products from feeds. Merchant Center now offers Google’s own view of the same problem.

Business Agent beta answers product questions inside YouTube ads

Google opened a beta for retailers in the United States. Someone watching a YouTube ad can ask about the product and get an answer without leaving YouTube. Google put Business Agent on Search earlier this year. Retailers apply through a Google form.

Cart transfer reaches Australia and Canada in early 2027

The Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, is Google’s standard for buying inside AI surfaces. Two things are new. A cart can now move to the merchant’s own site, and merchants can test the checkout flow. The rollout starts in the United States. Australia and Canada follow in early 2027.

Google says hundreds of thousands of brands already allow direct checkout. Tapestry, which owns Coach and Kate Spade, has wired UCP checkout into Search and the Gemini app. The rules behind these purchases keep shifting, as the grocery and split-payment update showed.

Lululemon test: extra feed text used in half the recommendations

Product feeds gain a field called conversational attributes. A seller writes a short line of plain context about the product. In a lululemon test, Google says that text was used in about half of the relevant product recommendations in AI Mode. Google also reports a 5% monthly rise in purchases for merchants that follow core feed practices. Both numbers come from Google, not from an outside audit.

Two more fields arrive. A video link attribute feeds shoppable ad formats. Loyalty data can be connected to Merchant Center, so members see their own price. Minted uses it to show member pricing on holiday cards. Google has been steadily widening what the feed carries, much as it did with store sales reporting in Google Ads.

Open your product feed today and check two fields. Is anything written in the conversational attributes, and is loyalty pricing connected? Both are free to add, and both change what AI Mode is able to say about your products before the holiday peak.