Google introduces UCP: Orders & Branded Agents straight from AI Mode

Key Takeaways:

• On January 11th Google launched the Universal Commerce Protocol: UCP will soon power a new checkout feature on eligible Google product listings in AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, allowing shoppers to check out from eligible U.S. retailers right as they’re researching on Google

• UCP is built to work across verticals and is compatible with existing industry protocols like Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Model Context Protocol (MCP).

• We’re also launching Business Agent, a new way for shoppers to chat with brands, right on Search. It’s like a virtual sales associate that can answer product questions in a brand’s voice, enabling retailers to connect with consumers during critical shopping moments and help drive sales.

• introducing Direct Offers. This new Google Ads pilot allows advertisers to present exclusive offers for shoppers who are ready to buy — like a special 20% off discount — directly in AI Mode

• Aleyda concludes:

  • Merchant Center remains foundational, now with expanded attributes

  • Merchant trust becomes a hard requirement, not a soft signal

  • Product structured data becomes fundamental

  • Ecommerce SEO shifts from “ranking pages” to “enabling transactions”

  • Discoverability becomes “capability-based”

  • Traffic is no longer a reliable success metric

  • SEO becomes more cross-functional *

  • Bonus: Action Items for Ecommerce SEO Teams

• Volpini compares UCP and ACP:

  • ACP enables users to checkout via stripe directly in ChatGPT while UCP seamlessly integrates into the Google ecosystem for users to buy on Google, in AI Mode, and compatible to Ads (Impulse Buy = ACP vs. UCP for complex retail cards incl. Shipping options, Loyalty etc.)

  • Agents buy what they can parse.

    Here are the key data points your e-commerce needs:

    • Split product IDs by channel (new GMC rule)

    • Add UCP fields: knowledge_context, compatibility_graph, pricing_guardrails

    • Adopt GS1/GDSN for certification, recurring pricing, and 3D assets

• Again, Google responds to ChatGPTs innovation of ACP from last year - good counter

• The future of the web seems to get clearer: While Google started as a search engine sending traffic to the open web, it (as well as ChatGPT) will provide a user experience solely in their ecosystems - a personalized platform, agent or rather personal assitant that provides instant checkouts

Sources:

• https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/agentic-commerce-ai-tools-protocol-retailers-platforms/

• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-long-marketing_holy-moly-google-just-solved-its-biggest-ugcPost-7416206303322157056-QXWI/

• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aleyda_google-is-launching-ucp-a-new-open-standard-share-7416181689216995328-cz6w/

• https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2010698622996746696

• https://x.com/cyberandy/status/2010441978392293645

• https://x.com/aleyda/status/2011104205042274560

• https://x.com/aleyda/status/2010690130462281737

• https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/ugc-agentic-commerce-seo/

• https://x.com/cyberandy/status/2010642163084980441