ShortsGoogle expands AI Mode checkout in Canada as ad defaults shift

Google expands AI checkout to Canada

• Google is expanding UCP-powered direct checkout in AI Mode and the Gemini app to Canadian shoppers.
• A Merchant Center integration is planned for next year.

Why it matters: Retailers should review their plans for reaching Canadian shoppers through AI-assisted checkout.

Sources: Search Engine Journal

Four ads appear below an AI Mode answer

• Four ads appeared below one AI SEO answer in Google AI Mode.
• Google has not said how widely the placement runs or whether it will remain.

Why it matters: Search and PPC teams should watch for changes in ad placement around AI answers without assuming this format is permanent.

Sources: PPC Land

Clarity sends store catalogues to Microsoft

• Microsoft Clarity offers Shopify and WooCommerce stores a way to put products in Copilot and Bing.
• Accepting the terms sends the store catalogue to Microsoft Merchant Center.
• The agent tracking covers Google, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Why it matters: Retailers should review the catalogue-sharing terms and tracking coverage before enabling the feature.

Sources: PPC Land

EU court adviser sets conditions for AI training

• An EU court adviser backed AI training on three conditions in a Google case.
• The conditions include honouring robots.txt opt-outs, avoiding pirate sites and proving anti-memorisation steps.

Why it matters: Publishers and SEO teams should monitor the case when assessing crawler controls and AI training rights.

Sources: PPC Land

Google notifies sites of EEA manual action change

• Google has emailed some sites that their site reputation abuse manual actions no longer affect search results in the European Economic Area.
• The change took effect on 30 August 2026, with affected site owners now receiving Search Console notifications.

Why it matters: Affected sites should assess EEA search performance separately from performance in other regions.

Sources: Search Engine Roundtable

Meta changes defaults for device-targeted ad sets

• New device-targeted Sales ad sets widen by default on Meta API v27.0.
• The default will apply across all API versions in about 90 days.
• The API may also add catalogue products to new ads by default.

Why it matters: Advertisers should check new Sales ad sets and catalogue settings for unintended default changes.

Sources: PPC Land

How this brief is made

Every morning we read the public feeds of Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta and three search and ads trade outlets, and keep the stories that change what search, AI-visibility and ads teams do. Each thesis is written from the linked source; vendor claims are the vendor's.