AI visibility reports in Merchant Center, an agent inside YouTube ads, cart transfer in UCP
On September 16, 2026 Google announced four updates for retailers: AI performance insights in Merchant Center became generally available in five countries, a US beta opened for Business Agent embedded inside YouTube ads, the Universal Commerce Protocol integration hub gained cart transfer to the merchant's site, and new attributes were recommended for product feeds. The post was signed by Ashish Gupta, VP and GM for Merchant Shopping.
Four items: visibility report, agent on YouTube, UCP cart transfer, feed attributes
According to Google's official blog post, the first update is AI performance insights in Merchant Center, now generally available to businesses in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the United States. The report shows how a brand and its products are being discovered on surfaces such as AI Mode and AI Overviews by comparing share of voice with other brands. The second update is YouTube: Google is bringing Business Agent, introduced in Search earlier this year, into YouTube ads and inviting US retailers into a beta. Once an eligible retailer signs up, the agent embeds directly within the YouTube ad; viewers can research on their own, ask complex product questions and receive tailored guidance without leaving the video. The third update is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP): Google says the protocol already enables direct checkout for hundreds of thousands of brands and retailers across Google. Merchants using the UCP integration hub in Merchant Center can now enable capabilities such as cart transfer to the merchant site and enhanced checkout flow testing, with analytics and more coming soon. The new capabilities are gradually rolling out in the United States, with Australia and Canada to follow early next year. The fourth item is the product feed: the video link attribute, conversational attributes and a loyalty data connection.
Numbers and examples: a 5 percent conversion lift, a 50 percent recommendation rate
Google shared two figures on feeds. Merchants adopting core Merchant Center feed best practices see, on average, a 5 percent increase in conversions the following month. In testing with lululemon, conversational attributes submitted by the brand were incorporated 50 percent of the time in relevant product recommendations in AI Mode, which Google says gave shoppers more precise and helpful answers. The video link attribute automatically powers highly visual, shoppable ad formats. Connecting loyalty data in Merchant Center highlights member perks and member pricing across Google; the example given is Minted's Minted More program, where a member searching for holiday cards sees tailored results with member pricing. Google adds that perks such as free shipping can be showcased, repeat visits can be driven from signed-in members and bids can be steered toward the highest-value shoppers. On UCP, the example is Tapestry, owner of Coach and Kate Spade, which integrated UCP-powered checkout and started selling its products in Search, AI Mode and the Gemini app. According to Search Engine Journal, cart transfer lets a shopper move items selected on Google to the merchant's own site to complete the purchase, and merchants enable it in the integration hub by supporting the Cart API; SEJ also reports that the AI performance report covers English-language queries and organic AI traffic only.
The purchase decision forms on Google's surfaces, and checkout can return to the merchant's site
The significance of this package lies in reading its three parts together. The visibility report shows a business, in measurable form, where it stands against competitors in AI Mode and AI Overviews; in Google's own words, businesses need to know how customers discover them through conversational experiences. The agent in YouTube brings the answer to where the question is asked: the viewer does not leave the video. Cart transfer in UCP tilts the balance back toward the merchant: direct checkout on Google remains possible, but a merchant who prefers it can take the cart to its own site and keep checkout, the customer relationship and the data on its side. Google ties these updates explicitly to the holiday shopping season and says shoppers are increasingly turning to AI to discover products, compare options and make buying decisions. In that picture the product feed is no longer just a file that feeds Shopping ads; it is the raw material of the agent's answer. Conversational attributes entering recommendations 50 percent of the time shows that extra information written into the feed converts directly into visibility. The announcement does not give eligibility criteria or a duration for the Business Agent beta, nor a UCP timeline for countries beyond Australia and Canada.
Türkiye is not on the list yet, but feed quality pays off today
The boundary is clear: AI performance insights opened in five countries and Türkiye is not among them; the Business Agent beta is US-only; the new UCP capabilities are rolling out in the United States, followed by Australia and Canada. No timeline was given for Türkiye. The feed section of the announcement, however, knows no borders: core feed best practices in Merchant Center, the video link attribute, conversational attributes and loyalty data are areas merchants in Türkiye can use as well. The 5 percent conversion lift Google shares is an average with no country breakdown, but the contribution of feed discipline to today's Shopping and Performance Max performance is not new information. The practical order for e-commerce businesses in Türkiye is this: first make sure price, stock, shipping and variant data in the feed are error-free; then add conversational attributes that describe use cases, materials and who a product suits; if there is a loyalty program, connect it in Merchant Center. These three steps improve today what the reports and agents will measure when they reach Türkiye, and they help current campaigns even if they never do. One extra note for businesses that sell mainly through marketplaces: capabilities like cart transfer assume the merchant has its own site, and a business without its own store stays outside this model.
The UNALSOFT view
Our reading is this: Google is saying two things at once. Discovery is increasingly happening on AI surfaces and through agents, yet checkout and the customer relationship can be handed back to the merchant's site. That is good news for businesses with their own store and a warning for those without one. In our e-commerce panel work we look with clients first at gathering product data in one accurate source, then at letting that source feed the store, the marketplaces and the Merchant Center feed alike. We do not know when agentic commerce reaches Türkiye; we do know which data it will read when it does.
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