The two most powerful ad platforms in paid media, Google and Meta, consistently update their offerings to maintain their strongholds. In advance of Q2 2026, both of them once again did just that.
Google has been laser-focused on its AI-powered shopping integrations, and its big announcement deepened the capabilities it introduced earlier this year. On the organic side, however, it’s also testing some AI functions that may be controversial.
Meta, meanwhile, exists in a more competitive field—there are more upstart social media platforms than major search engines. Some of its latest updates take aim at creating shopping capabilities and creator relationships comparable to its competitors, while others mirror Google’s efforts to bring more of the purchase process within its own platform.
Let’s take a look at what changed for the two digital giants in Q1.
The Latest From Google
Earlier this year, Google announced its intent to reshape eCommerce with AI through a concept it’s calling “agentic commerce.” The notion is that AI agents will be able to assist users with every step of the online shopping process while AI also streamlines business operations and customer assistance on the sellers’ behalf. With that plan came a whole suite of new products and updates, ranging from promotional ads in AI Mode to an entire AI infrastructure for businesses, the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).
In its most recent announcements, Google expanded on the UCP while also extending AI integration into its traditional Search functionality.
UCP updates
In late March, Google bolstered the UCP’s capabilities to support more advanced AI-driven shopping experiences. These include:
- Cart capability, allowing AI agents to add multiple items to a cart from a single site at a shopper’s behest
- Catalog capability that allow agents real-time product data integration (inventory, variants, pricing)
- Identity Linking capabilities that will give users their loyalty member benefits while buying through the AI agent just as they would if they were purchasing on-site.
Combined, all of these updates are meant to give chatbot-facilitated purchases the same advantages and experiences of purchasing from a retailer.
Google’s agentic commerce push isn’t going to slow down anytime soon—it promises to keep building on the UCP and plans to continue onboarding retailers “of all sizes” with a simplified process that will roll out through Google Merchant Center later this year.
AI headline rewrites in Search
Google Ads users have noted the occasional appearance of AI-generated headlines in their ad campaigns—and it seems Google is attempting to introduce the same concepts to organic search as well. According to Search Engine Land, Google is now testing AI-generated headline rewrites in search results, replacing traditional title tags with versions that better reflect the user’s query and the content of the page.
As part of the test, Google may generate headlines dynamically instead of pulling directly from a page’s title tag, using on-page content and contextual signals to better match search intent. This builds on existing title rewriting behavior, but introduces more flexibility in how results are constructed.
The test is currently limited in scope, with Google describing it as a narrow experiment rather than a broad rollout. But it reflects continued experimentation with how search results are presented—particularly in cases where Google determines that existing titles don’t clearly align with the query.
It does raise concerns about how human-generated content is represented in searches, posing the risk of misaligned expectations when the AI errs in its interpretations. Users may default to assuming the site has misled them without realizing that the algorithm did so.
Meta Updates from Q2
Meta’s updates primarily focus on how shopping integrates with browsing, but we’ll start with the exception to that rule—a change to how advertisers measure success on Meta Ads.
Click attribution changes
Meta is updating how click-through attribution is defined, narrowing it to include only actual link clicks for website and in-store conversions. Interactions like likes, comments, shares, and saves—previously counted under click-through attribution—will now be grouped under a separate category called “engage-through attribution.”
This marks a change from Meta’s previous approach, where nearly any interaction with an ad could qualify as a “click” if a conversion followed. Going forward, only actions that move a user to a destination—such as a website or app—will count toward click-through attribution.
At the same time, Meta is formalizing “engage-through” as a distinct category. This bucket captures conversions that occur after social interactions that don’t involve a link click, such as likes, shares, or saves, separating them from direct traffic-driven outcomes.
The change is intended to reduce discrepancies between Meta Ads Manager and external measurement platforms like Google Analytics, which have always defined clicks more narrowly. For advertisers who entirely rely on in-platform metrics to judge success (which is not advisable), this may lead to a bit of a system shock.
Affiliate and creator commerce expansion
Meta is expanding its affiliate and creator monetization tools, allowing creators to embed product links directly into posts and Reels. These links enable users to view and purchase products without relying solely on external “link in bio” workflows.
The update includes deeper integrations with major commerce platforms, allowing creators to tag products more seamlessly and earn commissions on resulting purchases. This builds on Meta’s broader push to make its platforms more commerce-enabled, particularly within short-form video formats like Reels—perhaps as a means of keeping up with the increasingly popular TikTok Shop platform.
By bringing product linking directly into content, Meta is reducing the steps required for users to move from discovery to purchase. Instead of redirecting traffic off-platform, creators can now surface products and facilitate transactions within the same environment, tightening the connection between content and commerce.
In-app commerce and post-click experiences
Meta is also rolling out new retail media and commerce tools designed to streamline the path from ad interaction to purchase. These include in-app checkout capabilities, AI-driven product overlays that surface details like pricing and reviews, and expanded tools for retailers to promote products directly within Meta’s ecosystem.
These updates focus on reducing friction after engagement. Instead of sending users to external sites to evaluate products, Meta is introducing more of that decision-making context—such as product details and recommendations—within its own platforms. Retailers can also leverage new ad formats and tools to highlight products more directly in these environments.
As a result, more of the post-click experience is handled in-platform. Product information is surfaced earlier, and in some cases, the need to transition to a traditional landing page is reduced, depending on how the purchase flow is structured.
The Big Takeaways
Across both Google and Meta, these updates all touch on different capabilities and steps of the eCommerce process—but they don’t feel entirely disconnected from each other.
Google’s “agentic commerce” push and UCP updates are extending its role in how products are discovered and purchased by building infrastructure that allows AI systems to participate more directly in the shopping process. Meta’s commerce features, meanwhile, are also being layered directly into content and post-click experiences. The result is a platform that captures more of the journey between engagement and purchase without relying as heavily on external sites.
At the same time, both are adjusting how interactions are interpreted and measured. Google is testing new ways to frame content in search, while Meta is redefining what qualifies as a meaningful click.
Taken together, it reflects two dominant platforms expanding their influence over both the mechanics of commerce and the definition of performance—shaping not just how users find and buy products, but how those interactions are presented and understood along the way. The internet just keeps getting smaller and smaller.
