In this week’s digital news, Google has launched a significant update to the Search Console Performance report, introducing new time aggregation toggles that allow users to view data by week or month across Search, Discover, and Google News reports. A major study by Semrush indicates that AI search traffic is on track to overtake traditional organic search by 2028, driven by a fundamental shift in user habits.
Google’s new open commerce standard aims to reduce cart abandonment and enable agent-led buying across Search, Gemini, and retailer systems. Open-source MMM tools solve different measurement problems, from budget optimisation to forecasting and preprocessing.
Table of Contents
Google is introducing weekly and monthly views in Search Console
The transition to “Extraction-Ready” SEO
Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol for agent-led shopping
Google today unveiled the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that lets AI agents work across the entire shopping journey, from discovery to purchase to post-sale support.
Additionally, Google is introducing new AI tools for retailers, including branded shopping agents and ad formats optimised for AI-driven discovery.
Read more here.
Not all MMM tools are equal: Meridian, Robyn, Orbit, and Prophet explained
Open-source Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) tools are often grouped together but serve very different roles, so they shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable. Some tools are complete, end-to-end MMM frameworks designed for decision-making and budget optimisation, while others are statistical or forecasting components that support MMM but cannot deliver results on their own. Choosing the right tool depends heavily on a company’s data maturity, technical expertise, and need for causal rigor versus speed and usability.
Specifically, Meta’s Robyn is positioned as the most accessible full MMM solution, emphasizing automation and practical outputs. While Google’s Meridian focuses on deeper Bayesian causal inference but requires advanced expertise. In contrast, Uber’s Orbit and Meta’s Prophet are not full MMM tools. They are forecasting libraries that can enhance or support custom MMM systems. The key takeaway is that marketers should align tool choice with their goals and resources. Rather than assuming all “MMM tools” solve the same problem.
Read more here.
At CES 2026, marketers get serious about agentic AI, creators and retail media
CES 2026 showed a shift from flashy technology to practical execution in marketing. Agentic AI gained momentum as it moves toward automated media buying while requiring trust and transparency. Creators are evolving into full media businesses as they expand into streaming and podcasting and gain pricing power. SiriusXM saw a 300% increase in podcast revenue as creators adopted omnichannel distribution and programmatic access. Retail media growth now depends on off-site investment and consistent measurement, as return on ad spend (ROAS) varies by as much as 63% across networks.
Read more here.
LLM predictions for 2026, shared with Oxide and Friends
This post shares predictions Simon Willison made on a recent podcast. The predictions cover what he thinks will happen in the next 1, 3, and 6 years in the tech industry. There has never been so much uncertainty about what’s coming in the next year. The significant advances in coding agents in just the last two months indicate that things will change significantly. But it is unclear what those changes will be.
Read more here.
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