In June, AI search moved beyond retrieval into action. Google doubled down on zero-click search, AI assistants became capable of shopping, booking and researching on users’ behalf, and platforms introduced the first real tools for measuring AI visibility. At the same time, social platforms strengthened their role as AI search sources, while paid media expanded further into conversational experiences with ChatGPT ads rolling out internationally and Google continuing to reshape advertising for AI-powered search. Across every channel, the focus is shifting from generating traffic to understanding influence, as AI continues to reshape how visibility is measured and valued.
Here’s what changed across Google, AI, Agentic, Social, and Paid and what it all means for brands navigating the next phase of search.
Google Search
68% of Google Searches Now End Without a Click
New research from SparkToro and Similarweb confirms that in the first four months of 2026, 68.01% of Google searches ended without a click to any website. AI Overviews, now present on more than 20% of all searches, are the primary driver, reducing click-through rates by nearly 60% when they appear. This is the fastest acceleration of zero-click behaviour recorded in a decade.
Why It Matters? The immediate risk for clients is a measurement gap as traffic falls, clients ask questions, and without cross-channel visibility, there is no answer. A joined-up omnichannel attribution model that captures paid signals, AI referrals, assisted conversions and organic performance is now critical.
Measuring How Users Move, Pause, And Reconsider On Google Search
ClickStream Solutions analyzed, interpreted, and produced the findings from anonymized clickstream data provided by Surfer SEO. The data contained approximately 846,000 Google Search sessions from February and March 2026. AI Overviews slow the search experience and expand the decision-making window on the page itself. Users who encounter an AI Overview stay on Google longer, read more of the page, scroll back up more often, and show patterns consistent with active comparison rather than quick selection.
Why It Matters? For brands, the practical implication is straightforward – the search result preview now carries more weight. Users appear to read, revisit, and compare listings more carefully before abandoning the SERP. The brands best positioned in this environment are those whose search presence is built for scrutiny, not just discovery.
New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools
Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools introduces four expanded AI performance capabilities in preview: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, and Compare, enhancing publishers’ understanding of AI-generated content visibility and citation dynamics. The Intents feature classifies grounding queries into categories such as Informational, Commercial, Research, and Local, helping publishers understand the broader context behind when their content gets cited in AI-generated answers.
Why It Matters? This release gives publishers their first real first-party window into how AI systems are using their content. The new metrics – particularly Citation Share and Topics – shift the optimisation frame to thematic authority and relative presence, introducing the kind of actionable KPIs in the AI era. Perhaps most importantly, Bing treating GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) as a measurable discipline with dedicated tooling will likely pressure Google to accelerate similar reporting in Search Console.
AI Search
Apple introduces Siri AI, a profoundly more capable and personal assistant
Siri AI is a new version of Siri, rebuilt on the next generation of Apple Intelligence. Siri can now pull up-to-date information from the web and generate answers on virtually any topic. A new Siri mode in the iPhone Camera app lets users get information about whatever is in front of them. Visual Intelligence also comes to iPad and Mac for the first time. A dedicated Siri app syncs conversations across devices through iCloud.
Why It Matters? Applebot crawled data may be used to provide additional context and up-to-date content when AI models are used to generate output for display in Apple products and services. For example, answering broad world knowledge questions in Siri and Search that may include links to sources and websites used to help generate the answer. A new answer surface is coming to every supported Apple device. Mac and iPad users who once opened a browser tab for quick questions can now get an answer from the same box that launches apps.
CMA secures fairer deal for publishers and improves Google search services in UK
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has imposed a new conduct requirement on Google Search that will let publishers opt out of having their content used in AI search features. Publishers will now have effective tools to prevent their content being used to power AI features in search, such as AI Overviews. Google will have nine months to implement all changes but the CMA expects important parts of the controls to become available to publishers well before that deadline.
Why It Matters? The main way to keep content out of AI Overviews has been the nosnippet directive, which also strips standard search snippets. A new toggle feature is available in Search Console, website owners can decide if they want their site to appear in and help ground responses in our generative AI Search features (like AI Overviews, AI Mode or AI Overviews in Discover). Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.
Chatbots Have Algorithm Changes Too
In a study conducted in May 2026, Sistrix evaluated 38 daily samples of 100,000 German-language ChatGPT responses each – a total of 3.8 million responses and over 100 million source mentions.. Our data now shows the same pattern in ChatGPT. On May 23, 2026, the switch from GPT-5 mini to GPT-5.5 shifted citations in German-language ChatGPT responses by 47% within 48 hours. Whether the model change alone was the cause, or whether the retrieval or prompt layer was also changed in parallel, cannot be determined from the outside.
Why It Matters? A clear localization emerges: for German-language queries, GPT-5.5 cites originally German sources more frequently – both established premium publishers and German service brands. International aggregators that previously dominated many query types are losing ground, as are generalists like Wikipedia, YouTube, and Facebook. The only notable exception is Reddit, which continues to gain share against the general localization trend.
Agentic Search
OpenAI Turns ChatGPT Into an “Everything” Agent With Apps and In-Chat Checkout
ChatGPT is becoming a do-it-all assistant. Instead of just answering questions, it can now take action for you, like booking a hotel, designing something in Canva, or buying a product, all without leaving the chat. You can browse and pay for items from shops like Etsy right inside the conversation. These upgrades are rolling out to all of ChatGPT’s roughly 900 million weekly users.
Why It Matters: People are starting to shop and book directly inside a chat, never visiting your website at all. To show up, your products need to be listed with ChatGPT in a clear, up-to-date way, including accurate prices, stock levels, and photos. If that information is missing or outdated, ChatGPT won’t recommend or sell your products. Getting found now depends on feeding the right product details to these AI tools, not just having a nice website.
Perplexity Is Rebuilding Search for Robots, Not Just People
AI search company Perplexity shared a new way of thinking about search. Traditionally, search was built for humans: you type a question and get a list of links to click. But Perplexity says the main users of search are increasingly AI assistants, not people. Its tools can now run hundreds or even thousands of searches in just a few minutes to complete a single task, something no human could ever do by hand.
Why It Matters: Search is shifting from “a few links for a person to read” to “huge amounts of information for AI assistants to sort through.” If your content isn’t organised in a way these AI tools can easily read and process at scale, it risks being skipped entirely by the assistants now doing people’s searching for them.
Google Search Will Now Create a Custom Page Just for Your Question
Google announced that Search is getting smarter. Instead of showing the same list of links to everyone, it will now build a custom page designed around your specific question, complete with helpful visuals and layouts made just for you. It’s also adding “information agents” that quietly work in the background around the clock to keep you updated on the things you care about. These features start rolling out this summer, free for everyone.
Why It Matters: There’s no longer one fixed results page to aim for, because Google builds a fresh one for each person every time. That means getting noticed is less about ranking at the top of a list and more about being a trusted, quality source that Google chooses to pull information from. (Google is also under pressure from European regulators to share some of its search data with competitors by late July 2026.)
AI Shopping Agents Are Manipulating Consumers, Study Finds
A new study this month flagged a problem with AI assistants picking products for people. These helpers promise to hunt for the best deal, but they can quietly steer shoppers toward sponsored or more expensive items, almost like they’re taking orders from the seller. There are no real rules in place yet to stop this. Experts also warn that free AI tools are more likely to be biased, because brands help pay for them, while paid tools can afford to give more balanced advice.
Why It Matters: Two things matter for brands here. First, shoppers aren’t easily fooled: 86% of people double-check AI recommendations by going back to regular search, so being trustworthy and easy to find everywhere still counts for a lot. Second, AI gets things wrong. In one case, an AI tool wrongly labelled an affordable whisky as a fancy premium brand. The lesson for businesses: keep an eye on how AI tools describe your brand, and fix any mistakes quickly, because getting it wrong can cost you customers.
Social Search
LinkedIn Is Now the Second Most Cited Source in AI Search
Research from Meltwater analysing 9.5 million AI citations across major large language models found LinkedIn is now the second most cited source in AI-generated answers across B2B categories, behind YouTube only. Roughly 75% of LinkedIn citations came from individual member profiles, with just 25% from company pages. A separate Semrush study found LinkedIn reached an average citation rate of 11% across ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity.
Why It Matters? Social search on LinkedIn is no longer just about organic reach; it is directly feeding what AI search engines tell buyers about brands and agencies. A B2B brand publishing strong analysis on LinkedIn can appear in an AI answer before a prospect ever visits its website. Employee advocacy, executive thought leadership, and structured original content are now measurable components of search visibility, not just brand activity.
Facebook Launches AI Mode, Turning Social Content Into a Search Engine
Meta rolled out AI Mode on Facebook on 15 June 2026, a new search experience powered by Meta AI that gives answers rooted in the culture, opinions, and recommendations people share publicly across its apps, rather than just returning links. Users can ask questions in plain language and receive synthesised answers drawn from public posts, Groups, and Reels. The update also introduced AI-powered photo and video editing tools, virtual clothing try-on, and AI-generated Stories presets.
Why It Matters? Meta appears to want users to search, decide, and create without leaving Facebook. For agencies, it signals a new search surface in the making; brands whose public content, Groups, and Reels are active and well-structured are better placed to surface in AI Mode answers. Those treating Facebook as a passive broadcast channel are already behind.
Pinterest Launches AI Ad Tools and Agentic Shopping at Cannes 2026
Pinterest unveiled four new AI-powered products at Cannes Lions 2026: Business Assistant, an AI collaborator built into Ads Manager; Pinterest MCP, an AI-native infrastructure connecting Pinterest to partner copilots and agentic tools; new Performance+ creative AI models; and Ask Pinterest, an experimental standalone app for conversational, visual-first shopping.
Why It Matters? Pinterest MCP is already in alpha with agency partners including Dentsu, Havas, Omnicom’s Jump450, and PMG, giving those agencies direct access to Pinterest campaign analytics, keyword insights, and intent signals inside existing workflows without switching tools. Pinterest is embedding itself into agentic marketing infrastructure at the planning and execution layer. Performance+ creative shifts optimisation from the ad level to the asset level, which changes how briefs and creative production should be structured for Pinterest activity.
Paid Search
What ChatGPT Ads Data Reveals About Your Competitors
Analysis of nearly 850,000 AI search queries across 20 industries and five markets found that ChatGPT serves ads on roughly 4.5% of queries in the US, with Google’s AI surfaces just behind at 4.14%, making ad frequency across both platforms almost identical. ChatGPT advertising launched in the UK on 6 June 2026, its first European market, currently gated to Free and Go users with advertiser access by registration rather than open self-serve.
Why It Matters? US competitors have already had months to learn which prompts convert and which creative works. When UK buying opens properly, they will not be starting from scratch even if agencies here are. Analysis of 40,000 daily ChatGPT ad placements found that high-performing ads follow a “Brand: Benefit” headline formula, averaging 30 characters in headlines and 19 words in body copy structured as two sentences: one proof point and one offer.
Google Clarifies What Actually Gets You Into AI Search Ads
In a post-Google Marketing Live Q&A with the PPC Chat community, Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed that advertisers do not need AI Max enabled to appear in AI-powered search experiences. Campaigns using broad match keywords remain eligible to show in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews are currently reported as top ads only, with no segmented placement-level reporting available, as Google is still working out what that reporting should look like.
Why It Matters?
Broad match remains a viable route into AI Search, AI-specific reporting is still a work in progress, and Google’s long-term vision continues to revolve around automation powered by strong first-party data. The more significant signal is that Google is simultaneously adding AI automation and building new controls like AI Brief to give advertisers influence over how those systems behave. For agencies, that balance matters: it means there is still a role for strategic input and guardrails inside Google’s AI products, and teams that understand how to use those controls will outperform those who leave automation unchecked.
Google Delays DSA-to-AI Max Migration to February 2027
Google has postponed the automatic upgrade of DSA campaigns to AI Max from September 2026 to February 2027, following advertiser feedback requesting more time. The company is also restoring the ability to create new DSA campaigns from 15 June. Use the extended window to run controlled experiments before automigration removes that choice.
Why It Matters? Google is giving advertisers a longer runway to transition from Dynamic Search Ads to AI-powered search campaigns while maintaining access to DSA creation and testing capabilities in the meantime. Some benchmarks show wide variance: some accounts saw +13% revenue, others saw 99% of AI Max terms drive zero conversions.
Google Tests Healthcare Ads Inside AI Mode
Google confirmed a limited US test of healthcare ads in AI Mode. Several campaign types are eligible to participate, including: Performance Max (PMax), AI Max with search term matching, Shopping campaigns, and Broad match campaigns. The same campaign types are also eligible to serve ads in AI Overviews.
Why It Matters? This signals where all verticals are heading. Ads in AI Mode are being reimagined for longer, more complex, multimodal queries, a fundamentally different creative and targeting challenge to standard search. Agencies managing regulated categories need to review creative setups now. Pinned assets and text disclaimers are excluded from this initial format.
What Happened Last Month
In May, AI search moved further into the infrastructure of discovery. Google confirmed that optimising for generative AI is still SEO, while AI Mode surpassed one billion users and Amazon brought conversational AI directly into shopping search. At the same time, agentic search accelerated with always-on AI agents and new commerce protocols, while TikTok expanded visual search and began surfacing more visibly in Google results. Meanwhile, paid media pushed deeper into AI-led discovery, with Google expanding AI-generated ads, TikTok testing ad-free subscriptions and ChatGPT ads moving into more markets. Across every channel, the direction is clear: search is becoming more conversational, more automated and more tightly connected to commerce.
Read the full May Search Update here.
