Alphabet published a recording of their Q1 2026 earnings call and here are some salient points for SEO:

• Search is growing: Search & other revenue grew 19% (mostly driven by retail & finance) and they said Search queries are at an all-time high because AIO & AI Mode are increasing Search usage, including for commercial intent queries.
• Now Google can monetize more queries, especially more complex ones, because AI (Gemini) improves intent understanding to serve relevant ads.
• They're testing a new ad format tied to AI Mode organic product recommendations: if a product is organically recommended in AI Mode, then they will show ads from retailers who sell that product.

So basically: more complex search queries --> users spend more time engaging with AI Mode --> Google shows more ads & makes more money AND organic search results & ads will probably get more closely tied in AI Mode.

Also in the call:

• Retail industry is "rapidly coalescing" around UCP which launched in January 2026. They described UCP as an open standard for agentic commerce that works across the shopping journey: discovery, purchase, and post-purchase support, and framed the goal as removing shopping “grunt work” while preserving the parts where brands can still differentiate (like customer service and loyalty).
• They said UCP will help power a new checkout experience in AI Mode, Search, and the Gemini app so shoppers can check out from select merchants on Google.

Seems like the grand scheme is:

AI Mode recommends products --> Google Ads shows retailers who sell them --> UCP facilitates the transaction. (Zero websites visited.) Hopefully there will be transparency in measurement!

^^That is from analyzing the call transcript with help from ChatGPT, I didn't sit and listen to the whole thing!