Digital Digest
Marketing Intelligence Weekly
Weekly updates on the digital marketing news you need to know, including data reform, AI, cookie deprecation and platform updates.
Data privacy
Australia’s Privacy Shake-Up Hits Martech
- Australia’s privacy regulator has updated APP 3 for the first time in more than a decade, expanding what counts as “data collection” across modern marketing and martech activities. This now includes AI-driven predictions, audience segmentation, cookies, chatbot inputs, meeting transcripts, data enrichment and AI model training.
- The biggest commercial impact is likely to be smaller addressable audiences and weaker campaign performance.
- AI-powered customer scoring and predictive modelling are now treated as data collection activities in their own right. Businesses may need to justify why these predictions are necessary, fair and reasonably expected by the customer.
- Data enrichment is becoming much riskier. Buying third-party data or appending customer records can no longer be defended simply because a supplier claimed the data was compliant. Responsibility now sits with the business using the data.
- Cookie banners and consent flows are under the spotlight. The OAIC has called out dark patterns such as hidden reject options, pre-ticked boxes and bundled consent, signalling that genuine user choice will be a key compliance requirement moving forward.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s Search Is Becoming an AI Agent
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says Search, Gemini, AI agents and app-building tools will eventually merge into a single product that can find information, create content and complete tasks for users.
- Pichai described AI agents as the “next evolution of the web”, with Google building towards a future where agents work in the background to plan trips, make decisions and handle multi-step tasks without users needing to click through multiple websites.
- While Google insists it remains committed to sending traffic to the open web, the direction of travel is clear. Search is moving from a link-based discovery engine towards a conversational, task-completion experience powered by AI.
- The shift is fuelling publisher concerns around “Google Zero”, the idea that search traffic could eventually disappear as AI answers become the destination rather than the gateway. Pichai pushed back on those fears but acknowledged the broader information ecosystem is changing rapidly.
- For marketers and SEO teams, this reinforces the need to think beyond rankings and clicks. Visibility inside AI-generated answers, agent workflows and conversational search experiences is becoming just as important as traditional organic search performance.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s New AI Visibility Scorecard for Retailers
- Google is rolling out new AI performance insights in Merchant Center, giving retailers visibility into how their products appear and perform across AI-powered shopping experiences like Search, Gemini and AI-driven shopping results.
- Advertisers will get access to share of voice reporting, shopping funnel insights and conversational search query data, helping brands understand where they’re showing up during product discovery, evaluation and purchase stages.
- New product attribute reporting will flag missing feed information such as colour, material and style, making it easier for retailers to improve product data and increase discoverability in AI-generated results.
- The update signals a shift in how product feeds need to be managed. Retailers may need to optimise feeds more like SEO content, focusing on context, completeness and natural language relevance as shopping becomes increasingly conversational.
- The rollout will begin across the US, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand in the coming months, giving marketers an early look at how Google measures visibility and recommendations within AI shopping environments.
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AI in digital
Data privacy
Marketing by numbers
Businesses Face Growing Privacy Trust Challenge
- Australians are becoming significantly more privacy-conscious, with 87% saying they are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago. The findings come from the OAIC’s latest Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, which suggests consumer expectations are rising faster than organisations are responding.
- Trust in AI companies has fallen to just 4%, while social media platforms sit even lower at 3%, making them the least trusted sectors measured in the report. Concerns around transparency, accountability and data handling appear to be driving the sharp decline.
- There is a clear opportunity for brands that prioritise privacy. Around 68% of Australians said they would be more likely to use digital services if they knew their personal information was being handled fairly and responsibly.
- Consumers are not rejecting data collection outright, but they want stronger controls. More than 90% said data collection is acceptable when the purpose is clear, consent is available and only necessary information is collected.
- The report highlights a growing trust gap between organisations and consumers. Only one in ten Australians believe organisations usually handle personal information fairly online, while privacy complaints to the OAIC have increased by 73% this financial year.
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AI in digital
Platforms
OpenAI Gives Advertisers More Control in ChatGPT
- OpenAI has expanded its Ads Manager Beta with daily budget controls, giving marketers more flexibility to manage campaign pacing and spend. The feature is currently available for newly created campaigns only.
- Advertisers can now target audiences at a much more granular level across the US, including by state, DMA and ZIP code. This brings ChatGPT’s ad platform closer to the targeting capabilities marketers are used to on Google and Meta.
- Reporting has been upgraded with aggregate totals for impressions, clicks and spend now visible directly within campaign, ad group and ad-level views. This makes performance monitoring easier without exporting data.
- OpenAI is also testing new ad formats inside ChatGPT, including dynamic CTAs such as “Shop Now”, “Book Now”, “Sign Up” and “Learn More”. These are automatically selected based on the ad creative and destination experience.
- The update signals OpenAI’s continued push to make ChatGPT a serious advertising channel. Combined with recent launches of self-serve Ads Manager, CPC bidding and expanded measurement tools, the platform is rapidly evolving from an experimental ad product into a more mature performance marketing ecosystem.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Pushes Original Content in AI Search
- Google is rolling out new Search features that give more visibility to original reporting, creator content and first-hand expertise, signalling a stronger push towards rewarding genuine, high-quality content.
- A new “Highly Cited” label will highlight stories and articles that are frequently referenced by other publishers, helping users identify authoritative sources more quickly.
- The update appears designed to build trust in Google's increasingly AI-driven Search experience, as concerns continue around AI Overviews reducing publisher traffic and occasionally surfacing inaccurate information.
- For marketers and publishers, the message is clear: original research, unique insights, expert commentary and first-hand experience are becoming even more important ranking signals as Google looks to differentiate quality content from AI-generated commodity content.
- The move aligns with Google's broader AI Search strategy announced at I/O 2026, where the company emphasised surfacing trusted sources while integrating more AI-generated answers into Search.
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AI in digital
AI in travel
Platforms
Platforms in travel
Google Search Enters Its AI Agent Era
- Google has unveiled a major AI overhaul of Search powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, shifting the experience from traditional keyword queries to more conversational, context-aware interactions. Users can now upload PDFs and images, ask longer questions and continue conversations directly within search results.
- Paul Hewett, CEO of In Marketing We Trust, called it “the biggest search box redesign in 25 years, plus a significant shift with information agents.” He added: “AI overviews and AI mode now chain together with context preserved. The unit of brand visibility isn’t being cited once, it’s being cited and surfaced in the follow-ups.”
- Google’s new “intelligent search box” behaves more like a chatbot, automatically generating nuanced prompts and independently monitoring research topics. The company is positioning Search as a full AI-powered journey rather than a static results page.
- Search will also begin creating lightweight apps and visual tools on the fly. Examples include personalised travel planners that combine calendar events, location data and real-time conditions to generate tailored recommendations.
- Google is also leaning into “agentic” AI capabilities, where assistants can complete tasks like booking services, monitoring live events and sending alerts. These features are expected to roll out later this year.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s AI Cart Could Reshape Retail
- Google’s Universal Cart aims to unify shopping across multiple merchants, powered by its 60 billion-listing Shopping Graph.
- The system could automate tedious shopping tasks like tracking price changes, restocks and product compatibility.
- UCP and AP2 could let AI agents move from recommending products to completing purchases on a shopper’s behalf.
- Paul Hewett warns Google could gain control of the full journey: discovery, checkout, payment, fulfilment and purchase data.
- “Underneath Universal Cart plus UCP plus AP2 gives Google the infrastructure to own the whole shopping journey. Discovery, recommendation, checkout, payment, fulfilment. All inside Google’s surfaces, with Google holding the data on every step. Scary stuff …”
- For marketers, the big watch-out is data power: Google may soon understand purchase intent and price sensitivity better than retailers themselves.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s New AI Ads Change Search Discovery
- Google is testing two new AI Mode ad formats, Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers, both powered by Gemini and designed to place ads inside AI-generated responses and recommendations.
- Conversational Discovery ads respond to detailed, exploratory prompts, shifting optimisation away from simple keywords and towards context, creative quality and product relevance.
- Highlighted Answers can insert sponsored results directly into AI-generated recommendation lists, giving advertisers a shot at visibility earlier in the research journey.
- For marketers, this points to a future where landing page content, structured product data, first-party signals and creative assets matter more in paid search performance.
- Measurement may get messier, as conversational searches are longer, less structured and harder to attribute than traditional keyword-led search.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Brings MMM Into GA360
- Google is integrating Meridian, its open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM), directly into Google Analytics 360. The move is designed to give marketers a more unified view of performance measurement and media effectiveness in one platform.
- The new setup will combine first-party data, cross-channel metrics and predictive modelling to help marketers better understand what is actually driving business outcomes, not just attribution signals.
- Google is also introducing Qualified Future Conversions (QFCs), powered by Gemini AI. These signals aim to connect upper-funnel activity like brand searches with future sales outcomes, helping marketers spot revenue opportunities earlier.
- Over time, Google plans to feed these predictive conversion signals into Meridian to improve MMM accuracy and forecasting capabilities. The focus is on helping advertisers make more confident media investment decisions.
- The update signals Google’s continued push towards integrated measurement, blending analytics, AI and media optimisation into a single ecosystem for enterprise marketers.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google’s AI Search Is Reading Your Inbox
- iPullRank tested Google’s new “Personal Intelligence” layer and found that Gmail and Photos data can directly influence which brands appear in AI Mode recommendations. Brands seeded into Gmail were 46 percentage points more likely to show up in results compared to a control account.
- Gmail turned out to be the strongest signal by far. Brands mentioned in recommendation-style emails appeared in 53.6% of AI Mode responses, suggesting inbox content could become a major new ranking factor for AI-powered search experiences.
- The experiment analysed 1,922 AI Mode responses across categories like streaming services, banks, SEO agencies and running shoes. Seeded brands not only appeared more often, but also ranked higher in top 3 and top 10 recommendation positions.
- Google’s Personal Intelligence feature is opt-in and currently connects apps like Gmail and Google Photos to AI Mode and Gemini for more personalised recommendations. Google says the feature does not directly train on inbox or photo data, but marketers are already questioning the privacy and attribution implications.
- The bigger SEO implication is that AI search visibility may increasingly depend on personal context, not just public web rankings. That means traditional rank tracking could become less reliable as every user’s search experience becomes more personalised.
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Platforms
Google’s May Core Update Is Rolling Out
- Google has started rolling out its May 2026 core update, the second broad core update of the year, and says it may take up to two weeks to complete.
- There’s no companion blog post or new guidance, so marketers should treat this as a standard core update rather than a targeted fix or penalty.
- Ranking volatility is likely during the rollout, but Google’s advice is to avoid reacting to early movements or making rushed content changes.
- For reporting, compare Search Console performance from the weeks before 21 May against data after the rollout finishes, waiting at least a full week before drawing conclusions.
- This is Google’s fourth confirmed ranking update of 2026, following the March spam update, March core update and February Discover core update.
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AI in digital
Platforms
GA4 adds AI Assistant traffic channel
- Google Analytics now has a dedicated AI Assistant channel, making it easier for marketers to see when traffic comes from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.
- Visits from recognised AI assistants will automatically use the new “ai-assistant” medium, reducing the need for manual tagging or messy referral analysis.
- This traffic will appear under the AI Assistant channel in Default Channel Group reports, helping teams compare AI-driven discovery against organic search and other channels.
- GA4 will also label these visits with the “(ai-assistant)” campaign name, giving marketers a clearer way to monitor clicks, source trends and business impact from generative AI.
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AI in digital
Platforms
OpenAI Turns Product Feeds Into ChatGPT Ads
- OpenAI is making ChatGPT a much more scalable e-commerce ad channel by allowing retailers to connect product feeds directly into the platform. Instead of manually building campaigns, brands can now auto-generate ads using catalogue data like product names, images and pricing.
- The move mirrors Google Shopping-style campaign structures, where structured feeds power both organic and paid visibility. Retailers can choose which products are eligible, while ChatGPT handles ad generation and placement.
- Sponsored listings will still appear below ChatGPT responses and remain clearly labelled as ads. The bigger shift is operational: OpenAI is lowering the barrier for brands with large inventories to test conversational commerce at scale.
- OpenAI is also expanding its ad ecosystem quickly, with self-serve Ads Manager, CPC bidding, conversion tracking and future cost-per-action models already in rollout or development.
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Platforms
Google Turns Social Posts Into Local SEO
- Google has launched a new “Social Media Updates” carousel that pulls posts from connected social accounts directly into Google Business Profiles.
- The update signals that social activity is becoming a much stronger ranking and visibility factor in local SEO.
- Businesses can activate the feature by linking their social profiles to their Google Business Profile and posting consistently.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Microsoft Clarity Launches AI Citation Tracking
- Microsoft Clarity’s AI Citations feature is now generally available, giving marketers visibility into how their content appears in AI-generated answers across tools like Copilot and Bing-powered experiences.
- The new dashboard tracks metrics like cited pages, grounding queries, share of authority, and AI referral traffic. This helps brands understand not just clicks, but whether AI systems are using their content as a trusted source.
- “Grounding queries” are particularly valuable for SEO and GEO teams because they reveal how AI models interpret user intent when retrieving content, which may differ from traditional keyword searches.
- Microsoft is positioning this as part of the shift toward Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), with future updates set to include topic clustering, competitive visibility insights, and content gap recommendations.
- Setup is straightforward for existing Clarity users, although some sites may need domain verification through Bing Webmaster Tools or Google Search Console before citation reporting becomes available.
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AI in digital
Platforms
ChatGPT Citation Speed Finally Quantified
- New research tracking ~900 newly published marketing pages found the median time from publishing to first citation in ChatGPT or Claude is 6.81 days, giving marketers the clearest benchmark yet for AEO performance.
- 75% of pages received a citation within 18.68 days, while 90% were cited within 37.10 days, suggesting most discoverable content gets picked up in just over a month.
- The findings create a practical “AEO clock” for marketers. If content is not cited after ~37 days, the issue is likely technical or structural, such as crawlability, indexing, robots.txt restrictions or weak internal linking.
- Pages cited in under 6 days may indicate stronger discoverability signals or higher authority, making early citation speed a potential leading indicator of broader visibility in AI search engines.
- The next big question for AEO is whether faster discovery also leads to more frequent citations over time, which could reshape how marketers measure content velocity and authority in AI-driven search ecosystems.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Ads Query Data Gets Murkier
- Google has confirmed that Search Query Reports in Google Ads may no longer show the exact terms users typed, instead surfacing the “closest approximation” based on inferred intent and behaviour signals.
- The shift reflects Google’s increasing reliance on AI-driven matching systems, where context and user intent matter more than strict keyword matching. This continues the broader move away from exact-match visibility for advertisers.
- For marketers, this could make search term analysis, negative keyword management and match-type optimisation less reliable, especially for performance-focused PPC campaigns.
- The update was discovered on an official Google Ads help page discussing ad group and asset group prioritisation, suggesting this is tied closely to how Google’s AI systems now interpret and route queries.
- It also echoes previous Google moves to reduce transparency in search term reporting under the banner of privacy and automation, continuing a long-running trend toward less granular advertiser data.
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Platforms
Google Officially Retires FAQ Rich Results
- Google has fully removed FAQ rich results from Search as of 7 May 2026, meaning FAQ dropdowns will no longer appear in SERPs, even if pages still use FAQ schema markup.
- Search Console support is also being phased out. FAQ rich result reports and Rich Results Test support will disappear in June 2026, with Search Console API support ending in August 2026.
- Google says marketers can keep FAQ structured data on their sites, but it will no longer generate enhanced search listings. Other search engines may still use the markup.
- For SEO teams, this likely means reduced SERP real estate and potentially lower CTRs on pages that previously relied on FAQ snippets for visibility. Expect reporting gaps too if your dashboards pull FAQ appearance data from Search Console APIs.
- The update reinforces Google’s broader shift away from “SERP hacks” and towards AI-generated answers, authority signals and content quality. Brands should focus less on schema-driven visibility tricks and more on genuinely useful, well-structured content that supports AI search and answer engines.
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AI in digital
Platforms
OpenAI Opens ChatGPT Ads To Everyone
- OpenAI has officially launched a self-serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT, allowing US advertisers to create and manage campaigns directly without going through agency partners. This marks a major shift from the previous invite-only pilot.
- The platform now supports CPC bidding alongside CPM buying, making it much more attractive for performance marketers used to Google and Meta ad models. OpenAI also introduced conversion tracking via pixel-based measurement and a Conversions API.
- OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT ads as privacy-safe, saying advertisers won’t access conversations or personal user data, and ads won’t influence ChatGPT’s responses. Ads remain limited to Free and Go users, while paid plans stay ad-free.
- The rollout signals OpenAI’s serious ambitions in advertising revenue, with reports suggesting the company is targeting billions in ad revenue over the next few years as AI infrastructure costs continue to rise.
- For marketers, this is the clearest sign yet that AI search and conversational discovery are becoming a new paid media channel. Early adopters could benefit from lower competition and entirely new ad formats before the market matures.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Adds More Click Paths to AI Search
- Google is updating AI Mode and AI Overviews to surface more relevant links, original content and source previews inside AI Search.
- AI responses will now suggest follow-up articles and deeper angles, giving marketers more chances to earn visibility beyond the first answer.
- Google is adding subscription labels for news content, which could help publishers drive more value from paid audiences.
- AI Search will show more firsthand perspectives from forums, social media and public discussions, making authentic community content more important.
- Inline links and desktop hover previews aim to make users more confident clicking through from AI-generated answers.
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Platforms
Google Expands UCP Checkout Across Search Shopping Results
- Google is rolling out Universal Checkout Program (UCP) integration more broadly across Search Shopping results, allowing shoppers to complete purchases directly within Google rather than being redirected to retailer sites. This creates a faster, lower-friction buying journey.
- The expanded rollout means eligible merchants can now surface products with integrated checkout across more Search experiences, not just select placements. Google is clearly pushing deeper into becoming a transactional commerce platform, not just a discovery engine.
- For marketers and retailers, this could improve conversion rates by shortening the purchase path, but it also means brands may lose some direct customer interaction and on-site data collection opportunities.
- The move increases the importance of high-quality product feeds, accurate inventory, pricing consistency and strong Merchant Center optimisation, since Google is increasingly controlling the shopping experience end-to-end.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Meta’s Instagram AI Shopper Is Coming
- Meta is reportedly developing a new AI agent called “Hatch” that can complete tasks for users, including shopping directly through Instagram. The goal is to move beyond chatbot-style AI into “agentic AI” that can take actions on a user’s behalf.
- The AI could let users tap products in Reels or posts and have the assistant research, compare and potentially purchase items for them. This is another push from Meta to turn Instagram into a stronger social commerce platform that can better compete with TikTok Shop.
- Hatch is reportedly being tested across simulated versions of third-party apps like DoorDash, Reddit and Outlook, suggesting Meta wants the assistant to work well beyond its own ecosystem.
- Meta is currently using Anthropic’s AI models to power the project while developing its own in-house model called Muse Spark. Internal testing is reportedly targeted for mid-2026, with broader launches expected later in the year.
- For marketers, this signals a major shift in how discovery and conversion could happen on social platforms. If AI agents start handling product research and purchases, brands may need to optimise content not just for people, but for AI systems making shopping decisions.
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google Pushes AI Further Into Ads Automation
- Google is rolling out new AI-powered bidding and budgeting features across Search, Shopping and Performance Max to help advertisers capture more demand with less manual optimisation.
- A new beta feature called Journey-aware Bidding lets advertisers feed broader customer journey signals into optimisation, including non-biddable conversions. This gives Google AI more context beyond just lead form fills or first-click actions.
- Smart Bidding Exploration is expanding beyond Search into Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. Google says early testing delivered a 27% increase in unique converting users by identifying incremental and less obvious search queries.
- Google is also introducing demand-led budget pacing, where AI automatically shifts spend towards high-opportunity days while staying within total campaign budgets. Advertisers using total budgets reportedly reduced manual budget adjustments by 66%.
- The bigger shift here is strategic: Google is moving advertisers away from manual bid and budget management and towards feeding AI better data, signals and constraints. Human oversight will matter more in measurement, profitability and creative strategy rather than day-to-day campaign tweaking.
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AI in digital
Platforms
OpenAI is sharing user data signals with advertisers
- OpenAI has enabled marketing cookies by default for free users, allowing it to share identifiers like cookie and device data with advertising partners to promote its products
- The move supports a broader push into advertising, with OpenAI building out ad infrastructure and testing ads inside ChatGPT to monetise its large free user base
- OpenAI maintains that user conversations remain private and are not shared with advertisers, with partners only receiving aggregated or non identifying performance data
- Users still have control, with options to opt out of tracking and ad personalisation, while paid tiers remain largely exempt from these changes
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Platforms
Google Tells Developers To Build For AI Agents, Not Just Humans
- Google is advising developers to treat AI agents as a new type of user, as more tasks are being completed by AI instead of people browsing directly
- It recommends building agent friendly websites, since many current design patterns do not translate well for AI interacting with pages
- AI agents understand websites through visual rendering, HTML structure, and accessibility signals, which developers need to optimise for
- This reflects a broader shift towards task based experiences, where AI completes actions on behalf of users rather than users navigating sites themselves
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Platforms
Snapchat launches loyalty badges for Snap Map locations
- Snapchat has introduced “Place Loyalty” badges that show when users are among the most frequent visitors to a location based on activity over the past year
- Users are ranked into tiers such as gold, silver, and bronze depending on how often they visit a place, adding a gamified, competitive element similar to Snap Streaks
- Badges are private to each user but can be shared via stickers, encouraging social sharing without publicly exposing rankings by default
- The feature is designed to drive repeat visits and engagement with Snap Map, while also creating potential value for brands through aggregated location data
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google introduces AI qualified call leads
- Google Ads is shifting from measuring calls by duration to using AI to assess actual lead quality, analysing conversations to detect real purchase intent
- The system filters out low value interactions like spam, robocalls, and wrong numbers, improving the accuracy of conversion data
- Higher quality signals are fed into Smart Bidding, helping campaigns optimise towards more valuable leads rather than just longer calls
- Call recording is enabled by default (with some industry exceptions) so AI can evaluate conversations, with summaries and tags added for better reporting transparency
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Marketing by numbers
Social overtakes search as advertising market declines in March
- Australia’s ad market fell more than 5 per cent in March, largely due to last year’s federal election inflating comparisons and ongoing economic uncertainty impacting budgets
- Social media ad spend overtook search for the first time, pushing search into third place behind social and programmatic in the digital mix
- Digital bookings declined overall, though video and streaming continued to grow strongly, now accounting for more than 10 per cent of digital spend
- The broader market remains cautious, with late bookings increasing and brands holding back on committing budgets earlier, making planning more difficult for media owners
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AI in digital
Platforms
Google starts rolling out Gemini in Chrome across APAC
- Google is rolling out Gemini in Chrome across APAC (including Australia), embedding an AI assistant directly into the browser to help users summarise content, compare tabs and complete tasks without leaving the page.
- The move turns Chrome into a productivity hub, with deep integrations across Gmail, Maps, Calendar and YouTube—meaning users can take actions (like sending emails or scheduling meetings) mid-browse.
- New features like AI-powered image editing (Nano Banana 2) and “Personal Intelligence” add personalisation, letting the assistant remember context and tailor responses over time.
- Strategically, this is about owning the AI layer of the web experience, positioning Chrome as more than a browser and competing directly with tools like Microsoft Copilot.
- Google is emphasising security and user control, with safeguards for sensitive actions and protections against prompt injection as AI becomes more embedded in everyday browsing.
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