Knowledge base v2.13.0 · Community edition · data through 2 October 2026
Topic · The state of Search
Search Agents in AI Mode let users set standing requests and be told when something happens, such as a product going on sale, a team winning or a price dropping below a level. On Day 1 Google said Search agents in AI Mode had launched globally a day or two earlier; a search marketing agency reported that Google's VP of Product for Search announced on 28 September 2026 that AI Mode information monitoring was rolling out to everyone in the Google app, after a first launch for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. An agent is set up by typing a natural-language request, which AI Mode turns into an alert (Google called it an information agent), and Google said agentic capabilities that allow bookings would roll out later in 2026, in the US first. In the Q&A a Google panelist said agents acting on a user's request read pages without checking robots.txt, argued that this makes business sense because an agent sent to buy something must be able to complete the purchase, and said an agent should not blindly trust what a site says about its own authority.
Things in this topic 3
Counts are claims that name the thing. All things
What to do
Search Agents in AI Mode let users set standing requests for updates, such as being told when a product goes on sale, a team wins or a price drops below a level.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence slide photo, transcript
Google said Search agents in AI Mode had launched globally a day or two before 30 September 2026.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence transcript
Used byglossary term Search agents (information agents)
A Search agent is set up by typing a natural-language request, which AI Mode interprets to create an alert; Google called this an information agent.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence transcript
Used byglossary term Search agents (information agents)
Google said it would roll out agentic capabilities that allow bookings later in 2026, in the US only at first.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence transcript
AI agents acting on a user's request fall into the same category as user-initiated fetchers: an agent told to look at a site reads the page without checking robots.txt.
Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript
Used byrequirement DEV-AIF-05glossary term User-triggered fetchers
A Google panelist argued that it makes business sense for agents not to follow robots.txt: an agent sent to buy something that obeyed a robots.txt block could not complete the purchase, a bad experience for the user and lost revenue for the shop.
Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript
A Google panelist said much of robots.txt is written with search engines in mind: a search engine should never add items to a cart or check out, but an agent acting for a user probably should be able to.
Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript
A Google panelist compared llms.txt to the old meta keywords debate: an AI agent should not blindly trust what a site says about its own authority, just as a site calling itself the best car insurance site is no reason to stop looking at others.
Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript
A search marketing agency reported on 29 September 2026 that Google's VP of Product for Search announced on X, on 28 September 2026, that AI Mode information monitoring was rolling out to everyone globally in the Google app; Google's I/O 2026 post had launched information agents first for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in summer 2026.
Reported by Relevant Audience (29 September 2026), Google blog (19 May 2026)Annotates Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of Search
Google said Search agents in AI Mode had launched globally a day or two before 30 September 2026.
Search Agents in AI Mode let users set standing requests for updates, such as being told when a product goes on sale, a team wins or a price drops below a level.
A Search agent is set up by typing a natural-language request, which AI Mode interprets to create an alert; Google called this an information agent.
Search Agents in AI Mode let users set standing requests for updates, such as being told when a product goes on sale, a team wins or a price drops below a level.
AI agents that browse the web for users run into the same bot walls that sites put up against scrapers, and may give up and go to another site, for example to buy the product elsewhere.
Rests on 13 claims, 1 of them in this topic