Google has introduced new Search features that further its evolution into a task-oriented tool, allowing users to launch AI agents directly from AI Mode and complete other tasks. This is a practice that all SEOs and online businesses should know.
Rose Yao, Product Research lead, posted about the new features in X. The first tool is a change that enables users to track hotel prices from the search bar.
Yao explained:
“To help you save $$, today we’re introducing Search hotel price tracking! Use the new tracking toggle to get an email when prices drop on your dream hotel. Available now, worldwide”
An accompanying official blog post also explained the new tool:
“You can already track hotel prices at the city level, and if you launch today, you can track individual hotel prices. To get started on the desktop, go to Search and look for a specific hotel by name, then tap the new price tracking change. On mobile, you’ll find the price tracking option under the Prices tab after the search. In any case, you’ll get date estimates, and you can get an email that changes, so you can exceed the price if you exceed the price you selected. Enjoy. too much.”
Agentic Search From AI mode
The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, recently shared that the future of search is assigned based on relying on AI agents that can complete user tasks. This announcement brings Google search closer to that paradigm by introducing agent search directly from AI Mode. This new feature introduces an AI agent from AI Mode that will call local stores.
Yao explained:
“Calling with AI in AI mode to find last minute travel gear.
If you need that *one item* before you leave but don’t know who has it in stock, you can ask AI Mode to save you the stress. Just search for what you need “near me” and Google AI will call local stores directly for the information you need.
This feature has been available in Google Search since November 2025 but now it is coming out of AI Mode.
The Canvas Tool
AI Mode in Search has a Canvas tool that can accomplish user editing tasks. The official blog post explains:
“AI Mode in Search can turn your extensive research into a cohesive travel plan. Just go to AI Mode, select the Canvas tool from the combo menu (+) and define your ideal itinerary. AI Mode will create a custom itinerary in the Canvas side panel, including flight and hotel options, as well as local attractions laid out on a map.”
The results can also be refined by the user. Tour planning with the Canvas tool is currently only available in the United States.
Three Travel Tools Included
Those are the three mobility-related features Yao announced in X. The official blog post lists seven travel-related features, not all of them new. For example, saving a boarding pass in Google Wallet is not a new feature.
Seven Google Travel Related Search Features
- Build a custom itinerary with AI mode in Search
- Save money by tracking hotel rates on Search
- Let Google take the hassle out of restaurant reservations
- Ask Google to call nearby stores for last-minute shopping
- Translate and communicate with confidence
- Ask Maps about the best stops on your summer trip
- Make airport travel easier with Google Wallet
Search Conversions Continue
Key takeaways are:
- Search is on the way to focus on work
- Features like hotel tracking, AI calling, and Canvas show Google handling real-world actions, not just queries
- Sundar Photosi’s “work-based” concept is already live in product features, not theory
- AI mode acts as an execution layer, turning search into a tool that does things on behalf of users
- Local purpose is becoming more effective, AI is interacting directly with businesses
- The traditional model of “ten green links” is replaced by an interface that organizes and completes the workflow
- Visibility in search is increasingly responsible for your business being used by these systems, not just being found
Google Search is becoming less about answering questions and more about helping users with their daily tasks. In that mode, it changes the website’s role from a destination to a data source and service endpoint.
For retailers, that creates an opportunity to help businesses recognize these changes and be ready for them.
When AI agents call stores, track prices, and aggregate programs, the winners are not just the best-ranked pages but those that use precisely structured HTML elements and Schema.org’s structured markup. The winners are businesses whose data is structured, accessible, and actionable enough for those agents to use.
What does this mean:
- Treat product availability, pricing, hours, and inventory as key inputs, not just content
- Ensure local listings, structured data, and third-party integrations are accurate and consistent
Google Search is evolving into a task-based user interface. Agentic job-based search is not hype, it’s a real thing and these new features are part of that change. The old ten green links paradigm is fading away and what is taking its place is the concept of search as the interface for navigating the modern world.
Learn more about Google’s activity-based agent search. On a related note, research based on 68 million AI crawler visits shows that successful websites are driving better AI search performance on local business sites.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Sergio Reis
