Plus, the next core update and UX tips from our team  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Raptive News MAY 27, 2026 Hi Raptive, Google I/O last week made one thing clear: discovery is becoming more conversational, more visual, and more AI-assisted. Google announced an AI-first search box, new search agents, and YouTube tools that can help people find, remix, and create in new ways. It shows that trust, originality, and a strong reader experience matter even more when platforms summarize, suggest, and answer before someone clicks. Here’s what’s inside: • What Google’s AI search updates mean for you • The search fundamentals that strengthen visibility • Some tips to act on during the summer slowdown What’s new Google is bringing AI deeper into discovery At I/O, Google announced an intelligent search box that can search across text, images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs, plus AI Mode updates powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash. It also previewed information agents that can monitor the web in the background. This is another reminder that every important page on your site needs to demonstrate clear expertise, share fresh information, and include strong visuals so they are easy to understand, cite, and give readers a reason to come back directly. Read Google’s Search update → YouTube is changing how viewers find and remix content YouTube announced several AI-powered updates at I/O, including Ask YouTube, a conversational search experience that delivers structured recommendations across long-form videos and Shorts. The platform is also rolling out Gemini Omni tools inside Shorts Remix and YouTube Create, making it easier for users to transform and build on existing videos with prompts and AI-generated edits. These changes could create new discovery opportunities for creators, but they also raise important questions around attribution, likeness protection, and preserving original voice as remixing becomes easier and more widespread. YouTube says remixed Shorts will include watermarks, metadata, and links back to original videos, while creators can opt out of visual remixing and access expanded likeness detection tools. See YouTube’s I/O news → Top resource Your content quality checklist for stronger search performance Google rolls out core updates often enough at this point that checking the Search Status Dashboard feels like checking the weather. We’ll learn more about what this next one is about soon, but in the meantime, we know that great content today needs to do more than include the right keywords. It needs to answer reader questions clearly, show real expertise, build trust, and create a better on-site experience from the first scroll to the last click. This checklist from our SEO team breaks down the key elements of high-quality content with practical ways to evaluate whether your pages are genuinely helpful and built to perform long-term. Check out the content quality checklist → Quick tip Use the summer slowdown to improve page experience “When traffic inevitably softens during the summer, it’s a good opportunity to clean up pages that may be hurting engagement or monetization. Reduce unnecessary clutter, make content easier to scan, improve image sizing and placement, and ensure ads support the experience rather than interrupt it. Small UX improvements made now can create stronger performance when traffic rebounds.” Sheelagh Robb Creator Performance Don’t miss Share your feedback about Raptive with Google On Tuesday, you may have received an email from Google (GCPP@qualtrics-survey.com) asking for your thoughts on Raptive. It’s completely optional, but we’d appreciate your feedback if you can take a few minutes to fill it out! What we’re reading Catch up on news from around the industry • Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum (TechCrunch) • Instacart brings agentic grocery shopping to Gemini (Instacart) • Why transparent measurement should reshape where dollars flow (The Current) Question of the week Where are readers most likely to discover you next? As search, social, video, and AI assistants overlap, we’re curious where you’re placing your biggest bets. 🔎 Search steady Doubling down on helpful, refreshed evergreen content 📬 Owned audience builder Email and direct traffic are getting more attention 🎥 Video discovery mode YouTube, Shorts, and social are where I’m testing most 🧭 Cross-platform explorer Spreading effort across several discovery paths Thanks for reading! Was this email helpful? You’re receiving this email because you help manage a site that works with Raptive. To ensure our emails reach your inbox, add hello@email.raptive.com to your email contacts. 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