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Google I/O 2026: Reflections on Community, Connection, and What's Next

Written by: Noah Learner Tags: community, future of seo, newsletter

Published: May 22, 2026  |  Last Updated: Jun 4, 2026

I just spent a couple of days with some of my favorite people working in SEO at Google I/O, which served as a fitting backdrop to a week of highlights.

Highlights

It was incredibly rewarding for me on a personal level to attend for a simple reason: I felt like a proud parent. As I looked around, I saw so many friends I'd been able to connect with and even help in one way or another over the past few years. 

Some of you have been able to jump to new jobs over that time.

Some of you have upskilled in massive ways.

It came through loud and clear over meals we shared, talking about whats working for organic search and AI-powered search right now. I was surrounded by so many friends, old and new members of the SEO community. I realize just how special it is, getting together here online and also in real life when opportunities arise.

How lucky I am to get to spend so much quality time with you all.

Google I/O takeaways

The TLDR from Google I/O was that there really wasn't anything new that could put our industry in an existential risk category, quite like AI mode felt like to those of us who attended last year.

Universal cart and WebMCP are a big deal, and I do recommend that you take some time to read about them to learn more about how they will impact your clients and how they can leverage them to grow revenues online.

The larger search box does not really feel like it's going to have any kind of measurable impact on CTRs or clicks.

The UIs that dynamically build themselves based on the types of searches you perform do feel like Google grabbing more different types of traffic.

Laura Beatty said something really smart in one of our clubhouse rooms on Tuesday: it felt like our clients who are building tools like calculators will lose traffic as a result. That's still TBD, but it's something for us to watch over the coming years.

We were hoping for face to face time with engineers

I have to be honest, I felt super let down by Google not meeting with us at the event. Those who attended had gone to great expense to have the opportunity to meet with the search engineering team. It was a super bummer to not have that chance due to scheduling conflicts.

Final thoughts

The biggest takeaway from this trip wasn't the product announcements or the keynotes; it was the people.

This community continues to be the most valuable part of what we do. Thank you.