Trend Radar Week 41/2026: AI agents become practical

Google Ads gives AI Max more control and reporting depth

In recent weeks, Google announced new AI Max features for Search campaigns: AI Brief in more languages, including German, and reporting that should connect search terms, creative assets and landing pages in one view. The direction is clear: advertising is moving from manual keyword work to AI-guided delivery.

What does this mean for you? If you run ads, your website basics matter more than ever: clear service pages, transparent pricing or price ranges, strong contact options and copy that matches your actual offer. Review campaigns by lead quality, not only by cost per click. Useful basics: /ratgeber/google-ads-kleinunternehmen-start/ and /ratgeber/landingpage-vs-website/.

Privacy regulators look at scraping, AI and platform data

The European Data Protection Board has recently published and consulted guidance around GDPR, the Digital Services Act and AI-related data processing. The topic of web scraping for generative AI is especially relevant: publicly visible data is not automatically free to use when it relates to people.

What does this mean for you? Do not paste customer data, applications, chat histories or contact form submissions into AI tools without checking. If you use chatbots, analytics or automated evaluation, document which data goes where, whether a data processing agreement is needed and whether your privacy policy covers it.

AI has reached the majority of German companies

Bitkom reports a clear jump for 2026: for the first time, a majority of surveyed companies in Germany uses AI. Common fields are customer contact, marketing and communication. At the same time, many companies still see themselves at the beginning.

What does this mean for you? Start small and measurable: answer drafts for frequent questions, summaries of enquiries, FAQ ideas and structure for service pages. Never publish AI text unchecked. Names, prices, deadlines, legal statements and local details need human review. If AI appears on your website as a chatbot, define clear limits and keep a route to real contact.

Agentic commerce is a trend, but the shop must be clean first

New retail and consulting studies describe agentic commerce as the next step: AI agents may compare products, make recommendations or prepare parts of the purchase. At the same time, the HDE Online Monitor 2026 shows that German e-commerce keeps growing and marketplaces remain important.

What does this mean for you? Do not build for a futuristic agent first. Build clean data: product names, variants, delivery times, shipping costs, return information, reviews and contact routes must be understandable for people and machines. For many local businesses, a strong catalogue with enquiry or booking is still more realistic than a full shop.

In brief

• Google keeps moving ads, shopping and search toward AI-guided answers. Good website structure becomes more important, not less.
• Accessibility under Germany’s BFSG remains an ongoing topic. New shop and booking features should be checked before launch.
• If you use AI in customer contact, define what the bot may say, when a human takes over and where data is stored.