Monthly SEO Insights: January 2026
January is, for most of us, a month of fresh ideas and resolutions. But for Google and the wider world of search, 2026 is so much about starting fresh, but doubling down on advancing AI, to the point where it seems ‘standard practice’ now. The experimentation, testing, and integration of AI continues with each passing day, and as a result, rankings are still fluctuating.
One thing remains clear, however, from our insights: content freshness continues to play a pivotal role in boosting organic search performance and enhancing visibility in AI search results. At Artemis Marketing, we have already integrated these shifts into our daily strategies, ensuring our clients are perfectly positioned to thrive across both organic search and AI platforms.
Agentic Commerce
January 2026 brought major news to the eCommerce world with two groundbreaking announcements: 1) Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and 2) Shopify’s ‘Agentic Storefronts’.
To put this in plain English: we are moving from “search” to “agents.”
In the past, a customer would search for a product and click a link to your site. In 2026, customers are increasingly using AI “agents” (like Gemini or ChatGPT) as, effectively, a digital personal shopping assistant.
Instead of browsing a list of links, a user might say to an AI agent: “Find me a waterproof hiking boot under £120 that’s in stock in a size 10 and can be delivered by Friday.”
The “agent” does the legwork, comparing products across the web and presenting the best option to the user.
These new updates from Google and Shopify are designed to make sure your product data is as “readable” as possible by these AI agents.
Put it this way: if your store doesn’t speak the same language as the AI, you won’t even be in the running to appear in these types of listings.
What are the implications for SEO?
For our eCommerce clients, this means SEO is no longer just about keywords; it is about “data readiness.”
While websites are still essential (that’s not changing), the introduction of agentic commerce through platforms like Google AI Mode and Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts opens up new opportunities for discovery and purchase.
The reality is that the core SEO principles we have always implemented remain fundamentally the same. Accurate product data, high-quality content, and strong brand authority are still crucial for visibility in AI.
Much like in organic search and Google Merchant Center shopping, these qualities will help retailers stand out and attract the right customers, ensuring a solid foundation for success in eCommerce.
What we’re doing about it
At Artemis Marketing, we’re proactively preparing our eCommerce clients to ensure their platforms are ready to “talk” to these new AI agents. This includes a deep dive into Google Merchant Center setups to ensure they are optimised for maximum performance and that every product detail is perfectly structured for AI discovery.
We are also doubling down on traditional SEO fundamentals:
- Focusing on high-quality content
- Strengthening brand authority
- Enhancing the trust signals that AI models look for when making recommendations.
As we blend these principles with new AI advancements and agentic commerce, we’re making sure our clients are ready for further changes, but more importantly, in a prime position to be regularly recommended to discerning users.
Ranking Volatility
Google rolled out its final core update of the year, of which there were several, which wrapped up in the closing days of December. This one is particularly being felt, with many in the search community noticing volatility in Google rankings all throughout January, which can be pointed back to the December core update.
Although Google has yet to confirm whether another update is in progress, there is significant speculation within the search community that this particular one could be a ‘spam’ update. Only time will tell if this theory proves to be accurate.
To give further context, some UK search sensors have shown clear signs of this volatility, highlighting the fluctuating rankings throughout the month, which you can see below:
(Data from Semrush)
(Data from AccuRanker)
What this means and what we’re doing about it
At Artemis, we’re maintaining an informed stance, rather than a reactionary one. While we have yet to see significant impacts of this core update for our clients (so far), we’re monitoring performance closely and are prepared to respond should any ranking changes occur.
We remain focused on the long-term strategy, knowing that consistency, quality, and ongoing optimisation are the key drivers of success, especially during broad algorithm updates. Many of our clients know that we don’t prioritise temporary fixes, and instead, remain committed to steady, sustainable improvements that ensure our clients are well-positioned to maintain strong rankings in the face of such fluctuations.
Content Freshness
One key trend we continue to observe and advocate for is the strong correlation between content freshness and search engine performance.
Think of a website like a high-street shop window; if the display never changes, both customers and search engine “bots” eventually stop looking. Customers aren’t going to pay any more attention to a shop window that keeps the same items and signs in place month after month. Failing to update website pages regularly sends the same kind of message to online searchers and crawlers.
Regularly updating pages enhances user experience by providing current, relevant, and up-to-date content and information. It also encourages search engine crawlers to visit those pages more frequently, and the increased crawling often results in more stable or even improved search rankings over time.
In 2026, this “freshness” has become even more critical because it now extends to AI Overviews and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. These AI tools prioritise the most recent, up-to-date information to ensure their answers are accurate.
What this means and what we’re doing about it
By prioritising content freshness, we ensure our clients’ pages remain competitive and aligned with the latest search engine behaviours. We are constantly monitoring how crawlers interact with our client websites, identifying areas where content updates are necessary. While key pages on the website take priority, we take a holistic approach by looking across the entire site to ensure that all content (such as blogs, evergreen content, articles, FAQs, and more) is kept as current as possible.
This strategy helps guarantee that both search engine and LLM crawlers continue to visit the website regularly, keeping it fresh in the eyes of both users and algorithms. Ultimately, this ongoing commitment to content freshness supports sustained visibility and performance in search results.
The trend of AI tools and agents valuing both content freshness and product data quality looks set to continue. We already know that AI tools are being used more frequently, so to stand a better chance of your brand appearing in them, it’s prudent to focus on ensuring content and information is as accurate, relevant and readable as possible for both humans and bots. We will continue, as part of our ongoing strategies, to keep site content fresh, up-to-date, engaging and relevant, while exploring opportunities for new content areas.
