European Google Search does not look the way it did a month ago.

Product carousels have disappeared from many commercial searches in the European Economic Area. New aggregator and supplier units are appearing for products, hotels and local businesses. Google is challenging two separate Digital Markets Act measures in the EU courts. And another DMA process could eventually give qualifying rival search engines — including some AI chatbots with search functionality — access to Google search data.

These developments are related, but they are not the same proceeding.

That distinction matters.

For marketers trying to understand what is happening in European search, the useful question is no longer simply whether Google is complying with the DMA.

It is:

Which rule changed which part of Search, what has actually been implemented, and what remains unsettled?

The timeline so far

Date Development Status
16 July 2026 Commission adopts binding measures on Google Search data sharing and Android AI interoperability Confirmed
23 July 2026 Commission finds Google non-compliant in Search self-preferencing and Google Play steering Confirmed
8 September 2026 Google documents new regional Search experiences for the EEA Confirmed
Mid-September Third-party tracking records a sharp loss of organic product carousels in several EEA markets Third-party measurement
18 September Google expands aggregator and supplier documentation to local-business queries Confirmed
Late September New Comparison Sites units become consistently visible in third-party tracking Third-party measurement
28 September Alphabet and Google Ireland file two actions against the Commission in the General Court Confirmed
October 2026 Commission assessment and implementation remain active Developing
November 2026 Search-data measures call for the anonymised dataset to be finalised Scheduled
January 2027 Search-data measures call for the pricing offer to be finalised Scheduled

The important point is that there are several DMA tracks moving at once.

The July Search decision is about self-preferencing

On 23 July, the European Commission issued two non-compliance decisions against Google under the Digital Markets Act.

The Search decision carried a €460 million fine. The Commission said Google had treated its own services more favourably than competing services in areas including shopping, hotels, transport and sports.

A separate €430 million fine concerned Google Play and restrictions on app developers directing customers to alternative purchasing channels.

Together, the fines totalled €890 million.

For Search, the practical requirement is straightforward in principle: third-party services must be treated fairly and non-discriminatorily relative to Google’s own services.

The implementation is much less straightforward.

The Commission gave Google 60 days to bring the non-compliance to an end. It also said failure to comply could lead to periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of total worldwide turnover.

Google had already been testing changes to European search results, and the Commission said it would continue assessing those changes.

It specifically noted that dialogue would continue around how the decision should apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Google’s EEA search results have already changed

On 8 September, Google added documentation describing regional differences in Search.

For users in the European Economic Area, that documentation now describes two important result types: aggregator units and supplier units.

Aggregator units are designed for services such as comparison-shopping sites, online travel agencies, metasearch engines and directories.

Google says the top-ranked aggregator’s results are expanded by default. A user can then select another provider from the available alternatives.

Clicks inside the aggregator unit lead to the aggregator’s website.

Supplier units are intended for direct providers such as retailers, hotels, airlines and local businesses. They appear alongside the aggregator experience rather than independently of it.

That architecture creates an important change in how a commercial search can send traffic.

A search that previously exposed a retailer’s product directly may now expose a comparison service first.

The product-search change is measurable, but the scale is still third-party data

Productrise began reporting a sharp decline in Google’s familiar organic product carousels across several EEA countries around 15–16 September.

Its tracking showed a very different pattern outside the EEA, including in the UK.

By 29 September, Productrise was documenting another element appearing in its data: a Comparison Shopping Service carousel.

In the countries shown in its published examples, the new element appeared on roughly one-third to one-half of tracked queries by the end of September.

That is useful evidence.

It is not the same thing as a Google-wide measurement.

Productrise has not published enough detail for NEMO to treat its percentages as representative of every commercial query in every European market.

That is exactly why independent query-level measurement now matters.

Google has now gone to the General Court

The EU court register shows two new cases filed by Alphabet and Google Ireland against the European Commission on 28 September:

T-638/26 and T-639/26.

Both are pending before the General Court.

The register also shows an interim-relief proceeding connected with T-638/26.

Public reporting links the litigation to the Commission’s July specification measures concerning Google Search data sharing and Android interoperability for competing AI services.

The litigation therefore adds another layer to the story.

Google is not only changing Search in response to DMA enforcement. It is also challenging parts of the regulatory framework governing what data and Android capabilities competitors may receive.

The Search-data proceeding deserves particular attention from marketers because it is not simply about displaying more links.

Under Article 6(11) of the DMA, the Commission’s July measures require Google to make certain anonymised search data available to eligible rival online search engines on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

The Commission explicitly says qualifying AI chatbots with search functionality can be eligible.

The data does not include Google’s algorithms.

The measures concern data such as rankings, queries, clicks and views, subject to anonymisation and other safeguards.

The implementation timetable stretches into 2027.

By November 2026, the anonymised dataset is scheduled to be finalised. By January 2027, the pricing offer is scheduled to be finalised and communicated to the Commission and eligible third-party search engines.

For marketers, the long-term question is significant:

What happens if competing AI-search products gain access to search-behaviour data that previously existed at Google scale?

It is too early to claim an effect.

But it creates something NEMO can measure.

A fixed European query set captured before and after those milestones could show whether rival AI search systems begin converging toward different sources, brands or recommendations.

What remains unresolved

Several important questions are still open.

First, the public DMA case register for Google’s Search self-preferencing proceeding still lists 23 July as its latest decision date as of 1 October. That does not prove that no assessment work is occurring. The Commission has repeatedly said assessment and regulatory dialogue are ongoing.

Second, the new EEA search layout is still developing.

Google’s documentation defines the mechanisms, but it does not tell marketers how frequently each feature appears across countries and query categories.

Third, the commercial effect remains largely unmeasured.

A decline in product-carousel visibility does not automatically prove a decline in retailer revenue.

An aggregator receiving the first click does not tell us whether the eventual merchant conversion is better or worse.

And a change in Search layout does not prove that paid-shopping costs increased.

Those require data.

The next measurement: who actually gets the Comparison Sites slot?

This is where NEMO’s coverage moves from reporting to measurement.

We are beginning a country-level audit of Google’s new Comparison Sites experience.

The research question is simple:

When Google’s aggregator unit appears for a commercial product query, which comparison service gets expanded first?

The audit will record the result by country and query rather than assume that Google’s European layout behaves uniformly.

Initial fields will include:

  • country;
  • query;
  • product category;
  • whether an aggregator unit appears;
  • which provider is expanded by default;
  • other visible comparison providers;
  • whether Google itself appears as a provider;
  • whether a classic product carousel also appears;
  • number of visible products;
  • date and device.

The UK will be used as a non-EEA comparison market where appropriate.

The objective is not to declare a winner from a handful of screenshots.

It is to build a repeatable baseline.

What European marketers should watch next

There are now three separate signals worth monitoring.

The first is interface change: what Google actually displays in each EEA market.

The second is traffic change: whether retailers, hotels, local businesses and comparison services see measurable changes in clicks and conversions.

The third is regulatory change: what the Commission and the General Court do next.

Those signals will not necessarily move together.

That is why Europe’s Search story increasingly needs to be measured at the query and country level rather than reduced to a single headline about the DMA.

For NEMO Europe, that measurement starts now.

Sources

  • European Commission — Google DMA non-compliance decision, 23 July 2026
  • European Commission — Alphabet Search Data specification proceedings
  • European Commission — Alphabet Android AI interoperability proceedings
  • Court of Justice of the European Union / General Court — T-638/26, T-638/26 R and T-639/26
  • Google Search Central — Regional differences in Search experience
  • Google Search Central — Aggregator unit and supplier unit documentation
  • Productrise — EEA product carousel and Comparison Shopping Service tracking, September 2026