Since 8 September 2026, Google's results page has changed across the European Economic Area, Luxembourg included, for searches about hotels, flights, long-distance trains or buses and products. Google now shows two new blocks there, documented the same day by Google Search Central: an aggregator unit reserved for approved comparison sites and online travel agencies, and a supplier unit for hotels, airlines, shops and service providers that sell directly. The first is requested through a form and fed with data feeds; the second, according to Google, requires no data beyond what its crawler already reads on the site. On the same day, Google told Reuters that this redesign, demanded by the European Commission after the €460 million fine of 23 July for self-preferencing, is the largest reduction in the quality of its search engine in 29 years. Here is what the documentation says, what Google says, and what a business based in Luxembourg can do with it.
The facts
- On 8 September, Google Search Central published three pages dated that day and flagged in its documentation changelog: an overview of regional differences in the Search experience and two pages, one per block. None of the three mentions the Digital Markets Act. The aggregator unit is built for vertical search services: online travel agencies, comparison shopping services, metasearch engines, directories. The results of the top-ranked provider appear expanded, the user can switch to another aggregator, every click inside the unit leads to the aggregator's own site, and only one such unit appears at a time. Four conditions to get in: express interest (a form for hotels, flights and ground transport, the comparison shopping services desk for products), hold the content of the vertical, feed the unit through a direct feed or a real-time API, and comply with Google Search's content policies.
- The supplier unit appears next to the aggregator unit, and only when that unit is shown. Google names as beneficiaries independent hotels, airlines, brick-and-mortar shops and service providers, the example given being a plumber. Two conditions only: serve users in the EEA and be a direct provider for these queries. The page states that no additional data beyond what is accessible through web crawling is needed to appear there; a data feed can enrich the display without being required. The best practices published for aggregators point the way: factual titles without block capitals or promotional wording, precise categories ("boutique hotel" rather than "hotel"), original photographs without watermarks, prices and availability identical to those on the landing page, complete opening hours and amenities.
- In an exclusive Reuters report published on 8 September, Nick Fox, Google's senior vice-president for knowledge and information, says these changes degrade the experience for Europeans by boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses. Google speaks of the largest reduction in quality of service in its 29 years, names Expedia and Booking.com among the services gaining visibility, and states that its earlier DMA adjustments had already cut free direct booking traffic to European businesses by 30%. Those figures are Google's own, with no published methodology, as is the test on "millions of European users" who supposedly had to retype their queries. Reuters describes the new layout as follows: one specialised search engine at the top of the page, two others with fewer details, then a carousel of hotels, airlines and restaurants stripped of real-time prices.
- The framework: on 23 July 2026, the European Commission fined Google €460 million for favouring its own shopping, hotel, transport and sports services in its results, and €430 million for the restrictions imposed on developers on Google Play. Google had 60 days to comply, or face periodic penalties of up to 5% of its average daily worldwide turnover. The concept of aggregator units has existed in the EEA since February 2024, "in preparation for the DMA" in Google's words; what is new is the large-scale rollout, the supplier unit page and the eligibility criteria now made public. At the time of writing, the Commission has not publicly reacted to Google's statement, and it alone will say whether the new layout is compliant.
What does this redesign change for a business based in Luxembourg?
Luxembourg is part of the European Economic Area: the domestic market of a Luxembourg company and the Belgian, French and German sides of the Greater Region are all affected. The United Kingdom and Switzerland are outside the EEA, and Google states that users outside the Union see no change. The overview published on 8 September also documents, for the first time in a single place, results pages that differ by jurisdiction: the EEA, South Africa and Türkiye each have their own blocks, carousels and refinement chips. An advertiser who tracks Luxembourg and the United Kingdom in the same dashboard is now comparing two structurally different pages for the same query. First practical consequence: segment Search Console tracking by country, isolate the EEA and set a reference point before and after 8 September on the commercial queries of the four families concerned. A business can keep its rankings and lose clicks because a block has slotted in above it; tracking must cross rankings with clicks, never rankings alone.
The mechanics of the two blocks deserve to be understood before any decision is taken. The aggregator unit is a counter: a form, the content of the vertical, a direct feed or a real-time API, content policies. For a comparison site, a marketplace or an online travel agency, that means an application to prepare and a technical integration to cost, the real-time API required for flights and transport being a genuine barrier for a mid-sized organisation. The supplier unit is the reverse: nothing to request, nothing to send, though it only appears when the aggregator unit does, and Google selects the suppliers from what its crawler reads. The only variable under the direct control of a hotel, a shop or a service provider is therefore the quality of its pages: indexable product or property pages, with no leftover robots.txt block or forgotten noindex tag, a business name written without capitals or slogans, an exact category, original photographs, prices and availability that match what is shown elsewhere. Those recommendations are the ones Google publishes for aggregators; they also describe what a supplier's site needs to expose to the crawler. One last lever is a matter of code: the structured data carousel, still in beta in the EEA for hotels, local businesses, things to do, products, ground transport, flights and vacation rentals, is the only feature on the regional map that depends on schema.org markup, and so the only one an SEO team can switch on without an application or a feed.
That leaves the reading of the figures. Google is an interested party: it is contesting a decision that cost it €460 million and it communicates in its own interest. The 30% drop in direct booking traffic, the test on millions of users and the "largest reduction in quality" label are corporate claims with no published method, and we treat them as such. The Commission, for its part, defends a simple rule: a gatekeeper must not treat its own services more favourably than those of third parties. Between the two, a business does not have to pick a side; it has to measure what is happening to it. Our advice is to rebuild nothing in a hurry: the layout described by Reuters may still change depending on the Commission's assessment, as the freeze on parasite SEO penalties in the EEA showed in late August, another adjustment made under DMA proceedings. On the other hand, everything to do with crawl quality and the accuracy of the information published is useful whatever the outcome, and that is precisely what opens the supplier unit.
AIxH's view
We have followed Google's adjustments in the EEA since February 2024, and this is the first one that creates a free placement, reserved for businesses that sell directly, with no condition other than a well-built site. For a hotel, a shop or a service provider, it is one more reason to treat the technical foundations and the product pages as a commercial asset. Our SEO agency in Luxembourg starts with a diagnosis: indexing of the commercial pages, naming and categorisation of properties and products, consistency of prices and availability between the site and any existing feeds, structured data eligible for the regional carousel, then Search Console tracking split between the EEA and the rest of the world to read the real effect of the new blocks on your queries. The starting point is a record of your rankings and clicks before 8 September: we can establish it from your Search Console data.
