Google AI Overviews: Berlin ruling and SEO impact

The Berlin ruling in brief: what the judge decided

On June 16, 2026, a Berlin court dropped a ruling that's gonna cause a lot of talk in the European digital marketing world. The case was started by a perfume maker complaining that their Google's AI Overviews showcase their brand alongside low-cost imitation products, with corresponding links to competitor sites.

The judge rejected the appeal. According to the court, AI Overviews simply constitute a new search result format . Therefore, Google does not exert a decisive influence on the selection and presentation of content. Essentially, the search engine is treated as an aggregator, not a responsible publisher.

This distinction is super important. In fact, it sets the level of legal responsibility Google has if info is wrong or bad for brands. To check out the original story, head over to the comprehensive analysis published by The Decoder .

The contrast with Munich: a legal landscape that is still fragmented

The Berlin ruling does not represent a unanimous stance. On the contrary, a court in Munich recently ruled that Google is directly responsible for false or misleading AI answers. The two cases, however, present substantial differences in the contested facts.

Despite this, the coexistence of opposing decisions within the same German legal system creates an atmosphere of uncertainty. Businesses operating online still lack a stable regulatory framework. As a result, digital brand protection strategies must be built on flexible foundations.

At the European level, the issue intertwines with Digital Services Act and with ongoing discussions about the AI Act. So, in the coming months, further rulings and regulatory guidelines are likely to emerge. SMEs would do well to follow the evolution closely.

How AI Overviews work and why they impact SEO

AI Overviews are automatically generated boxes by Google. They appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and summarize answers to user queries. They use content extracted from third-party sources indexed by the engine.

The problem for SMEs is twofold. First of all, these boxes reduce the click-through rate to the organic sites below. Furthermore, they can associate a brand with incorrect information or unwanted competitors, as in the case of the perfume company cited in the ruling.

According to recent data from Gartner , traditional search volumes are destined to progressively shrink with the spread of AI interfaces. Therefore, managing presence in AI Overviews becomes a strategic front independent of classic SEO. We at SHM Studio we already monitor it as a separate KPI for our clients.

Immediate impact for Italian SMEs: brand safety and organic visibility

The Berlin ruling has concrete practical implications. If Google is not held responsible for content in AI Overviews, the options for legal action by a damaged company are significantly reduced. Therefore, brand protection must happen proactively, not reactively.

For Italian retail SMEs, the risk is particularly high. For example, a maker of artisanal goods might see their name linked to low-cost knockoffs in AI answers. Similarly, a B2B company could find itself associated with competitors that have very different pricing.

The most exposed operational areas are the following:

• Brand reputation : unwanted associations in AI boxes can influence brand perception even before the user visits the site.
• Organic traffic : AI Overviews intercept high commercial intent queries, reducing clicks to product pages.
• Keyword strategy : informational queries are increasingly handled by AI, shifting SEO value toward authoritative and structured content.

For this reason, a review of SEO Strategy in light of these changes is no longer postponable.

What nobody is saying: the ruling changes the relationship between brands and the SERP

There is one aspect that is rarely discussed openly. Qualifying AI Overviews as a simple search format shifts the burden of protection entirely onto the brand's shoulders. In other words, you can no longer expect Google to spontaneously fix damaging associations.

This changes the paradigm of digital marketing strategy . Businesses need to invest more systematically in creating authoritative content. In fact, Google tends to favor sources with high E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) even in the composition of AI Overviews.

In addition to this, data structuring through schema markup and keeping info consistent across all platforms become even bigger deals. Basically, brands that lock down their digital identity are way less likely to get misrepresented by AI.

What to do now: three operational priorities for SMEs

In light of the ruling and the evolving context, we can identify some practical priorities. These apply to both B2B SMEs and retail companies.

1. Audit of presence in AI Overviews. First of all, you need to check how Google represents your brand in AI answers. This requires systematic monitoring of SERPs for brand and category keywords. Our team of SEO copywriting can support this analysis.

2. Strengthening editorial authority. Furthermore, it is essential to produce content that Google can reliably cite in AI Overviews. In-depth articles, original data, and verifiable sources increase the likelihood of being represented correctly. The section Blog corporate communication returns to having a primary strategic role.

3. Multi-channel brand presence. Finally, consistency of information on Google Business Profile, Wikipedia, industry websites, and social platforms reduces the risk of unwanted contamination in AI answers. An integrated strategy of Digital marketing must include this monitoring as an ongoing activity.

Medium-term outlook: towards European regulation of AI search

The current legal fragmentation is not sustainable in the long term. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect the European Commission to intervene with specific guidelines for AI search engines by 2027-2028. The regulatory framework of the European AI Act already offers some foundations on which to build transparency obligations for generative search systems.

Meanwhile, SMEs can't afford to wait. Strategic decisions about organic visibility need to be made today, in a context where the rules of the game are changing fast. Those who invest now in structured content, editorial authority, and digital brand presence will have a major competitive edge.

For companies wanting to explore the implications of these changes on their strategy, the team at SHM Studio is available for a consultation . Active services include the management of google ads campaigns , the Technical and editorial SEO , and the activities of AI integration in marketing processes. Also the LinkedIn campaigns represent a complementary channel to reduce dependence on organic visibility on Google.