Google redesigns SERPs in Europe: impact on e-commerce and travel

What has changed in the SERPs of the European Economic Area

Back in September 2026, Google rolled out a major redesign of its search results pages for users all across the European Economic Area. As reported by Search Engine Journal , the change directly affects vertical queries: hotels, flights, transport, and commercial products.

In particular, Google has reworked the so-called aggregator units , the blocks that aggregate results from multiple sources. Alongside these, it has introduced the new supplier units : sections dedicated to direct suppliers, which appear in prominent positions in the SERP. Therefore, for the first time, an independent hotel or an airline can appear in a structured format separate from aggregators like Booking or Skyscanner.

This redesign is no accident. In fact, it fits into the context of the European Digital Markets Act, which forces Google to guarantee fairer access conditions for direct suppliers. Consequently, the visual structure of the SERP changes, and with it the optimization logic for anyone who wants to stay visible.

The immediate impact on e-commerce, travel, and hospitality

For Italian companies active in these sectors, the implications are concrete and immediate. However, not all businesses are exposed in the same way.

In the sector travel and hospitality , accommodation facilities and transport companies that have up-to-date structured markup — in particular schema.org/Hotel , schema.org/Flight and schema.org/LodgingBusiness — now have the opportunity to appear in the new supplier units . On the other hand, those who have not implemented these markups risk remaining invisible in those blocks, ceding visibility to aggregators.

In the E-commerce , the redesign of product units requires a review of feeds and structured data of type Product and Offer . Plus, compatibility with Google Merchant Center is becoming even more crucial. SMEs selling online without structured product data management will find it tough to compete in the new formats.

Finally, for those operating in the transport sector — buses, trains, rentals — the new dedicated units open up a competitive space that did not previously exist so explicitly in the Italian and European SERP.

Structured data: the technical node that decides visibility

The operational core of this update is purely technical. Google uses structured data to power these new formats. So, without proper and up-to-date markup, no content stands a chance of showing up in the supplier units .

According to Google's official guidelines for structured data , the most relevant schema types for this update include: Hotel , Product , Offer , Flight and LocalBusiness . Furthermore, the quality and completeness of the filled-in fields directly impact format eligibility.

An in-depth technical audit is therefore the first step. At SHM Studio, this type of verification is part of the standard approach to our SEO services , keeping a close eye on markup compatibility with the latest rich result formats. By the way, this update makes bridging technical SEO and product feed management even more urgent.

The regulatory framework that pushed Google to take action

This redesign does not stem from a purely editorial choice by Google. Therefore, it is useful to understand the regulatory context that generated it.

The Digital Markets Act imposes on the so-called gatekeeper — including Google — not to favor their own services in search results. As a result, Google was forced to redesign its vertical formats to ensure fair access for direct providers too. Similarly, the European Commission has already launched proceedings against Google for practices of self-preferencing in shopping and travel searches.

Therefore, the current redesign is also a response to regulatory pressures. For Italian companies, this means the change is structural and not reversible in the short term. Investing in optimization for the new formats is a multi-year commitment.

What to do in the coming weeks: operational priorities

Faced with this update, operational priorities are divided into three distinct levels.

• Audit of existing structured data. Verify that the implemented markups are compatible with the new Google formats. Use the Google Rich Results Test to spot errors and missing fields. Plus, check your coverage using Search Console, where the rich results reports show you which pages are eligible and which got left out.
• Markup update for affected verticals. For travel and hospitality, implementing or updating schemas Hotel , LodgingBusiness and TouristAttraction . For e-commerce, check the completeness of the fields Product and Offer , including price, availability, and currency.
• Monitoring positions in the new formats. Traditional organic position metrics do not capture visibility in supplier units . Therefore, it is necessary to integrate monitoring with specific tools for rich result and vertical formats.

In this context, our activity of SEO copywriting it integrates with technical work: page content must support and align with the implemented structured data.

Visibility in European SERPs: a work in progress

This update isn't an isolated event. Instead, it's part of a broader shift in European and global SERPs that's totally changing the rules of organic visibility.

In our cluster dedicated to SEO and AI visibility , we have already analyzed closely related dynamics. For example, the automatic expansion of Google's AI Overviews — described in the article on how Google auto-expands AI Overviews and what changes for SEO — is already compressing organic CTR on many informational queries. Furthermore, the topic of Search Console AI reports and their impact on SEO audits shows how monitoring tools are evolving to keep pace with these changes.

Therefore, Italian SMEs should view the EEA SERP redesign as just one piece of a bigger puzzle. Similarly, anyone working on their visibility in AI answers should check out our analysis on how to get citations in AI Answers and measure visibility : the principles of authority and data structure apply to both traditional rich result formats and new AI formats.

Finally, anyone running an online brand also needs to think about the risks tied to keeping their info consistent across the web. Check out our deep dive on risk of conflicting brand information in AI Search offers a framework for editorial governance that can also be applied in this context.

Outlook for Italian SMEs in the affected verticals

For medium-sized Italian businesses working in travel, hospitality, and e-commerce, this update is both a risk and a real opportunity.

The risk is immediate: those who don't take action will see their visibility in European SERPs drop, losing out to competitors who have already set up their data correctly. However, the opportunity is just as real. The new supplier units they are opening up a space that was previously almost entirely occupied by aggregators. So, a well-structured independent hotel can now compete more directly with Booking.com in Google's SERP.

To take advantage of this window, you need to act quickly. Our services for Digital marketing and of AI integration they support companies on this journey, from the audit phase all the way to implementation and ongoing monitoring. Plus, for anyone wanting to boost their presence through paid channels too, the google ads campaigns can complement the organic strategy during the transition period.

In short, the EEA SERP redesign is not a minor update. It is a structural shift that redistributes visibility and opportunities. Those who take action now with a rigorous technical approach will gain a measurable competitive edge in the coming months. To chat with our team, you can contact SHM Studio for an assessment of the current situation.