Google has expanded two European Economic Area search-result features — the aggregator unit and supplier unit — to support local-business queries. The change, documented by Google on 18 September 2026, creates a new way for approved vertical search services and direct local businesses to appear in certain EEA search experiences.

The update matters for local SEO because it introduces another layer between a standard organic result and the familiar local-search experiences businesses already optimise for. Direct suppliers can appear alongside results supplied by approved aggregators, while directories and other Vertical Search Services can compete to populate the aggregator unit.

What exactly changed?

Google’s Search Central documentation update says the aggregator and supplier units now support local-business queries. The same features already covered queries involving hotels, flights, ground transportation and products.

The change applies to users in countries within the European Economic Area. Google’s regional Search documentation lists local businesses among the query types eligible for both units.

Google’s local Vertical Search Service documentation gives examples of local searches such as dining, beauty salons, services and things to do. That means the change is relevant well beyond travel: restaurants, salons, shops, attractions and service businesses can all fall within the broader local-search category.

How the aggregator unit works

The aggregator unit is designed for Vertical Search Services, or VSSs. Google describes these as services such as directories, metasearch engines, online travel agencies and comparison-shopping services.

For a local-business query, an eligible aggregator can provide a set of relevant businesses through a structured feed. The results can include information such as business names, addresses, photos and other metadata. Google says the top-ranked participating provider is expanded by default, while users may be able to switch to another eligible aggregator.

Clicks within that unit lead to the participating aggregator’s own website rather than directly to the listed local business.

This is potentially significant for directory publishers. A high-quality local directory is no longer competing only for a conventional blue-link ranking; if it is approved as a VSS and meets Google’s data and quality requirements, it can potentially participate directly in this specialised search unit.

How the supplier unit works

The supplier unit is for direct providers: the actual business offering the product or service. Google’s examples include brick-and-mortar businesses and service providers such as plumbers.

The supplier unit appears alongside the aggregator unit and only appears when the aggregator unit is shown. This is important because it means the direct-business visibility opportunity is tied to the availability of the broader feature for that query.

Google says a direct supplier does not need to submit additional data merely to be eligible. Information that Google can access through normal web crawling can be sufficient, although available feeds may enhance supplier results.

What local businesses should do now

The update does not introduce a new magic markup or one-step ranking trick. For direct businesses, the practical priority is making sure Google can clearly understand the business through the website it crawls.

That means core local-business information should be accurate, accessible and consistent: what the business does, where it operates, how customers can contact it, opening information where applicable, and the pages that describe its individual services or locations.

Businesses should also avoid hiding essential location or service information behind scripts or interfaces that are difficult for crawlers to access. Google specifically notes that supplier eligibility can rely on crawlable website information, so technical accessibility matters.

Structured data remains useful for helping search engines understand entities and page content, but Google’s supplier-unit documentation does not say that special markup is required for participation. SEO teams should therefore avoid treating this update as a structured-data rollout.

What directories and aggregators need to know

The requirements are different for aggregators. Google says businesses must be approved as a Vertical Search Service, provide the required data and meet participation quality standards.

For local-business queries, Google’s Actions Center documentation describes a Point of Interest feed that can carry core physical-location information such as business name, address and phone number along with categories, photos and other metadata.

Google says data supplied through that feed is used to populate the participating partner’s own unit and is not used to enrich Google’s own services or another participant’s unit.

For local directories, this makes data quality a product issue as much as an SEO issue. Duplicate businesses, stale opening information, weak categorisation or poor image coverage can reduce the usefulness of the experience even before traditional ranking factors are considered.

This is separate from Google Ads

The aggregator and supplier units are Search features, not a new Google Ads placement. Businesses should therefore avoid assuming that paying for advertising is required to appear in the supplier unit.

For marketers working on paid campaigns, FlyingEze has separately covered Google Ads’ Spend Benchmarks report , which compares advertiser spend and clicks with similar businesses. That paid-advertising feature is separate from the EEA local-search units discussed here.

Why Google is doing this in the EEA

Google has been changing parts of its European search experience for several years as it adapts to the region’s regulatory environment, including the Digital Markets Act. In earlier Search Central documentation, Google described aggregator units as a way to increase visibility for ecosystem participants such as aggregators and direct suppliers.

The local-business expansion pushes that approach deeper into one of Search’s most commercially important areas: queries where users are looking for a nearby restaurant, shop, salon or service provider.

For users, that could mean more visible choices between direct businesses and specialist directories. For businesses, it creates another surface on which accurate, crawlable local information may influence discovery.

What this means for local SEO strategy

The immediate takeaway is not that traditional local SEO has been replaced. Google has added another search-result format in one region, and the unit appears only for eligible queries and circumstances.

However, businesses serving EEA users should now account for three distinct visibility paths: direct discovery through their own website, visibility through aggregators and directories, and appearance as a direct supplier within these new units.

That makes reputation and data consistency across third-party platforms more strategically important. A business may be discovered directly, or it may appear inside a directory’s feed. Local SEO teams should therefore pay attention not only to their own pages but also to how major directory partners represent the business.

What to watch next

Google has not said that these local-business units will roll out globally. Its current documentation explicitly describes the feature as available to users in the EEA.

The key questions now are how frequently the units appear for local queries, which VSS providers gain approval, how Google ranks competing aggregators, and how much traffic direct supplier listings generate compared with existing local-search surfaces.

For EEA businesses, the practical response is straightforward: keep local information crawlable and accurate, monitor how the business appears across important directories, and watch Search Console and analytics data for changes in discovery patterns as the feature becomes more visible.

Sources: Google Search Central documentation updates , Google’s aggregator unit documentation , Google’s supplier unit documentation , and Google Actions Center local VSS documentation .