If you manage Google Business Profiles in Europe, your impressions report probably looks like a disaster. Between September 22 and 26, 2026, Search impressions for local businesses across the European Economic Area (EEA) collapsed. The good news is that the customers did not disappear: calls, website clicks and direction requests barely changed. Here is what the data shows and how to explain it to clients and managers.
What the data shows
GMBapi, a Business Profile management platform, analyzed about 15,000 locations in 24 EEA countries and compared them with about 10,400 locations in the US, the UK and Switzerland. Comparing September 26 to October 4 with September 15 to 21:
- Mobile Search impressions fell 74% and desktop Search impressions fell 71%.
- It happened everywhere in the EEA at once. The drop came in steps between September 22 and 26, on the same days in every country. The nine largest markets, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, all fell between 66% and 73% year over year.
- Every category was hit. All 36 categories with enough data fell between 45% and 84%.
- Outside the EEA, nothing happened. The US, the UK and Switzerland showed no change.
- Maps impressions did not move (-1%), so the lost impressions did not simply shift to Maps.
- Customer actions held steady. Calls, website clicks and direction requests changed by just -2%.
Why it is happening
The timing points to the changes Google has been making to its results in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In September, Google redesigned results in the EEA with new units that show comparison sites and suppliers, first for hotels, flights, trains and products, then, from September 18, for local business searches. It also stopped showing free product listings in the region.
GMBapi’s hypothesis is that this is mostly a reporting change, not a visibility loss: local results now appear inside a different type of container, and views of it may no longer be counted as Business Profile Search impressions. That would explain why impressions fell by three quarters while calls and clicks did not. It is a hypothesis: Google has not confirmed the cause.
Another change: reviews behind a sign-in
Local SEO had a second surprise this autumn. Since late September, Google Maps asks signed-out users to log in when they want to see more reviews of a business or sort them, according to Search Engine Roundtable. The scope is still unclear and Google has not explained it, but the likely goal is to make reviews harder to scrape. For businesses, it means casual visitors who are not signed in may see only a few reviews, so the first ones they see, and your replies to them, matter even more.
How to report local SEO now
- Annotate September 22 to 26, 2026 in every report, and September 8 for hotels, which were affected earlier.
- Lead with actions, not impressions. Report calls, website clicks and direction requests, and add actions per 1,000 impressions for context.
- Avoid year-over-year comparisons of EEA Search impressions for now. Compare with the weeks before September 22 instead.
- Keep a control group. If you manage locations outside the EEA, use them to separate real changes from reporting ones.
- Keep your data accurate everywhere. With comparison sites now more visible in European results, the hours, photos, menus and ratings on those platforms matter too. Treat your Business Profile as the source of truth and keep the rest in sync.
- Track the website traffic you control. Tag the website link in your Business Profile with UTM parameters, using our UTM Builder, so you can see local visits in your own analytics regardless of what Google reports.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Why did my Google Business Profile impressions drop in Europe?
In late September 2026, Search impressions fell around 70% across the EEA, coinciding with Google’s new result layouts under the Digital Markets Act. Calls and clicks barely changed, which suggests a change in how impressions are counted.
Did businesses in the US or UK see the same drop?
No. GMBapi’s control group of locations in the US, the UK and Switzerland showed no change.
Has Google confirmed the cause?
No. Google has not explained the drop. The reporting-change explanation is a hypothesis based on the data.
Do I need to sign in to read Google reviews?
Since late September 2026, Google Maps asks signed-out users to sign in to see more reviews or sort them in many cases. Google has not announced the change officially.