Google's guide to regional search features

"Help publishers, businesses and aggregators learn about the various regional search features, understand the eligibility criteria and how to participate" — that is how Google describes the purpose of the new documentation published in Search Central on 8 September 2026. It launches nothing new; it is the first consolidated catalogue of what already runs in the EEA, Turkey and South Africa.

What was gathered into one document

Until now these features lived scattered across help pages and announcements: the job-sites unit and the first European blocks appeared back in February 2024, the South African badge in September 2024, carousels reached Turkey in May 2025 and South Africa in August 2025. Search Engine Journal compiled what ended up on the list:

• EEA — aggregator units (hotels, flights, ground transport, products), supplier units, structured-data carousels (travel, local, product), a job-sites carousel with a refinement chip and the ecosystem carousel (weather, sports, finance, translation);
• Turkey — a places-sites carousel with a refinement chip and the ecosystem carousel;
• South Africa — a local badge with a refinement chip and the ecosystem carousel.

Eligibility differs by block

Structured-data carousels are the only block an SEO team can deliver without development work or approvals. That makes them the place to start: technically it is the same markup work described in the guide on Schema.org and structured data.

Does this affect Ukraine

Directly, no: none of these blocks appear in Ukrainian search results. But anyone running projects for the EU or Turkey should pay attention: the SERP gained another floor where entry is granted not by relevance but by meeting a technical condition.

That is a fundamental difference. The classic fight for rankings is a contest of quality and authority; here the entry ticket is a feed, a status or correct markup. A competitor with weaker content can end up higher simply because they applied earlier. For agencies this is one more item in the technical audit of foreign projects.

There is a third reason to watch this list. Regional blocks are a consequence of regulatory pressure: the EEA got them after large platforms were required to give aggregators and suppliers room inside their own results. The logic of "a place in the SERP for meeting a condition rather than for quality" may well travel further, and knowing in advance how entry works will be cheaper than catching up later.

Where to start

• check whether any block from the list exists in your regions — that decides whether there is anything to do at all;
• if you work in travel, real estate, jobs or local directories, start with ItemList: it is the cheapest entry;
• make sure the markup carries at least three entities — with two the block will not assemble;
• check in parallel whether you qualify for a supplier unit, where it is enough that the data is simply crawlable;
• for aggregator units budget time for status approval, not only for building the feed.

Related reading: Google Algorithm Updates: How to Track and React · SEO site audit