Google faces slowing growth, legal setbacks, publisher threats, EU fines

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google faces a challenging period marked by slowing search revenue growth, significant legal setbacks, increasing threats from major publishers, and substantial regulatory fines from the European Union.

The confluence of these pressures signals a complex operating environment for the Alphabet subsidiary, which has long dominated the global search engine market.

Google’s Search & other revenue grew 17 percent year-over-year to $63.27 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a slowdown from the 19 percent growth reported in the first quarter, according to Alphabet’s financial disclosures. This marked the end of four consecutive quarters of accelerating growth for the segment.

In a significant legal decision, a federal judge dismissed Google‘s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims against SerpApi. The court ruled that blocking automated access to public search results, which do not contain copyrighted content, does not constitute copyright circumvention, a decision noted by industry analysts like Rand Fishkin of SparkToro.

Meanwhile, several major publishers, including USA Today Co., Reddit, Politico, Reuters, and People Inc., are considering delisting their content from Google’s search index or restricting its web crawler. This potential action stems from declining perceived value from Google traffic, according to reports from industry observers like Jack Neff.

The European Commission recently fined Google 890 million euros under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The fine was imposed for self-preferencing Google’s own services and restricting developers, with the Commission also mandating data sharing with rivals, as reported by the regulatory body.

Alphabet increased its 2026 capital spending forecast to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized that the Gemini 4 artificial intelligence model is important for the company’s competitiveness in the AI sector, according to a statement from the company.

Philipp Schindler, Google’s Chief Business Officer, acknowledged the dynamics in the search market during recent investor calls. Experts such as Mike Reed and Nick LeRoy have highlighted the increasing friction between Google and content creators.

Lily Ray and Cyrus Shepard, prominent figures in search engine optimization, have also commented on the growing sentiment among publishers that Google’s practices are diminishing the value of their content.

The legal ruling against Google in the SerpApi case could have broader implications for how companies access and utilize publicly available web data. Algorythmic and Zyppy, among others, have been closely monitoring such developments.

The European Commission’s DMA enforcement against Google underscores a global trend of increased regulatory scrutiny on dominant technology platforms, particularly concerning competition and market fairness.

Source: Search Engine Journal