SEO tracking: Google serves Belgium 13.2% fake search results, Nozzle study finds

Since 13 September 2026, Google has been serving some automated tools complete-looking but falsified search results pages, according to the 'Poisoned Google SERPs' study published by tracking vendor Nozzle on 10 October 2026. Out of 201,063 Belgian results analysed, 13.2% were affected, a figure confirmed by the French trade outlet Abondance on 15 October 2026. That is the second-highest rate in Europe, behind Austria (18.8%) and far above France (3.9%) or Germany (4.3%). For a Belgian company that tracks its search rankings with an automated tool, this means roughly one report in seven may not reflect the real ranking.

1. Search results tampered with for bots

Since 13 September 2026, Google has been returning complete, normal-looking results pages to certain automated tools, but with the content swapped out, according to the 'Poisoned Google SERPs' study by rank-tracking vendor Nozzle, published on 10 October 2026. The analysis covers 27.5 million results pages collected in 49 countries between 20 August and 9 October. The phenomenon mainly affects rank-tracking tools and automated scraping bots: nothing on the page signals the anomaly.

On a 'poisoned' results page, only 20.7% of the usual sites remain visible, compared with 88.5% under normal conditions, according to the same study. The global rate peaked at 25% between 27 and 29 September, before settling around 8% in early October.

2. Belgium, the second most affected country in Europe

Out of 201,063 Belgian results analysed, 13.2% were falsified, a rate confirmed by the French specialist outlet Abondance in its 15 October 2026 edition. Only Austria scores worse, at 18.8%. Belgium is well ahead of its neighbours: 3.9% in France, 4.3% in Germany and 4.1% in the Netherlands.

Switzerland (12.8%) completes this trio of the most exposed European markets. Nozzle does not explain the gap, but the finding stands: a Belgian company tracking its rankings through an automated tool has close to a one-in-seven chance of receiving a falsified report on a given search.

3. What this changes for SEO monitoring

According to Search Engine Journal (14 October 2026), Google's AI-generated overviews also appear less often worldwide on these falsified pages: 34.9% of cases, against a 54.2% baseline. A company monitoring its presence in these overviews could therefore see a signal collapse without anything having actually changed in its real search performance.

The practical risk: reacting urgently to a ranking drop that does not exist, or missing a genuine alert buried in the noise. Specialists recommend manually checking, in a private browsing window, before acting on an automated report.

4. Part of a wider data battle between Google and AI

This practice fits into a broader trend: Google is trying to limit large-scale extraction of its results by AI bots and third-party tools, without blocking them outright. For Belgian companies, it confirms that the data shown to machines is no longer automatically the same as what is shown to human visitors.

The AI lens, humans first

Rank-tracking tools themselves rely on automated bots, precisely the ones Google is targeting with this scrambling. AI can detect an anomaly in a report, cross-check several sources and flag suspicious discrepancies before they reach a dashboard. But deciding whether a ranking drop is real, reading it in the context of a content strategy, and choosing to act or wait remains a human judgement call. AI executes. Expertise decides, and keeps watch.