Google published an interactive homepage Doodle on Tuesday marking the arrival of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, one day after the September equinox ushered in the meteorological shift toward shorter days. The Doodle appeared across search homepages in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

The seasonal turn followed the equinox on Monday, September 21, when day and night reached near-equal length worldwide. Autumn officially began across Europe and North America, prompting the annual wave of harvest-themed marketing from grocers, coffee chains and lifestyle publishers.

Recipe platforms including Allrecipes and BBC Good Food reported sharp increases in searches for pumpkin, squash and slow-cooked comfort dishes, mirroring patterns seen in previous years. Starbucks and rival coffee chains continued heavy promotion of pumpkin spice products, a fixture of the autumn retail calendar in Western markets.

Retailers positioned the seasonal change as a commercial opportunity, with home and decor coverage emphasising affordable indoor upgrades ahead of colder months. Lifestyle outlets ran guides on layering, cosy interiors and warming meals as consumers adjusted routines for the darker season.

Google has produced equinox and solstice Doodles for more than a decade, typically pairing them with a matching illustration for the Southern Hemisphere, where spring began on the same date.