US EditionExclusive: Google to Test Changes to Search Results, Source Says as EU Fine Looms
Google plans to test showing rival vertical search services with top-ranked results first to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act and avoid fines up to 10% of global revenue.
- On Feb 25, Alphabet's Google is poised to start testing changes to its search results across Europe, initially focusing on searches for lodgings, the source said.
- Pressure from EU regulators and rivals led Alphabet's Google to propose various measures after being charged with breaching the Digital Markets Act, but rivals say those proposals remain unimplemented.
- By design, top-ranked vertical search engines will be displayed by default, and sector listings for hotels, airlines, restaurants and transport with real-time data feeds will sit either below or above the VSS list.
- The changes could help appease the European Commission, which enforces competition rules, while fines under the Digital Markets Act can reach up to 10% of global revenue and Google has paid 9.71 billion euros in fines since 2017.
- Seen as an unusual concession by a dominant search engine, the roll-out will soon expand across Europe beyond lodgings to include flights and other services, shifting online visibility for rivals.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Google prepares search overhaul in Europe, will boost rival services to satisfy EU rules
The initiative is intended to demonstrate compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act, a sweeping set of competition rules that took effect last year. Regulators in Brussels allege that Google's search engine gives undue prominence to its own travel and hospitality services, limiting user exposure to competing vertical search...Read Entire Article
Researchs are likely to favour their own services in search of hotels, flights and restaurants
The Korea Times
Google to test changes to search results, source says as EU fine looms
BRUSSELS — Alphabet's Google is poised to start testing changes to its search results to give rivals more prominence, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, seeking to avoid an EU fine for allegedly favouring its own services in searches for hotels, flights and restaurants. The world's most popular internet search engine has come up with various proposals to mollify rivals and EU regulators since it was charged last Marc…
According to Alphabet, insiders are trying to escape an EU penalty by means of changes, with the aim of giving more space to competing services, with high fines.
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