Google proposed further changes to its search results in Europe after some of its smaller rivals complained of a drop in traffic to their sites following previous changes made by the Alphabet unit, and as EU antitrust regulators are considering filing charges against the company under new EU technology rules.
Under the Digital Markets Act, Google is prohibited from promoting its products and services on its platform. The law, which came into effect last year, aims to limit the power of big tech companies.
The world’s most popular Internet search engine has since tried to meet the conflicting demands of price comparison sites, hotels, airlines and small retailers, among others. The latter three groups said their direct booking clicks dropped by 30% due to Google’s recent changes.
“We have therefore proposed further changes to our European search results to try to meet these requests, while respecting the objectives set by the DMA,” said Oliver Bethell, Google’s general counsel, in a blog post published Tuesday.
The changes include the introduction of expanded, same-format units allowing users to choose between comparison sites and supplier sites, new formats allowing rivals to display prices and images on their websites, as well as as new advertising units for comparison sites.
“We believe the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA entails,” Mr Bethell said.
For its search results in Germany, Belgium and Estonia, Google also plans to remove the map showing the location of hotels and the results located below the map, like its old “ten blue links” format. a few years ago, as part of a brief test to gauge user interest.
“We are very reluctant to take this step because removing useful features does not benefit consumers or businesses in Europe,” Mr Bethell said.
Google has been in the sights of the European Commission since March. Copyright violations can cost businesses up to 10% of their annual global revenue.
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