Image: © DenPhoto /Stock.adobe.com
The company will trial removing free hotel features from search results in Germany, Belgium and Estonia.
Google has proposed changes to its search function in Europe, after some businesses reported a reduction in traffic as a result of recent modifications.
The company said in a blog post today (26 November) that recent updates have benefited large online travel aggregators and comparison sites but direct booking clicks to airlines, hotels and smaller retailers are down by as much as 30pc.
Designated as a very large online platform (VLOP), Google is bound by strict regulations under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA). The search giant said that it has made “many changes to comply” with the Act, “including significantly redesigning certain features and completely removing others in Europe”.
The company said it removed “useful features” including features that show flight information to comply with EU regulations, which “negatively impacted” the user experience in Europe.
The tech giant is now planning to introduce “expanded and equally formatted units” that allow users to choose between comparison sites and direct suppliers as well as allowing both to show more information about what is on their website. It will also develop new ad units for comparison sites.
“We acknowledge that the DMA requires some significant changes to our online services in Europe – but we do not believe that the end goal is to prevent search engines from innovating and competing,” Oliver Bethell, Google’s legal director said.
To understand the impact of the new changes, Google announced that it will run a “short test” removing free hotel features from Google Search in Germany, Belgium and Estonia – however, the company did not reveal the duration of this test.
“We think the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA involves,” Bethell said.
Google announced changes to its Search features early this year which introduced dedicated units with a group of links to comparison sites and query shortcuts at the top of the Search page to adhere with DMA regulations.
However, following the Act coming into effect this March, the European Commission opened probes into VLOPs, including Google. The Commission is concerned that Google Search results may be “self-preferencing” Alphabet’s own vertical services – such as Google Shopping or Google Flights – over similar rival services.
EU internal market commissioner at the time, Thierry Breton said that the Commission was not convinced that solutions by the Big Tech companies “respect their obligations for a fairer and more open digital space for European citizens and businesses”.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
