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Google will degrade EU Search results to comply with DMA, stripping real-time prices and prioritizing aggregators
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Google will restructure Search in the EU to comply with the Digital Markets Act, highlighting specialized search engines at the top of results and removing features like real-time prices from carousels, changes the company calls the largest decrease in search quality in its history.
EU users and businesses face a materially different Google Search experience, with aggregator sites like Expedia and Hotels.com prioritized over direct business listings. Google claims previous DMA compliance already caused a 30% drop in free direct booking traffic to European businesses, and further disruption is expected.
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Google will highlight one specialized search engine at the top of EU results, followed by two others with fewer details, and strip features like real-time prices from carousels for hotels, airlines, and restaurants.
Google calls this the largest decrease in search quality in the engine's history and claims past DMA compliance changes were tied to a 30% decrease in free direct booking traffic to European businesses.
The European Commission fined Google €460 million for self-preferencing and gave the company 60 days to comply, though no exact timeline for the changes has been specified.
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