Google warns of lower quality amid Europe search revamp
Google says the new layout will favor rival travel and shopping services, after tests with millions of users showed higher dissatisfaction and more retyping.
- On Tuesday, Alphabet's Google rolled out changes to its online search results in Europe to satisfy EU antitrust regulators, a move the company said will degrade users' experience and increase costs for European businesses.
- The European Commission ordered these changes after fining Google €460 million in July for favoring its own services in shopping, hotels, transport and sports results, violating the Digital Markets Act.
- Revamped search results now feature one specialized search engine at the top, followed by two others with fewer details, while removing key features like real-time prices from business listings.
- Nick Fox, Google's senior vice-president, knowledge & information, said the changes "degrade the user experience," noting that past compliance shifts caused a 30% drop in direct booking traffic for Europeans.
- President Donald Trump threatened a probe into the bloc's "robbing" of American companies, while the Commission warned Google faces periodic penalties of up to 5% of worldwide turnover for non-compliance.
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117 Articles
Google Admits It Just Made Search Worse for Europeans to Dodge Brussels Fines
Google redesigned European search results Tuesday to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, admitting the changes represent the largest quality drop in its 29-year history. Real-time pricing vanished, third-party comparison sites gained top placement, and local businesses face reduced direct traffic. The move follows a €460 million fine for self-preferencing.
Google has significantly revamped its search services in Europe to comply with the European Union (EU) antitrust regulations. On the 8th (local time), Google announced that it had reorganized its search screens and display methods within Europe to comply with the EU Digital Markets Regulation (DMA). Last July, Google was fined 460 million euros (approximately 720 billion won) by the EU for violating the DMA by favoring its own services in search…
Google Rolls out EU Search Changes, Warns of Worse User Experience
Google has introduced major changes to its search results in Europe to comply with EU antitrust requirements, saying the measures will worsen the user experience and increase costs for European businesses.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Seong-han = Google completely revamped its search system in Europe on the 8th (local time) to meet the standards of European Union (EU) antitrust regulators...
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