Google complies with EU rules for travel searches, says the new results stink
Summary
Google has changed its travel search results in Europe to follow new rules from the European Union. These changes remove some features like showing prices and availability directly in search results, which Google says makes searching harder for users. The updates only affect users in Europe and aim to make the search results fairer for businesses by removing Google’s commercial preferences.Key Facts
- The European Union fined Google 460 million euros ($543 million) for favoring its own services in travel and shopping searches.
- Google has changed its travel search results in Europe to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
- New search results will show links to specialized travel search engines first, with less detailed information like no real-time prices or availability.
- These changes aim to remove Google’s business bias and let the search algorithm decide rankings fairly.
- Google claims these changes reduce the quality of search results and user experience for Europeans.
- Features like instant pricing and booking availability will no longer appear directly in European search results.
- The EU gave Google a 60-day deadline to comply, ending on September 23, after which fines can reach up to 5% of Google’s global revenue.
- These search result changes are only for Europe and do not apply to users in other regions.
- The US government has warned the EU against imposing fines on US tech companies like Google.
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