{"id":18980,"date":"2024-11-26T10:43:40","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T10:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18980"},"modified":"2024-11-26T10:43:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T10:43:40","slug":"google-to-test-plain-blue-link-results-for-hotel-searches-in-eu-markets-in-latest-dma-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18980","title":{"rendered":"Google to test plain \u2018blue link\u2019 results for hotel searches in EU markets in latest DMA twist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Google has announced it\u2019s making more changes to how it displays search results in the European Union in response to continued complaints that it\u2019s failing to comply with the bloc\u2019s Digital Markets Act<\/a> (DMA).<\/p>\n

This will include what it bills as a \u201cshort test\u201d of plain \u201cblue link\u201d style search results for hotel queries in three EU markets (Belgium, Estonia and Germany) which will be akin \u2014 the company suggests \u2014 to how its search engine originally displayed results.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s flagship market contestability reform carries hefty penalties for non-compliance of up to 10% of global annual turnover (or more for repeat offences). Alphabet, Google\u2019s parent, has been under investigation since March<\/a> in relation to new rich features it launched in response to the DMA, but which rivals argue undermine the regulation\u2019s ban on self preferencing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Travel comparison sites have been among those who have continued to complain that Google is trying to circumvent its obligations.<\/p>\n

Google has fought back by claiming the changes to search have penalized other players in the travel ecosystem. In a new blog post<\/a> on Tuesday \u2014 attributed to Oliver Bethell, director, legal, Google \u2014 it suggests that \u201cdirect booking clicks\u201d to airlines, hotel operators and small retailers have dropped by around a third (30%).<\/p>\n

The tech giant appears to be attempting a \u2018divide and conquer\u2019 strategy in response to the DMA, which seeks to use compliance changes to play its main rivals (\u201clarge online travel aggregators\u201d) off against other travel retailers that its search engine has the power to uplift or degrade based on how much traffic it sends them.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the DMA is an attempt to prevent gatekeepers from flexing market muscle unfairly, so it will be interesting to see what the European Commission makes of the tactic.<\/p>\n

The latest changes Google is proposing to how it displays search results will affect more than just the travel vertical \u2014 also impacting product searches and restaurants, per the company\u2019s blog post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA involves,\u201d it writes, adding that it \u201cstill hope[s] to be able to reach a solution that complies with the law and continues to provide European users and businesses with access to helpful technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rival display units<\/h2>\n

The changes Google\u2019s blog post announces include displaying what it claims will be \u201cexpanded and equally formatted\u201d units in search results when users search for products, restaurants, flights or hotels that will let people choose between results that take them to Google rivals (comparison sites, meta search engines, review sites, etc.) or results that take them directly to supplier or retailer websites.<\/p>\n

A lot will hinge on how Google presents this choice, but the blog post does not offer any visual examples. Additionally, the blog post says it will introduce \u201cother new formats that allow comparison sites and suppliers to show more information about what is on their websites, like prices and pictures\u201d. Again, no visual examples are provided.<\/p>\n

Finally, Google says it will launch new ad units for comparison sites. But, again, we will have to wait to see what these look like. <\/p>\n

A key complaint of travel aggregators over Google\u2019s initial DMA response<\/a> was that the company was switching from unfairly competing with them by placing its own comparison services in eye-catching box-outs directly at the top of search results to unfairly competing with them by baking comparison site-style features into the top of search results and using a suite of new platform features to try to keep users in Google by discouraging them from clicking away to rival services.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s rejoinder has been to claim it\u2019s being forced to degrade the quality of the search experience it can offer Europeans by making it less useful. Bethell continues this attack line in the blog post, as well as implying the DMA is preventing Google from \u201cinnovating and competing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Complaints have continued, however. Travel aggregators are also unhappy about rich features that Google now displays in relation to hotel search queries, which shows a map view of hotels in the desired location along with pricing info and links to featured hotels websites.<\/p>\n

The visually rich feature looks intended to drive search traffic direct to suppliers (in that case, hotels) \u2014 which could leave comparison sites out in the cold.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Google search Screengrab (Image Credit: Natasha LOmas\/TechCrunch)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhile many stakeholders are happy with our changes, a few sites continue to demand more, such as a complete ban on anything that\u2019s more sophisticated than a simple blue link to a website. This would prevent Google from showing people useful information like prices and ratings,\u201d Bethell goes on \u2014 teeing up the announcement of the aforementioned \u201cblue link\u201d test.<\/p>\n

\u2018Reluctant\u2019 return of blue links<\/h2>\n

This is not being framed as a DMA change Google wants to make. On the contrary, it\u2019s dubbed a \u201cshort test\u201d so it can \u201cunderstand how such changes would impact both the user experience and traffic to websites.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test will remove some of the features that have been at the focus of the debate, including the map that shows where hotels are and hotel results underneath it. Instead, we will show a list of individual links to websites without any of the additional features \u2014 similar to our old \u2018ten blue links\u2019 format from years ago,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n

Google claims it\u2019s \u201cvery reluctant\u201d to run the test at all, implying it believes it\u2019s being forced to this pass \u2014 and forced to degrade the quality of search for EU users \u2014 by rivals demanding it wind back the product experience to an earlier internet epoch. (Albeit, web users tired of Google\u2019s endlessly self-serving reshaping of search results<\/a> might welcome the return of a few plain blue links, TBH.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear how long the test will run, but Google says hotel search results will return to \u201cnormal\u201d \u2014 whatever that means in this chameleonic context \u2014 once the data-gathering exercise ends.<\/p>\n

We reached out to the European Commission for a response to Google\u2019s proposal. \u201cAll we can say is that we\u2019re currently assessing Google\u2019s compliance proposals,\u201d EU spokeswoman, Lea Zuber, responded.<\/p>\n

Google is not only under pressure over this element of its DMA compliance. Last week privacy-focused search rival DuckDuckGo urged the Commission to wide its investigation<\/a> of the tech giant \u2014 accusing it of failing to provide comprehensive \u201cclick and query\u201d data to rivals; and redoubling its complaints that choice screens the DMA requires Google to display are not working as it says they don\u2019t currently allow users to switch away from Google\u2019s products easily enough.<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/em> techcrunch.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google has announced it\u2019s making more changes to how it displays search results in the European Union in response to continued complaints that it\u2019s failing to comply with the bloc\u2019s Digital Markets Act (DMA). This will include what it bills as a \u201cshort test\u201d of plain \u201cblue link\u201d style search results for hotel queries in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}