Google Warns of Lower Quality in Revamped European Search Results to Avoid EU Fines

BRUSSELS, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google began rolling out changes to its European online search results on Tuesday, responding to EU antitrust regulators while conceding that the modifications would degrade the user experience and push up costs for businesses in Europe.

A Google official told Reuters that these changes represent the most significant drop in service quality the world’s most popular search engine has experienced in its 29-year history.

Google said the EU presented the changes as a way to level the playing field for companies advertising online. In reality, however, Google argues, the changes favor price comparison sites—known as vertical search services (VSS)—connected to sectors like hotels, airlines, and restaurants, including Expedia and Booking.com. These VSSs gain higher prominence in results than companies in those industries that only have a website link, phone number, and address.

In July, the U.S. technology company received a €460 million ($534 million) penalty for giving preferential placement to its own services in shopping, hotels, transport and sports results within search listings, a practice deemed a violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which aims to curb the influence of major tech companies.

The European Commission granted Google 60 days to bring its practices into line with the DMA, after which it could face recurring fines of up to 5% of its worldwide revenue.

Under the revamped results, one specialized search engine will be featured prominently at the top of the page, followed by two others displayed with less information. Below them, a carousel of businesses—such as hotels, airlines and restaurants—will appear, but stripped of key attributes like real-time prices. Rankings will be driven by Google’s algorithm.

In a statement to Reuters, Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president for knowledge and information, said: "To comply with DMA requirements, we’re making significant changes to Search in Europe."

"These changes degrade the user experience for Europeans - boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses, and removing helpful features people rely on every day. Users outside the EU will not be impacted by these changes," he said.

Google pointed out that previous DMA compliance adjustments had triggered a 30% decline in free, direct booking traffic for European businesses, and the latest changes are projected to have a further negative impact on those businesses.

According to Google, tests conducted with millions of European users reveal widespread dissatisfaction, as people must repeatedly retype search queries to locate the information they need.

Over the past two decades, Google has accumulated EU antitrust fines totaling €10.38 billion.

The EU fines drew criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to investigate the bloc for what he characterized as 'robbing' American companies.