In response to the EU Digital Markets Directive, Google is currently implementingtestWhen users search for suitable hotels or accommodation recommendations through Google search services in these countries, the more detailed search results will be removed and replaced with simple blue links for users to click on to view.
Through this approach, Google said it will remove the previous practice of presenting appropriate content with detailed information in search results, presenting only simple links, allowing users to choose the search results they want to view. After a period of testing, the search results presentation will be restored to its original state.
Google explained that it has made more than 20 adjustments in the past year, including adjusting the relevant format, increasing the recognition of flight, hotel or shopping results from free price comparison websites, and removing the function that can display detailed flight information and directly view the location on the map.
While such adjustments have indeed increased traffic to other price comparison websites, they have also relatively affected service traffic to airlines, hotel operators and small retailers, and affected their opportunities for direct contact with consumer groups, with the impact reaching around 30%.
Google said it has held numerous discussions with the European Commission and industry players over the past three years, hoping to strike a balance in service adjustments under the digital market regulations. However, price comparison website operators still want Google to make more adjustments, such as requiring Google to avoid directly displaying useful information such as prices and reviews to consumers on its services, and only presenting search results with simple links.
Therefore, in this test, Google hopes to observe the changes in overall usage traffic by adjusting the relevant user interface, but it also emphasizes that such an approach will cause inconvenience to more consumer groups and will also affect subsequent network traffic, which will not bring positive benefits to the overall market development.
