Google has announced a series of changes to its search results in the European Union, aimed at addressing ongoing concerns over its compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The tech giant will introduce a "short test" of plain "blue link" style search results for hotel queries in three EU markets, namely Belgium, Estonia, and Germany. This move is seen as an attempt to appease regulators and rivals, who have accused Google of failing to comply with the DMA's ban on self-preferencing.

The EU's flagship market contestability reform carries hefty penalties for non-compliance, with fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover. Alphabet, Google's parent company, has been under investigation since March in relation to new rich features it launched in response to the DMA. Rivals argue that these features undermine the regulation's ban on self-preferencing, and travel comparison sites have been among the most vocal critics.

In a blog post, Google claims that changes to its search results have penalized other players in the travel ecosystem. The company suggests that "direct booking clicks" to airlines, hotel operators, and small retailers have dropped by around a third (30%). Google appears to be employing a 'divide and conquer' strategy, attempting to play its main rivals off against other travel retailers that its search engine has the power to uplift or degrade based on how much traffic it sends them.

The latest changes Google is proposing will affect not only the travel vertical but also product searches and restaurants. The company claims it is trying to balance the difficult trade-offs involved in complying with the DMA, while continuing to provide European users and businesses with access to helpful technology. However, rivals remain skeptical, and the European Commission will need to assess the effectiveness of Google's proposals.

Google's blog post announces plans to display "expanded and equally formatted" units in search results, allowing users to choose between results that take them to Google rivals or results that take them directly to supplier or retailer websites. The company also promises to introduce "other new formats that allow comparison sites and suppliers to show more information about what is on their websites, like prices and pictures." Additionally, Google will launch new ad units for comparison sites, although no visual examples have been provided.

Travel aggregators have complained that Google's initial DMA response unfairly competed with them by placing its own comparison services in eye-catching box-outs directly at the top of search results. Google's rejoinder has been to claim it's being forced to degrade the quality of the search experience it can offer Europeans by making it less useful. The company's director of legal, Oliver Bethell, continues this attack line, implying that the DMA is preventing Google from "innovating and competing."

Despite Google's efforts, complaints have continued. Travel aggregators are unhappy about rich features that Google now displays in relation to hotel search queries, which show a map view of hotels in the desired location along with pricing info and links to featured hotels' websites. The visually rich feature looks intended to drive search traffic direct to suppliers, which could leave comparison sites out in the cold.

In response to Google's proposal, the European Commission stated that it is currently assessing the company's compliance proposals. Meanwhile, privacy-focused search rival DuckDuckGo has urged the Commission to widen its investigation of Google, accusing it of failing to provide comprehensive "click and query" data to rivals and complaining that choice screens the DMA requires Google to display are not working as intended.

The ongoing saga highlights the challenges of regulating tech giants in the digital age. As the EU continues to grapple with the complexities of the DMA, it remains to be seen whether Google's latest proposals will be deemed sufficient to address the concerns of regulators and rivals alike.