Google alters EU search results to comply with DMA, removing live pricing and direct booking tools
Google rolled out changes to its search results in Europe on Monday to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, acknowledging the adjustments will degrade the user experience for Europeans.
The company said the modifications mark the largest reduction in service quality in its 29-year search history, stripping out real-time pricing, availability, and direct booking tools for flights, hotels, and restaurants. Search results will now prioritize third-party price comparison sites like Expedia and Booking.com over direct links to businesses, with a specialized search engine featured at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details. A carousel of hotels, airlines, and restaurants will appear below, but without key features such as live pricing.
Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge and information, said the changes were made “to comply with DMA requirements” but will “boost online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses and remove helpful features people rely on every day.” Users outside the EU will not be affected, he added .
The European Commission fined Google €460 million in July for favoring its own services in search results, giving the company 60 days to comply with the DMA or face periodic penalties of up to 5% of its global turnover. Google said past DMA-related changes already led to a 30% drop in free, direct booking traffic to European businesses .
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