Google set to settle dispute over search

The world’s dominant search engine has been the focus of a Commission investigation since November 2010, when more than a dozen complainants across Europe accused the company of promoting its own services at their expense.

“We will be making significant changes to the way Google operates in Europe,” said General Counsel Kent Walker. “We have been working with the European Commission to address issues they raised and look forward to resolving this matter.”

Under its latest proposals, Google, which has a 75 per cent share of the European search market, will let three rivals display their logos and web links in a prominent box, and content providers will be able to decide what material Google can use for its own services.

The Search Laboratory, the Leeds-based marketing agency, said the changes will have a big impact on both advertisers and consumers.

Ryan Jones, pay-per-click manager, said: “Google’s move to give equal prominence to competing services is without doubt going to take focus from their own specialist services, such as business reviews and product listing ads – and this is really going to hit advertisers and Google in the pocket when you take into consideration the massive role that Google shopping ads play in most ecommerce business’ online strategy.”

He said the changes could also lead to more adverts appearing on the internet, leading to lower click-through rates.