je.st
news
Google offers EU changes to search results - report
2013-04-15 08:52:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Google has agreed to make changes to the results page on its search engine as part of concessions to the European Commission in its competition investigation, the Financial Times reports. People who had seen the proposed settlement said Google promises to make users in Europe "clearly aware" when promoting its own specialist search services such as those for restaurants, finance and shopping. The company will also systematically highlight links to rival specialised, or vertical, search engines. The agreement with the EC would be legally binding for five years and subject to independent verification. The stringency of the agreement's terms depend on whether Google makes money from a particular search service. Google's in-house news results, for example, merely need to be labelled and separated. Restaurant results, which link to a page with adverts, require more noticeable separation and three prominent links to rival search engines. In Google's shopping service, where retailers pay to place products, links to rival shopping comparison websites will be auctioned. Google's search algorithm will not be affected by the settlement.
Tags: search
results
report
google
Category:Telecommunications