UK watchdog orders Google to make search rankings fairer and more transparent

Brit competition cops order Google to make search rankings less mysterious

New rules cover organic rankings, AI Overviews, and user-approved search data sharing The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed two new conduct requirements for Google's search services, to improve transparency and fairness in result rankings and allowing users to port their search data to third parties. The requirements follow the CMA's actions in early June that let publishers opt out of having their work appear in AI Overviews, while requiring attribution and clear links to sources. "More activity is expected over the summer," the regulator warned. The fair ranking requirement arises from complaints from UK businesses that Google's current approach is "neither fair nor transparent," as the web giant makes changes without sufficient notice and does not offer an easy way to complain. Google sees it differently. A spokesperson told The Register: "Our ranking systems are fair, transparent and show the most relevant, highest quality results. "We are committed to protecting the integrity of our systems, and will work constructively with the CMA to ensure that we can uphold the high quality of Search for our users." Be that as it may, the CMA's conduct requirements call for Google to provide businesses with more transparency into how its rankings work and to introduce "clear processes" for raising concerns about the Big G's practices. Furthermore, "organic" search results must be ranked using "objective and non-discriminatory criteria." The requirement also encompasses Google's AI Overviews, but not sponsored results. Google has six months to implement the ranking requirements. It has three months to implement a data portability requirement, but this is more about putting the voluntary processes already in place via Google's UK Data Portability API on a legal footing. According to the CMA, "the rights of UK users will now be on a par with those in the EU (under the EU's Digital Markets Act)." Businesses, unsurprisingly, are keen to get hold of that data. The CMA wrote: "Using this data would allow third parties to offer people more personalized features - like tailored travel suggestions, more relevant shopping deals, and rewards (including cashback and discounts)." Will Hayter, Executive Director for Digital Markets at the CMA, said: "These new measures will ensure search results are ranked fairly and objectively, with clearer information about changes and effective routes to raise concerns. "At the same time, innovative businesses will have the confidence that they can access search data in practice, unlocking investment and innovation in new products and services for users." The CMA slapped Google with Strategic Market Status (SMS) in general search and search advertising in October 2025. This designation was a recognition of Google's market power, although it does not, by itself, indicate the company has acted anti-competitively. It does, however, give the CMA more power to introduce interventions such as the conduct requirements above. Google is not the only company facing scrutiny. The CMA recently launched a fourth SMS investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem. ®

UK orders Google to make search rankings fairer

You can access the CMA press release from here. The UK's competition regulator has ordered Google to make its search rankings more transparent and fair, while also requiring the company to let users share their search data with authorised third-party services. What Google must do: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Google must explain its ranking practices more clearly, give businesses advance notice of major changes to its search systems, and create a formal process for handling ranking-related complaints. The rules will apply to organic search results, including AI-generated features such as AI Overviews, but not to paid advertisements. Google must also allow users to transfer their search data to approved third parties through a secure process. The CMA said this could help other companies build services such as personalised recommendations, shopping offers, discounts and rewards. Why the CMA is acting: The regulator said it acted after businesses raised concerns that changes to Google's search systems often lacked transparency and could affect traffic and revenue without sufficient warning. According to the CMA, this uncertainty discouraged some businesses from investing and growing. The CMA designated Google with Strategic Market Status (SMS), a classification reserved for companies with substantial and entrenched market power in key digital services. The company handles more than 90% of search queries in the UK, according to the regulator. What the CMA said: Announcing the measures, CMA Executive Director for Digital Markets Will Hayter said: "Step by step, we're ensuring that Google's search services work better for businesses and consumers across the UK." He added: "Search is a vital gateway for businesses in the UK to reach customers, and clearer, predictable and more transparent ranking systems could give them greater scope to expand and invest." Google's response: Google said it would work with the regulator, while maintaining that its ranking systems are already fair. A company spokesperson said the systems are "fair, transparent and show the most relevant, highest quality results". Earlier AI search measures: The latest action follows measures introduced earlier this month that gave publishers more control over whether their content can be used to power Google's AI search features. However, the UK's Professional Publishers Association argued that the six-month implementation period for the ranking rules gives Google too much time while AI-driven search continues to reshape how audiences find content online. Google has been given six months to implement the ranking-related requirements and three months to comply with the data portability rules. The CMA said it will monitor compliance and could impose further measures if necessary.

Google Search Rankings Must Be Fairer, U.K. Competition Watchdog Says

U.K. antitrust officials said Alphabet's Google should make its search rankings fairer and provide advance notice of any significant changes to its search services, giving the U.S. tech giant six months to act under the country's digital markets competition rules. The Competition and Markets Authority issued so-called conduct requirements for Google to use objective and nondiscriminatory criteria to rank search results on its platform, including in summaries generated by artificial intelligence through its AI Overviews service. Google must also increase transparency about how rankings work, give advance notice of changes, and bring in clear processes for businesses to raise concerns about how Google ranks results so it can address them effectively, the watchdog said. "Search is a vital gateway for businesses in the U.K. to reach customers, and clearer, predictable and more transparent ranking systems could give them greater scope to expand and invest," Will Hayter, the CMA's executive director for digital markets, said. "These new measures will ensure search results are ranked fairly and objectively." The CMA said it had issued the conduct requirements after receiving complaints that Google's current ranking practices weren't fair and that changes were made without sufficient notice, which businesses said harmed them and left them with no effective channels to raise concerns. A Google spokesperson said the company's ranking systems were fair, transparent and showed the most relevant and highest quality results. "We are committed to protecting the integrity of our systems, and will work constructively with the CMA to ensure that we can uphold the high quality of Search for our users." Aside from ranking requirements, the CMA issued a separate directive for Google to allow users to easily share their search data with rewards platforms, companies that offer personalized offers or discount codes and other third parties. Google already has a so-called Data Portability Application Programming Interface to build applications that help users export their data from Google products, but the CMA said a conduct requirement would essentially make the voluntary process in place through the Data Portability API legally binding. Google has three months to comply with the order that the CMA said would give U.K. users the same rights on data sharing as those in the European Union under the bloc's Digital Markets Act. This is the second intervention from the CMA against Google in June. Earlier this month, the regulator said it would allow publishers to opt out of feeding their content to power AI features in Google's online searches.