Google is changing how it ranks websites in search results in the European Economic Area (EEA), the company said. These measures are intended to resolve antitrust concerns that could result in a large fine.
In 2024, Google introduced a policy that allows for the full or partial hiding of a website in search results if its elements are found to be inconsistent with the company's anti-spam policy. Google took this step to improve search quality and prevent third-party content from being published on a trusted site to exploit its good reputation for better search rankings.
In November 2025, the European Commission said that Google's search engine demotes websites of news organizations and other publishers when they contain content from commercial partners. The EC opened an investigation into a possible violation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which provides for fines of up to 10% of annual global revenue, and up to 20% for repeated violations.
Google said it is changing the application of its "reputation" policy in the EEA, which includes all 27 EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Starting August 30, measures taken against websites will not affect search results for users in the EEA, although over time pages with violations may be ranked independently of the rest of the site on which they are located.
The European Commission welcomed the changes to a policy that, in its view, unfairly restricted commercial websites solely for publishing third-party content, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Commission will monitor the application of the new policy for compliance with the DMA, a regulator spokesperson added.
