EU Digital Markets Act compliance changes to Google Search
Google reworked search results in the European Economic Area to comply with the DMA's ban on self-preferencing, adding aggregator units and refinement chips.
What changed
The Digital Markets Act's obligations became enforceable for designated gatekeepers on 7 March 2024, requiring Google to rank third-party services fairly and not favour its own. Google introduced new EEA-only result formats including dedicated units for comparison sites and aggregators, refinement chips for switching between result types, and changes to hotel, flight and local units. Comparison shopping services and airlines reported large but uneven traffic shifts, and the Commission opened non-compliance proceedings shortly afterwards. Google announced the changes ahead of the deadline but staged them across the EEA rather than on a single date.
Timing
Rollout began 6 March 2024. No completion date was announced. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.