Google has been accused of manipulating search results for its own commercial advantage.
A number of consumer groups have claimed that users are being directed to Google’s own shopping price comparison services, maps, books and its YouTube website at the expense of rivals.
The European consumer body, BEUC, has written to the European Commission vice president, Joaquín Almunia, to highlight the threat caused by Google’s dominance.
“We are concerned that the dominant search engine, Google, may have abused its position in the search market to direct users to its own services and secondly to reduce the visibility of competing websites and services,” said BEUC director general, Monique Goyens, “Given its role as gatekeeper to the internet, Google is in a unique position to restrict access to its competitors and direct traffic to its own services,” she added.
Goyens cited research by British price comparison website, Foundem, which highlighted how Google is manipulating search results.
In May 2007, Google introduced what it calls ‘Universal Search’—a mechanism for automatically inserting its own services into prominent positions within its natural search results.
As a result, people looking for the best price on a washing machine or mobile phone find suggestions highlighted by Google’s own price comparison service, Google Product Search, inserted at the top of the results.
The net effect is that Google’s own price comparison service saw a 125per cent increase in the number of UK visitors between 2007 and 2009. By contrast, UK visitors to rival services fell by 41per cent.
Foundem also pointed out that Google puts its ‘Google Maps’ links at the top of many searches, which has effectively pushed out rivals.
Google also gives preferential placement on searches to its own news, YouTube, and book services.