Imagine you’re a small retailer in the vast digital marketplace. You rely heavily on Google to drive traffic to your online store. Now, picture a scenario where Google’s own services overshadow yours, making it nearly impossible for you to compete.
Sounds unfair, right?
This was the reality for many businesses in Europe until the EU stepped in with a game-changing ruling.
Today, we are exploring the recent EU Digital Markets Act regulations affecting Google Shopping, how it will impact various industries, changes in SERP features, and what it means for your SEO strategies.
So let’s get started.
The Scenario Before the EU Intervention
Before the European Union’s intervention with the DMA in September 2023, Google significantly favored its own comparison shopping service, Google Shopping.
This meant that when users searched for products, they predominantly saw results and ads from Google Shopping at the top of their search results.
Competing comparison shopping services (CSEs) struggled to gain visibility and market share because Google’s algorithm prioritized its own services over every other competition.
This practice was considered anti-competitive, as it stifled competition and limited consumer choices.
Why the EU Addressed the Issue
The European Union recognized the need to establish a fair competition in the digital marketplace. By promoting its services over others, Google was effectively monopolizing the comparison shopping space.
The EU’s decision aimed to create a fair playing field where multiple CSEs could compete fairly, ensuring that consumers like you and me had access to a diverse range of product options and prices(especially when looking for hotels).
This intervention was crucial to prevent a single entity from controlling the market and to protect the interests of smaller businesses and consumers alike
The Concept of “Gatekeepers”
In the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU considers tech giants like Google as “gatekeepers” due to their significant influence over digital markets.
Three major criteria to determine whether a company falls under the category are:
- Size Affecting the Internal Market: The company must have a significant annual turnover within the European Economic Area (EEA) and provide a core platform service in at least three EU Member States.
- Control of a Significant Gateway: The company must offer a core platform service to over 45 million monthly active end users in the EU and more than 10,000 yearly active business users in the EU.
- Established and Enduring Dominance: The company must meet the significant gateway criterion consistently over the past three years.
This classification is part of the EU Digital Markets Act’s efforts to regulate and ensure fair competition in the EU digital markets
Google’s Response and the Comparison Site SERP Feature
In response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google introduced a new Comparison Site SERP feature for the EU market SERPs. This feature allows multiple CSEs to appear in the shopping carousel, providing a more balanced representation of available products.
Google Shopping now bids for ad space on an equal footing with other CSEs, ensuring no single service has an unfair advantage.
Changes to the SERP and Their Effects
The introduction of the Comparison Site SERP feature has significantly altered the search engine results page (SERP) for users in the EU. The introduction of the “Comparison SERP feature”, has a major impact for the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) playing in the hotel industry.
1. Shopping Carousel:
The shopping carousel now features ads from various CSEs, providing a wider range of options for consumers and promoting fair competition.
2. Hotel Pack Impact:
The changes have particularly affected the visibility of the hotel pack. Hotels and travel sites need to adapt to these changes by optimizing their listings to compete effectively in the new environment.
3. Ad Labels:
Ads are clearly labeled to indicate which CSE they come from, enhancing transparency and helping users identify the sources of the product listings.
Changing Impact of the EU Digital Markets Act on the Hotel Industry of EU
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) has introduced significant changes to the landscape of online travel agencies (OTAs) and the hotel industry, particularly affecting how SEO strategies are formulated and executed. Here’s an in-depth look at how the DMA impacts this sector:
1. Enhanced Transparency in Ranking and Presentation
One of the key mandates of the DMA is the requirement for OTA platforms to enhance transparency in how they rank and present accommodation options to users. This transparency provides hotels with critical data insights, allowing them to access data on how their names, content, and Average Rate Index (ARI) feeds are utilized by OTAs.
Moreover, OTAs are now required to provide more detailed data on advertisements, including performance metrics on metasearch and paid search. This enables hotels to better understand their ad performance and optimize their listings accordingly.
2. Regulations on Data Exploitation
The DMA limits how platforms can exploit data collected through their services, which is crucial for maintaining fair competition and protecting the interests of hotels.
With restrictions on exploitation of data, hotels are assured that their proprietary information and customer data are not unfairly used to benefit the platforms at their expense. This benefits hotels ensuring that OTAs cannot leverage collected data to create unfair competitive advantages, such as favoring their listings over those of hotels.
3. Seamless Transfer of Listings and Customer Information
Another significant benefit introduced by the EU Digital Markets Act is the ability for hotels to seamlessly transfer their listings and customer information from one platform to another without losing valuable customer data and listings.
4. Prohibition of Price Parity Clauses
The DMA forbids practices such as imposing price parity clauses on hotels, which previously restricted hotels from offering lower prices on their own websites compared to OTA platforms.
This change allows hotels to set their own prices across different channels, including their websites, without being limited by any OTA agreements.
5. Mandated Access for Other Travel Service Providers
The DMA mandates OTA platforms to allow other travel service providers to access their platforms, enabling them to offer complementary services.
This regulation allows hotels to collaborate with other travel service providers to offer packages and complementary services to customers. In addition to increasing visibility and cross-promotion opportunities, hotels can now benefit from access to various travel service providers.
SEO Implications Post DMA (for Hotels & OTAs)
The introduction of the Comparison Site SERP feature under the DMA means that OTAs and hotel websites now compete on a more higher level.
Previously, Google’s practices favored its own services, but now, multiple comparison shopping services can appear in search results. This has led to several key changes:
SEO Implications for OTAs
a. Increased Competition:
With the introduction of the Comparison Site SERP feature, OTAs will now face more competition as multiple comparison shopping services will compete for visibility in search results.
This means OTAs need to enhance their SEO strategies to maintain or improve their rankings.
b. Content Quality and Optimization:
OTAs need to focus on providing detailed and high-quality content, including comprehensive hotel descriptions, high-resolution images, and accurate pricing information. Structured data markup is also crucial to improve chances of appearing in rich snippets such as hotel packs.
c. Diversified Ad Spend:
OTAs are now spreading their ad budgets across multiple platforms to maximize visibility and reach a wider audience. This is essential to stay competitive in a more balanced marketplace.
SEO Implications for Hotels
a. Direct Listings Optimization:
Hotel website owners need to make sure that their direct listings are optimized to compete with OTAs and other comparison shopping services on the SERps. This will push them to maintain accurate and up-to-date information about their offerings, using high-quality images, and having a competitive pricing.
2. Local SEO Efforts:
Hotels should focus on local SEO to attract users searching for accommodations in specific locations. This involves optimizing for local keywords, managing Google Business Profile listings, and acquiring local backlinks.
Conclusion
The EU’s intervention in Google’s shopping service practices marks a significant shift towards fair competition and better consumer choices. These changes pose challenges for businesses, particularly in terms of increased competition and the need for optimized SEO strategies.
However, these significant changes also offer opportunities for greater visibility and a more balanced market.
