Google announced it will be testing more changes for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe to try to help airlines, hotel operators, and small retailers and not just "large online travel aggregators and comparison sites" the search company said. Google will be testing removing map features from hotel listings as part of this.
Google wrote that "free direct booking clicks are down as much as 30% since we implemented our original changes." Google will try these three changes, the company said:
- Expanded and equally formatted units that allow users to choose between results that take them to comparison sites and results that take them directly to supplier websites when they are searching for products, restaurants, flights or hotels.
- Other new formats that allow comparison sites and suppliers to show more information about what is on their websites, like prices and pictures.
- New ad units for comparison sites.
Google also began a test with hotel results yesterday which they removed hotel features, such as the map, hotel results under the map, property information and more. Gary Illyes from Google wrote in a Google Webmaster Forum thread:
On Monday, November 25th, we will begin a test affecting hotel results in Germany, Belgium and Estonia. During the test we will remove some hotel features which include the map, hotel results underneath the map, property info and other data for hotels.Links to individual websites - including hotel and vacation rental websites and comparison sites - will be shown instead.
The test will apply to users located in these three countries. For example, it will apply to a user located in Germany who is searching for hotels within Germany, e.g. [hotels in Berlin], as well as outside Germany, e.g. [hotels in Bangkok]. If any user located outside of Germany, Belgium or Estonia searches for [hotels in Berlin] the test will not apply. The test will also not apply if a user searches for an individual hotel.
More details about the purpose of the test can be found in our blog post.
It is a short, temporary test. Once it ends, results will show up as they did before. Websites do not need to take any action.
This is just a test to see what the outcome will be. Google wrote, "To do this, we will be running a short test to remove the free hotel features from Google Search for users in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia. The test will remove some of the features that have been at the focus of the debate, including the map that shows where hotels are and hotel results underneath it. Instead, we will show a list of individual links to websites without any of the additional features — similar to our old “ten blue links” format from years ago. Results will return to normal once the test ends."
Google is running a similar test for news publishers.
Meanwhile, Lluc B. Penycate who is all over hotel results in the EU regions has been noticing a lot of changes and tests over the past day. I am not sure if these are related or not, but here they are:
Google is testing showing several prices on hotel listings on the hotel local pack. pic.twitter.com/q9vWNTIejR
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) November 25, 2024
NEW? Google Ads for hotels on mobile. Imitating the info of a GBP, it shows up for competitor branded searches. Map and photos enlarge when clicked on. pic.twitter.com/CS0ouWCpmW
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) November 26, 2024
I like the rare post from Gary Illyes in the forums, by the way...
More coverage on this topic can be found on Techmeme.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Forum.
Update: The Verge posted before and after images:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Update again: Here is some data from Luc on this:
Filtering out countries that are NOT DMA affected: 14% increase in clicks and 65% increase in impressions. pic.twitter.com/ZrITV48G0R
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) November 28, 2024
Funny enough, for users located in DMA affected countries saw a higher in increase in clicks, 17.3& and double the increase in impressions. Also ranking for 67% more queries as opposed to a decrease. pic.twitter.com/g9HVnKwrNU
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) November 28, 2024
Update on Dec 12: The test is now complete and the results were not good, said Google.
