Google explains proposed search practices changes and criticises rivals

The internet giant has detailed some of the measures it has offered to take to settle a European Commission investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by the company.

In a blog, Google's senior vice president Kent Walker said that the company is keen to put an end to the regulator's probe and has therefore offered to make "unprecedented and far-reaching changes" to the way its search engine operates.

"We will give links to rival sites much more real estate and visibility," Walker said. "We will include rival sites’ logos with these links for even greater prominence. We will accompany these links with dynamic text from rivals providing more information about their sites."

"Users will be presented with alternative specialised search options right in the middle of some of the most valuable and prominent space on our search page. It is hard to see how anybody could reasonably claim that this will not offer users choice," he added.

Walker accused some of Google's rivals of putting the company in "regulatory limbo" and said that he did not expect those businesses to be satisfied with any concessions the company makes.

"Some in the anti-Google camp have lobbied for remedies that would help themselves at a cost to consumers," he said. "Others have worked to prolong the process to keep us in regulatory limbo, filing new complaints timed to disrupt our settlement negotiations. These complainants continue to recycle claims with no basis in law or fact, while failing to present constructive or realistic suggestions that would benefit consumers."

"We’ve gone the extra mile to come up with a settlement that will resolve the Commission’s expressed concerns and allow everyone to focus on competing on the merits and creating innovative new services for consumers. We look forward to bringing this matter to a sound and reasonable conclusion," Walker added.

In May 2012 the European Commission called on Google to put forward proposed amendments to its search practices after taking a preliminary view that the company may have abused its dominant market position in the industry. Google enjoys a near-90% share of the UK and other major European internet search markets. The Commission's primary concern has been with the way Google displays links to its own services relative to those of rivals.

The Commission rejected proposals Google initially made to address its concerns but has subsequently conducted market-testing of further concessions offered by the company.

In October 2013, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that Google's latest concessions "more appropriately addresses" the Commission's abuse of dominance concerns. He said at the time that he was "confident" that the case had reached a "key moment" as he put the proposals out for testing by Google's competitors.

Groups representing some of Google's rivals have expressed scepticism about Google's offers and have also raised additional legal complaints about conduct it alleges Google to have engaged in.

The Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace (ICOMP), which is backed by some of Google's fiercest critics including Microsoft and Foundem, has claimed that Google's search market dominance has been built on a "broad-ranging and illegal network of agreements with partners from across the IT sector".

'FairSearch', which is a coalition of 17 search and technology companies including Microsoft, Expedia, TripAdvisor and Oracle, has also submitted a complaint to the European Commission in which it has claimed that the way Google uses its Android operating system is an abuse of its dominant position in the mobile market. It has taken issue with agreements Google form with mobile device manufacturers in relation to Android which it said results in Google's own software and services being more readily available to consumers than those offered by rivals.