The stringency of the agreement’s terms depend on whether Google makes money from a particular search service. Google’s in-house news results, for example, merely need to be labelled and separated. Restaurant results, which link to a page with adverts, require more noticeable separation and three prominent links to rival search engines. In Google’s shopping service, where retailers pay to place products, links to rival shopping comparison websites will be auctioned.
Google's search algorithm will not be affected by the settlement. While the EU probe found problems with the way Google promoted its own services, it did not conclude that the US group deliberately demoted those of its competitors, a key concern of many complainants against Google.
To address EU concerns over Google’s "scraping" of user reviews and other content from rival sites, the company pledged to give content providers the right to opt out of its specialist search services, such as Google News, without disappearing from its general search engine. In a measure that goes further than the voluntary terms agreed with the US Federal Trade Commission, Google has also promised to set up a tool for sites to remove up to 10 percent of a site's content from vertical search.
Other provisions will end exclusivity requirements for sites that embed Google search on their website and make it easier for small business advertisers to move their campaigns from Google to other search engines.
