There are new SERPs that are appearing in Germany, prompting users to try alternative directories or search engines for the same local query. These SERPs are part of Google’s ongoing effort to comply with the European Commission’s (EC) antitrust decision in shopping search.
The following images concern local results, and not shopping search results. The EC is in the process of considering a formal action against Google in local search.
The prompt says “ergebnisse finden auf” (find results on). The three buttons are local search and directory sites in Germany. The screens are from Frank Sandtmann.
Yelp has already seen and criticized these screens as a return to Google’s “rival links” remedy presented in 2013 and 2014. They were derided by Google competitors as inadequate to generate meaningful traffic. The following screen is from an eye tracking study that was performed
on these pages by Yelp. The company argued that the bulk of attention is not focused on the alternative provider buttons.
Each of the EC’s multi-billion-dollar antitrust penalties against Google has been appealed, but must comply with the decisions in the mean time.