UK regulator orders Google to make search rankings more transparent
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority ordered Google on June 17 to improve transparency in how it ranks search results, Al Jazeera reported . Google must rank organic results using “objective and non-discriminatory criteria,” give businesses more information about how rankings work, set up clearer complaint processes, and let users transfer their search data to authorized third parties. The fair-ranking requirement takes effect within six months and the data-portability requirement within three.
The order follows Google’s designation last year as holding “strategic market status,” the threshold for intervention under the UK’s digital markets competition regime adopted in January 2025. Google handles more than 90% of UK search queries, and British businesses have complained that its ranking practices lack transparency.
This is among the first concrete obligations imposed under the new regime, which lets the CMA set conduct rules for dominant platforms rather than pursuing slow case-by-case enforcement. The data-portability provision is the more consequential element: by letting rivals access user search data with consent, it aims at the feedback loop that entrenches incumbents, though its effect depends on how many users and competitors actually use it.