Google has announced the introduction of new search features in the European Economic Area (EEA) as part of their preparations for the Digital Markets Act (DMA). These features aim to provide users with more visual and entity-focused results, as well as improve the visibility of aggregators, suppliers, and businesses on the search results page.
One of the new features is the carousel rich result for aggregators and suppliers. This feature includes rich result tiles that may contain price, rating, and images for entities on the page. It is available for travel, local, and shopping queries. However, if a web page does not have structured data markup, the standard text result will be shown.
Google has also introduced aggregator units and refinement chips. Aggregator units allow users to easily see the top aggregator results for their query, while refinement chips help users focus the search page on aggregator text results. These features are available for places sites, jobs sites, flight sites, and product sites.
In terms of availability, carousel rich results for shopping queries are being tested first in Germany, France, Czechia, and the UK. The refinement chips and aggregator units do not require any markup from publishers to be eligible.
Additionally, Google has made changes to flight results. When searching for queries such as “flights to Paris” or “flights from Berlin to Paris,” users may notice more visual- and entity-focused results. This aims to provide users with rich and relevant information to help them find the best next step on their search journey.
For websites that currently rank well for these types of queries in the European regions, it is important to closely monitor how the search results may change with the new DMA changes. While change can be challenging, it also presents an opportunity to rank higher and gain more traffic with these new search experiences.
Overall, Google’s new search features in the EEA aim to enhance user experience by providing richer and more relevant information. It also aims to improve the visibility of aggregators, suppliers, and businesses on the search results page. Website owners and businesses should pay attention to these changes to optimize their rankings and capitalize on the new search experiences.
