The adoption of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is shaking up Google’s ecosystem within the European Union. This regulation targets, among others, large online platforms to promote fair competition in digital markets. But it doesn’t just impact GAFA! The DMA has significant consequences for any company visible online, particularly for those that use Google services as part of their visibility and conversion strategy.
Coming into force on March 6, the repercussions of this regulation are already being felt:
- loss of visibility of the Google My Business file,
- end of the supremacy of Google customer reviews,
- increase in SEA auctions,
- loss of SEO authority of websites without the adoption of Consent Mode V2
If these points seem negative at first glance, the DMA represents a golden opportunity to optimize your SEO strategy, specify the collection of your customer data and improve your advertising positioning against your competitors!
How to deal with all these changes and how to react so as not to be overtaken by this new regulation? We explain everything in this article and we give you our opinion on the matter!
The impact of DMA for Google
Among the most affected search engines, Google is undergoing several changes in order to comply with the DMA. These alterations directly affect the companies that use the platform’s services (Google Ads, Google Business Profile, Google Shopping, Google Display, Performance Max, …). It is therefore essential to take these various new features into account in order to adjust your marketing action plan accordingly.
One of the main initiatives adopted by the giant Google is to downgrade its own services to favor those of its competitors. Thus, competing comparators now benefit from better visibility in search results compared to Google’s services.
Among the actions that have the greatest impact on user navigation and taking into account browsing habits, we find:
- The removal of the Maps insertion in top search, to make way for the “places” section, thus allowing competitors to be referenced again. A map remains visible as the first result, but it is no longer possible to click to automatically open the Google Maps site or application. Furthermore, the “Maps” results filter button, just below the search bar, has disappeared to make way for “Places”.
- The disappearance of the Google Flights, Google Hotels and YouTube suggestions as main results on the search results page (SERP).
- The same fate is reserved for Google Shopping, because Google is no longer authorized to automatically highlight this functionality for the search for merchant products.
Interestingly, however, these Google services can be reintegrated into users’ main search results. Indeed, consumers have the option to reactivate these services in their Google account settings.
A significant loss of visibility for Google Business Profile (Google My Business) files
With the DMA requiring greater transparency in Google’s indexing and ranking practices, the platform is now forced to no longer favor its own local search services over competitors. To meet this requirement, Google has made several adjustments to its display, including the removal of Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) listings at the top of search results.
This decision could significantly reduce the visibility of Google My Business listings, potentially by up to 95%. This presents a major challenge for your business, which will need to redouble its SEO efforts to maintain its position in search results.
If you are active in commerce, it is also advisable to optimize your Store Locator as well as your local pages in order to maintain the visibility of your business, while positioning yourself locally in relation to your target.
In this context, Google is actively negotiating with the European Commission to find alternative solutions. For example, the search engine is working on integrating social media posts into GMB listings. Although this feature is still being rolled out, it would offer your business the ability to associate its social media accounts with its business listing.
It is therefore recommended to extend your local SEO strategy to social media, as these platforms could play a crucial role in your future visibility, especially given that 37% of users under the age of 45 use social media to research products or brands.
The End of Google Customer Reviews Supremacy
Previously, Google’s Local Pack held considerable weight in a business’s visibility as well as in collecting customer reviews, boosting its authority. Now, reviews have their own separate section in search results and reviews from various comparison platforms, such as TripAdvisor, are being paired with Google reviews.
This shift is challenging the supremacy of Google reviews, giving increased visibility to other product and service comparison platforms. This change is likely to have a significant impact on businesses’ annual marketing strategy, forcing them to reallocate their efforts towards these third-party customer review platforms. Indeed, it is imperative for businesses to ensure their customer reviews across all platforms in order to ensure a positive overall score.
More than ever, consumer feedback is at the heart of businesses’ concerns. This is bringing backlinks and SEO strategies to the forefront of the marketing scene.
The impact on your Google Ads paid strategy
Google Shopping Campaigns
Until March 6, 2023, consumers searching for a product to buy on Google were most often directed to Google Shopping. This practice is now considered an abuse of a dominant position and is precisely what the DMA aims to regulate.
Since the DMA came into force, companies using Google Ads have noticed changes in the results of their campaigns.
Given Google’s ban on prioritizing its own products in top results, this means that Shopping ads will no longer be prioritized. However, this does not mean that they will no longer be visible. They will simply compete with those of other advertisers.
These Google ads can still rank well if they are relevant to the user’s search query and if the advertiser has a competitive bidding strategy. On the other hand, this could lead to increased costs and a decrease in the effectiveness of your Google Shopping campaigns, requiring an upward revision of your bids.
Targeting in the consent mode v2 era
In order to relate the various impacts that DMA causes on the marketing audiences of companies, it is essential to address the adoption of Google’s Consent Mode V2.
Consent Mode V2 is one of the major updates that Google requires for all companies listed on the search engine. It aims to strengthen user privacy as well as compliance with DMA regulations.
Here are the key points:
- Cookie adjustments: Consent Mode V2 aims to adjust the behavior of Google tags based on the consent status of users. Your cookie banner must now collect the preferences regarding the collection and use of personal data of each visitor. Via this new generation of banner, it is possible to know if:
- the user consents to share his personal data with you (this is the “ad_user_data” signal)
- the user chooses to personalize the possibilities regarding retargeting (this is the “ad_personalization” signal).
- In the case of refusal of cookies by the user, Consent Mode V2 (in its advanced version) still allows users to be modeled anonymously via pings, which allows you to feed the algorithms and improve your conversion strategies. Indeed, the latter then fills the data collection lost when refusing cookies.
The main advantage of this new consent measure is above all to be able to collect data, even anonymized, allowing the overall user experience to be improved.
Consent Mode V2 also addresses the consequences of the end ofd third-party cookies. Thanks to the latter, advertising and analytical performance are still guaranteed (in large part) by Google.
Penalties for non-compliance with this legislation
In addition to risking a penalty in the form of a fine, we have 2 major penalties that have a direct impact on your SEA, Display and YouTube campaigns.
- Suspension of auctions and remarketing
- Restriction on Google advertising tools
The targeting of your campaigns will also be affected, and more specifically on your Performance Max, Display and YouTube campaigns. Targeting is mainly linked to consumer behavior and the collection of this data.
Search campaigns will also be affected, but to a lesser extent since your strategy will be based mainly on intentional keyword searches.
Leveraging Consent Mode to Boost Your SEO
Google’s Consent Mode V2 mainly impacts online advertising and data collection for ad campaigns. However, it can indirectly affect your organic search engine optimization (SEO).
Thanks to the advanced settings that Consent Mode V2 offers, it is possible to model the behavior of Internet users who have refused cookies. This “conversion modeling” can help understand how these users interact with your website. This information is valuable because it enriches your SEO and UX strategy. On the other hand, not adopting Consent Mode V2 can harm the reputation of your website. It is therefore urgently recommended to implement this technical solution in compliance with data protection regulations.
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