The Competition and Markets Authority is proposing to designate Google with strategic market status (SMS) in general search and search advertising under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
The CMA is consulting on the proposal before it makes a final decision in October. If designated, the CMA would be able to introduce targeted measures to address specific aspects of how Google operates search services in the UK.
The CMA says that Google search accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, with millions of people relying on it as a key gateway to the internet and more than 200,000 businesses in the UK relying on Google search advertising to reach their customers. Therefore, it emphasises that it is vital that competition works well.
The CMA’s investigation has heard concerns, including:
- Google’s index of billions of websites, its access to trillions of historical searches, and its ecosystem of information, are extremely hard for others to replicate.
- Higher costs of search advertising than would be expected in a more competitive market.
- Limited transparency and fairness in how Google ranks and presents search results.
- Publishers can face challenges in securing fair terms and control over how their content is used in Google’s search and AI-generated responses.
- Default agreements with mobile device manufacturers can make it more difficult for competitors to reach customers.
- Innovative businesses can struggle to compete as people cannot easily share their search data with firms developing new services.
The CMA has published a roadmap of early priority measures which include:
- Requiring choice screens to help people easily select and switch between search services (potentially including AI assistants).
- Ensuring fair and non-discriminatory ranking of search results.
- More control and transparency for publishers over how their content collected for search is used, including in AI-generated responses and search results more generally.
- Supporting data portability to help new businesses bring innovative products to market.
The CMA plans to consider a second category of actions to address more complex issues over a longer period (starting in the first half of 2026). These include concerns about the impact of Google’s bargaining position on publishers, its treatment of rival specialised search firms, and concerns about transparency and control in relation to search advertising.
The CMA says that it has carefully considered how generative AI is changing the search landscape. While use of AI assistants is growing, it remains significantly smaller than Google search. Google is already incorporating generative AI features, such as AI Overviews, into its search products and developing its own assistant, Gemini. The CMA’s proposed SMS designation would include AI-based search features, though not Gemini AI Assistant itself. The CMA will keep this under review as usage evolves.
The CMA is consulting on its proposed designation decision and accompanying roadmap. The consultation ends on 22 July and a final decision on SMS designation will be made by the deadline of 13 October.
Alongside its live SMS designation investigations into search and mobile ecosystems, the CMA has been keeping under review the timing and scope of any further SMS designation investigations. The CMA is focused on progressing current SMS investigations and associated actions to improve outcomes in those markets for the remainder of 2025. It will keep under review possible options for a further designation investigation and anticipates that this will be considered by the CMA Board in early 2026.
