The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is applying pressure to Google's dominance in search and advertising, the implications of this for businesses could well be profound.

Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Google may soon be designated with "Strategic Market Status" (SMS). If that happens, the CMA could impose new obligations designed to foster fairer digital competition.

Here’s what’s on the table:

• Choice Screens – Google may need to offer users a selection of search engines (including AI-based ones like ChatGPT and Perplexity for example) instead of defaulting to its own.
• Fair Ranking – Search results could become more transparent and less skewed towards Google’s own properties.
• Publisher Control – More autonomy for publishers over how their content appears, particularly in AI summaries.
• Data Portability – Users could have more power to move their data (like search history) across platforms (a potential game-changer for innovation.)

Google warns these rules could stifle innovation and delay new products, but the CMA argues it’s about levelling the playing field, an argument echoing across global regulators from the UK to the US.

For businesses in smaller jurisdictions like the Isle of Man, this could (hopefully 🤞) mean:

• Better visibility in organic search.

• More choice in digital tools.

• A shift in how content is monetised and discovered.

For the Isle of Man

As a business based in both the Isle of Man and the UK, we're watching these developments closely. While the Isle of Man isn’t directly governed by the CMA, we trade in digital markets that cross borders daily. If search results are reshaped to favour transparency and equality, hopefully Manx businesses may stand to benefit. Often Isle of Man Businesses struggle to get recognised and we have found many times we have been removed from google searches due to location alone. Fairer competition may help local companies gain visibility in UK organic searches, attract more relevant traffic, and compete on merit rather than Google ad spend, organic searches now often appear from 8th position and after an AI Overview that can dominate up to 60% of the page.

Additionally, if data portability becomes mainstream, Manx SaaS and tech firms could seize opportunities to win users looking for alternatives to Google, especially those offering clearer data control or a more tailored service.

A Balanced View on Regulation

While many of the CMA’s proposed changes are constructive, especially around visibility and data fairness, there is also a broader principle at play: the balance between regulation and market forces.

Is this regulation overdue or, are we punishing success?

In many cases, the market self-corrects. If someone is searching for a specific company, they will keep searching until they find it. But for users exploring services more generally, for example, “cybersecurity partner” or “fractional CTO” the current search environment often prioritises those who pay to be seen, not necessarily those who are best suited to help.

But that’s the deal with Google Ads: businesses pay to appear. And in many ways, that’s fair - it’s advertising. The concern is how much of what users see is now filtered:

• Paid ads dominate the top of results

• Google’s own services take priority

• AI-generated summaries often replace the need to click

• And organic content is personalised and localised, sometimes at the expense of relevance

Search results are no longer a neutral list of the best or most useful information. They’re curated, ranked, and filtered, often invisibly, by algorithms optimised for Google’s goals (this isn't as sinister as it sounds - it's a reflection on how Google runs it's business).

So the real question becomes:

Is the system rewarding quality and relevance or just budget, branding, and scale?

Search today can feel like a pay-to-play environment, where ad budgets often trump quality or value. Levelling the playing field for organic visibility could help better providers rise to the top, especially those with niche or high-value offerings that might otherwise be buried.

However, like Google says over-regulation risks dulling the innovative edge that makes platforms like Google so powerful in the first place. The goal should be to encourage competition and choice, though it also seems to be penalising success.

An Industry Perspective

So while the CMA’s intention to correct unfair advantage is valid, it may also be a case of closing the gate after the horse has bolted. If AI becomes the new front door to the internet, then the rules for search engine competition may soon feel like yesterday’s battle. It’s worth noting that this entire regulatory push may already be trailing the real disruption: the shift in user behaviour. As it’s been noted that consumers are already increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or domain-specific LLMs to answer their questions, bypassing traditional search engines entirely. But is this right?

LLMs aren't search engines, they generate answers based on patterns in their training data, not real-time results from the Web. But the user shift is happening and it seems people favour the chatty response over the traditional search engine accuracy.

Could this be because now a Google search the AI Overview is the same thing and to get to the search engine results requires scrolling further down...?🤔

Further Reading

BBC News - Google faces crackdown

Search Engine Journal - Google AI Overviews

APNews - Google may have to offer Rival Search Options

Gov.UK - CMA First Steps

#DigitalMarkets #Google #SearchEngine #MarketingStrategy #IsleOfMan #TechRegulation #CMA #AI #TayloredSolutions