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CMA Orders Google to Give Advance Notice of Significant Ranking Changes

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Ranked search results being weighed on a balance scale, representing regulatory scrutiny of search ranking

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed two binding conduct requirements on Google’s general search service, the most significant of which forces Google to give businesses advance notice of significant ranking changes and to explain how its ranking systems work. The requirements were announced on 17 June 2026 under the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which earlier designated Google as having strategic market status in general search.

The action builds on the CMA’s earlier intervention that gave UK publishers formal controls over how their content appears in AI search, including the opt-out toggle and AI performance reports Google began testing in June. Where that step addressed AI-generated answers, these new requirements target the ranking system itself.

What the fair ranking requirement covers

The first conduct requirement, which Google has six months to implement, sets four obligations for how organic results are ranked:

  • Objective and non-discriminatory criteria. Google must rank organic results, including those surfaced in AI Overviews, on objective and non-discriminatory criteria. Sponsored placements are excluded from this requirement.
  • Greater transparency. Google must be clearer with businesses about how its ranking systems work.
  • Advance notice of significant changes. Google must warn businesses before significant ranking changes that could affect their visibility.
  • A formal complaints process. Businesses need a clear route to raise concerns about how Google ranks results and have them addressed.

The advance-notice obligation is the part most likely to change day-to-day practice. Core and spam updates have historically arrived with a confirmation post and little else, leaving sites to diagnose volatility after the fact. A requirement to flag significant changes ahead of time, if it produces meaningful detail, would shift when and how UK businesses can prepare.

What the data portability requirement covers

The second requirement, with a three-month deadline, puts Google’s previously voluntary UK Data Portability API on a legal footing. It lets users authorise third parties, such as rewards platforms, cashback services, or companies offering personalised deals, to access their search data. The CMA frames this as bringing UK users’ rights closer to the data portability provisions already in force in the EU under its digital markets rules.

What this means

The headline obligation is the advance notice of significant ranking changes, but its practical value depends entirely on detail the CMA has not yet specified. Notice that a change is coming, with no indication of what it affects, would offer little more than the existing update announcements. Notice that named systems or result types are being adjusted, with enough lead time to assess exposure, would be materially useful. The six-month window means the substance will not be clear until early 2027 at the soonest, and only for the UK market.

Two caveats are worth holding onto. First, this is a UK regulatory measure: it changes Google’s obligations to UK businesses and does not establish how Google operates elsewhere. Second, the requirements are framed around transparency and process, not ranking outcomes. Google is not being told to rank anyone higher, only to be clearer and more consistent about how it ranks and to give warning before major shifts.

For now, there is nothing to implement. The sensible response is to watch what Google publishes as it works towards the deadlines, particularly the format of any advance-notice mechanism and the detail of its ranking transparency disclosures. The CMA has said it will keep the requirements under review given how quickly search is changing, and may introduce further measures, so this is unlikely to be the last intervention.

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