The reform of Google's search practices in the EU were yesterday rejected by the European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a parliamentary hearing.

An ongoing investigation into the fairness of Google's suspected manipulation of search results - allegedly deliberately promoting its own products and services ahead of its competitors - has been under scrutiny since January.


"After, we will analyse the responses received, we will probably ask Google, 100 percent, you should improve your proposals," Almunia said yesterday.

Google had unveiled proposed changes to help appease the EU regulators last April.


According to Search Engine Watch; "changes included displaying links to three rival specialised search services, separating promoted links from search results, and offering all websites the option to opt-out from making their content available in Google's specialized search services."

"My conviction is [Google is] diverting traffic," Almunia said.

"They are monetising this kind of business, the strong position they have in the general search market and this is not only a dominant position, I think – I fear – there is an abuse of this dominant position."