UK CMA tightens Google ranking rules with AI Overview oversight

Google Search just got a new rulebook in the UK, and it reaches straight into the AI layer reshaping visibility. On June 17, the Competition and Markets Authority imposed two conduct requirements on Google: a fair-ranking rule that covers organic results and search generative AI features, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, and a data-portability rule that gives UK end users a route to move specified search data through authorized third parties. Paid placements are excluded from the fair-ranking rule, but the scope now stretches well beyond the old blue-link page view.

The fair-ranking requirement is the sharper business signal. Google must use objective, non-discriminatory criteria, and the CMA says that means it cannot weigh whether a publisher advertises on Google, has other commercial arrangements with it, has opted out of Google’s search generative AI features, or has exercised contractual or statutory rights against Google. The notice also requires transparency over how rankings work and sufficient notice and information about material changes that could affect publishers, reduce avoidable costs, and give publishers a way to raise concerns about manual actions and changes that may distort UK markets. Google has six months to comply.

The data-portability rule puts Google’s existing DMA Data Portability API on a legal footing in the UK. Google must provide third parties authorized by a UK end user, at the user’s request and free of charge, with tools to facilitate effective portability of specified data, and it may meet the obligation by making the API available in the UK on the same terms and to the same standard as in the European Economic Area. That requirement comes into force in three months, turning what had been a product feature into a regulated pathway for data movement.

For SEO leads, publisher ops teams, and analytics groups, the meaningful change is predictability. If Google must give notice before significant and explainable ranking shifts, visibility volatility starts to look less like a black box and more like a managed change process, which should sharpen traffic forecasting, incident response, and accountability when AI Overviews alter how a brand appears. The CMA has already said it is monitoring how Google implements these changes and may bring forward further measures if needed, so the UK is treating search visibility as an area for formal oversight, not just platform discretion.