Google Tunes Down Site Reputation Enforcement After EU Crackdown

Google has adjusted its Site Reputation Policy in response to concerns from the European Union. The policy change affects users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and follows discussions between Google and the EU.

The EU opened an investigation into Google's practices under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in November 2025, and recently fined the company EUR 890 million for breaches of the DMA.

Google claims its Site Reputation Policy is designed to prevent third-party content from being published on trusted websites primarily to exploit their existing search rankings. However, EU scrutiny followed complaints from publishers and other third-party content providers who felt the policy harmed search quality.