TripAdvisor claims Google pushing services harder

Google is getting more aggressive in prioritizing its own services in search results at the expense of independent sites, according to a senior TripAdvisor executive, even since the search engine group has come under closer regulatory scrutiny following allegations of anticompetitive behavior.

“We continue to see them putting Google Places results higher in the search results – higher on the page than other natural search results,” said Adam Medros, TripAdvisor’s vice president for product, referring to Google’s local reviews and listings service which competes with TripAdvisor’s hotel and restaurant reviews site. “What we are constantly vigilant about is that Google treats relevant content fairly.” As well as Places, Google’s competition with TripAdvisor and other travel sites such as Kayak has recently intensified with its launch of a flights search tool, following its $700m acquisition of information and technology company ITA.