Google Job Search Widget Comes Under Fire

Google’s job search function is still only a few years old. So far, the service has been a huge success in connecting candidates to employers and job boards, especially since it added salary and location information to the search – making it even more similar to traditional aggregators and job search engines. The search widget even took steps to make finding remote jobs easier a few months ago.

Several job sites in the EU, however, have taken issue with the service. They claim the Alphabet-owned company is taking advantage of its position as a search engine to snuff out any competition.

Antitrust Allegations

So far, 23 different European job search websites co-signed a letter, which has been sent to the EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The co-signers called on the commissioner to order Google to cease their job search service until the matter has been officially looked into.

The main complaint is that Google places a large widget, advertising its job search service, at the top of any internet search related to job hunting. This gives the global giant’s job search an unfair advantage as a result, with smaller job boards and aggregators taking a hit to both traffic and users.

Google’s Guidelines

Another problem that has been raised is that while any job board and aggregator can tap into the advantages offered by Google’s service, namely more clicks and users, this is only possible if they follow Google’s exact specifications when it comes to listing jobs – namely, including salary ranges and the listing job site address.It’s not hard to argue that this could be interpreted as a move to strong-arm all sites into adopting the Google preferred format. Those that refuse, or are unable, to list jobs in this format are therefore automatically excluded from being searchable in the Google widget.

Having said that, results have varied for different companies. Monster, for example, has seen a significant increase in traffic since it encouraged recruiters to adopt Google guidelines when job posting. Susan Vitale, the chief marketing officer for iCMS, an American job site operator, only had positive feedback for the service: ” What we’re already seeing with Google’s entrance is better matching candidates to jobs.”.

Despite the antitrust claims by some European job sites, Google claims that: “Any provider — from individual employers to job listing platforms — can use this feature in search, and many of them have seen a significant increase in the number of job applications they receive. Since launch, we’ve made a number of changes to address feedback in Europe.”

There is another issue, however: Data. Some job boards have suggested that following the Google guidelines means handing over valuable data, which could ultimately allow Google to cut out any competition from job searches entirely.

Nothing New

This isn’t the first time Google has been accused, or even fined, for attempting to monopolise a chunk of the internet. The European Commission has already found that Google may be attempting to circumvent user choice, by demanding that its apps and services are already preinstalled (and not removable, in most cases) on Android phones. This led to a $5 billion antitrust fine.

Regardless of the EU competition commissioner’s findings, it will be hard for Google to shake the image of an all-consuming black hole in light of these, and previous, allegations.

One thing is certain – the EU competition commission is almost certain to investigate thoroughly, give their previous findings.