Google makes the Android search engine selection screen free and shows more options – tablets and phones – news

Google will change the layout of the search engine selection screen European Android users see with a fresh install of the operating system. Participation will be free for search engines and more search engines will be shown.

from 1 september The new selection screen should Next, users are presented with a scrollable list of search engines whose rank is pseudo-randomly. Users can choose from up to twelve search engines, the amount by region. This search engine then becomes the search engine for the search bar in the home screen, in Chrome and this search engine application is installed on the smartphone.

The five most popular search engines appear at the top, where Google uses data from StatCounter to determine the most popular service by country. Google will also appear in this overview. This order is selected randomly each time the selection screen is displayed. Up to seven other search engines are also displayed randomly. If there are more than seven other search engines in a country, Google will randomly choose the seven search engines that will be displayed each time the screen is displayed. In total, for example, no more than a dozen search engines are displayed. Google search engine is always displayed.

Search engines do not have to pay to appear in the selection screen, even if the user chooses a search engine. Previously, Google held an auction every four months for you to appear on this selection screen, something that some search engines did not agree with. This would go against the spirit of the European Commission requirements and would make privacy-focused search engines less successful in these auctions.

Google sets some requirements to be able to appear in the new selection screen. First of all, it should concern the “general” search engines. Specialized search engines dealing with a specific topic or topic, for example, cannot appear in the selection screen. A company is also not allowed to serve multiple search engines, and search engines that use Google search results are not approved.

Search engines need to move forward localized It is for the country where the English language Acceptable to many countries. The search engine does not have to be in Dutch to be used in the Netherlands or Belgium. The search engine must also be available as a free app in Google Play and there are certain technical requirements.

Parties wishing to participate in the new list can register annually in June. Google says it will roll out this new selection screen on new smartphones within the European Economic Area and the UK on or before September 1.

google says To develop the new selection screen based on the ‘Feedback’ from the European Commission. The selection screen is part of The standard fine is 4.3 billion euros imposed by the Commission on Google in 2018 and became in 2020 It appears for first time users.