Something that may have slipped under our radar more than a couple of years ago (because we did not report it at the time) but still affects European citizens to this day, is how Google is not allowed to show Map related content in searches thanks to an EU ruling on the matter against Google to do with the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Basically the ruling requires Google to offer EU citizens a choice when they search for a location on Google, and because Google is not going to offer Bing Maps, or an Apple Maps rich result at the top of their own search query, they opted to remove it altogether in the EU.
Aside from the fact that this results in a mediocre experience for all EU citizens, needless to say, the ruling was not warmly received. More recently, Apple and Google openly criticized Europe"s DMA saying that it actually leads to fewer choices for customers, reduces differentiation in vendor services, and promotes unfair competition.
The hard way
However there is a way to restore it. If you are comfortable with extensions like Tampermonkey, and User Scripts you can install a script, however this method would require you to keep an eye on any changes Google makes and then update the script accordingly. One such script is here, but the author hasn"t updated it since December 2024, it broke in the meantime resulting in another user having to provide an updated script in September.
The easier way
The other easy way is to simply install a couple of extensions. Before you click on a random extension, I do want to note the first has over 200,000 users and a 4.8 (631 ratings) out of 5, the other which restores clicking on a map in the search result has an even higher 4.9 (124 ratings) with over 10,000 users.
- Install the Google Search Maps Button extension
- Install the Re-introduce google maps links to search page extension
- Profit!
With the above result, fully restoring what the EU, and Google took away.
The EU, for good or bad, eventually notices the problems it creates for itself and users in the bloc, take Cookie Consent for example, it resulted in a frustrating browsing experience for every EU citizen that doesn"t automatically block cookies (which can have the side-effect of rendering some websites unusable). Now, more than seven years after it came into effect they are proposing changes in which EU citizens will see far less cookie popups.
Header Image: Colorful map vector via Deposit Photos, Green Tick Check Mark via Vecteezy