The Digital Markets Act (DMA) of the European Union, one of the most defining regulations that could change the course of history for some big digital players and reshape the way ‘business is done’ online, is making significant waves. Businesses leveraging SEO to inflate traffic and engagement by attracting the numbers through ‘search rankings’ and ‘algorithmic rewards’ shouldn’t ignore it, though they risk being swept up into a wave of change that many veteran observers were convinced we would never see. This piece unpacks the details of the DMA, exploring the possible impacts it will have on SEO and identifying strategic opportunities for digital marketers.
Overview of the EU Digital Markets Act
The Digital Markets Act is a revolutionary piece of legislation that seeks to promote competition in the digital marketplace. As part of the European Union’s ‘Digital Europe’ legislative package, the DMA aims to curb the abuse of dominance by so-called ‘gatekeepers’, large companies that operate on the internet and control the flow of traffic on their platforms. These gatekeepers, which are likely to include companies such as Google, Facebook and others, are identified by the EU as possessing an ability to control the data economy and restrict the interoperability between and among other businesses. The policy goal of the DMA is to ensure gatekeepers operate in an even and transparent manner that does not disadvantage smaller businesses.
But on the basis of certain criteria (size, user base and degree of market influence), under the DMA these entities have been officially dubbed gatekeepers. There are several do’s and don’ts for gatekeepers set out in the Act including prohibitions against self-preferencing (where an entry the gatekeeper might prefer to rival apps or services). These rules and regulations should, in principle, help to create a more balanced digital market and improve conditions for consumer choice, offering new opportunities for EU companies and businesses. As a result, SEO professionals will hopefully be forced to adapt their strategies to suit the changing environment of the digital market.
Changes in Search Engine Rankings and Visibility
The DMA’s direct and most immediate effects on SEO will likely be changes in and shifts in search rankings and visibility. Specifically, as the DMA zeroes in on certain practices, such as self-preferencing, search engines will likely have to rejig their ranking algorithms to ensure that all websites, including those of smaller competitors, will not be biased against. Just as search engine algorithms favour some queries over others deliberately (as during the COVID-19 pandemic), this rejigging of algorithms might make rankings fluctuate wildly as bias towards large gatekeepers gives way to more even-handed treatment. SEO professionals will have carefully to monitor the changes and, like our team, might need to take big steps to adapt.
Moreover, of course, the greater transparency required by the DMA means that search engines are likely to provide greater insights into their algorithmic operations to those who submit queries. Such greater understanding of search algorithms could significantly enhance the power of SEO through improved data and greater knowledge of the search query space. The trick of being seen by greater numbers of people on the web will no longer be the exclusive domain of those with smart relationships with the gatekeepers – but it will subsequently become more about having smarter content. That might involve conducting exhaustive research into user queries so as to keep up to date with current interests and creating truly exceptional content quality and user relevancy for those who still want to compete at the top of their game.
The Role of Data and Privacy in SEO
The DMA also prioritises data privacy and protection – ie, areas that are fundamentally tied to modern SEO techniques. In an age of heightened data privacy rules, SEO agencies will need to navigate this landscape with greater care, and risk penalties if they don’t. A heightened focus on privacy protection is predicted to have major ramifications for keyword research, audience targeting and the creation of personalised content. Instead of being able to predict highly focused user data about their customers, SEO strategies will most likely become more creative, but rely less on detailed user data.
Additionally, the DMA’s encouragement of interoperability and exchanges between platforms could open up a new front for SEO competitive advantage as data silos are breached creating access to a wider and richer ecosystem of data points providing deeper understanding of user behaviour and user journeys. Of course, ethical use of large data sets would likely be at a premium, with violations potentially inviting severe action under the new framework of legislation.
Impact on Content Strategy and Creation
DMA enforcement seems very likely to have a large effect on content strategy and creation. If Google’s search results are required to serve users freely and in fair competition with other tech companies, content producers would have an even stronger incentive to produce more useful, relevant, and engaging content. The dull crutch of racking up backlinks from the large gatekeepers to promote rankings might finally be dismantled, reinforcing whatever micro innovations SEO professionals have been cooking up for their promising content clients. Genuinely creating information worth clicking on and passing along to others will be even more essential than ever before.
Moreover, an FAIR emphasis at the DMA will likely force platforms to be open about their algorithms and thereby stifle iron-fisted favouritism, as was evident when TikTok seemingly prioritised its own videos in his feed. Independent creators might gain a fighting chance to get noticed. A focus on original content could also help curb the devaluation of creative output. For search engine rankings to matter again, SEOs will need to focus more on the artistic offerings of online pages and less on the trimmings such as keywords or backlinks. This might involve delving deeper into engagement-focused metrics such as time-on-page or bounce rate rather than focusing on keyword densities and inbound links.
Adjusting SEO Tools and Technologies
As the DMA upends the digital market, tools and technologies used by professionals in the SEO industry will have to change, too. The raw materials for this work – the algorithms, data, tools, and human practices through which SEO unfolds – are often built in light of the current relationships of power between market actors, and therefore will need to reflect the DMA’s regulatory role and the new relationships of influence that it brings about. SEO experts who rely on automated solutions will have to critique their toolkits, auditing their tool-markets for those with the potential to act as facilitators of the greater disclosure and data availability that the DMA promotes. Their work will have to be reframed or reoriented whenever the tools they use don’t work or must be upgraded to fit the developments the DMA brings.
Furthermore, with the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence within SEO, practitioners would have greater ability to handle the altered business landscape stemming from the DMA. By harnessing such tools, it may be more feasible to mine big data in all its aspects and to uncover any algorithm changes or behaviour from users that may influence updates to a search engine; thus, practitioners can stay a step ahead of the game and make early adjustments to keep abreast of evolutions in digital jurisdiction. Of course, technical constraints would have to be taken into account, such as checking that these tools’ usage fully fulfils the DMA’s provisions on data treatment and privacy.
Long-Term Strategic Adaptations for SEO Professionals
In the longer term, SEO practitioners will need to adjust more strategically to compete under the DMA, and eventually could shift towards sustainable SEO that emphasises developing relationships with audiences rather than exploiting algorithmic loopholes. As the DMA starts to establish a more level online playing field in favour of those who create valuable digital spaces for users, attention and organic links will flow to experiences built on experience, trust and communication. SEO practitioners will need to shift toward investing their energies in better knowledge of their audiences, and the creation of truly useful and authentic content and activity.
It also means that collaboration and partnerships will be important – especially because one of the DMA’s core tenets should be interoperability and data sharing. For the SEO community this means that forming new alliances with other businesses and other platforms is going to be easier. This opens up new audiences to us, new data and new resources to help us build better and more complete SEO services. As things change, staying abreast of regulatory changes, being flexible and creating new innovations will be more important to survival in the SEO space.
Conclusion
The EU Digital Markets Act will take SEO to a whole new level, with a new set of rules and massive implications for the industry. Promoting fair competition, transparency and data protection within the digital ecosystem, the DMA asks SEO professionals to up their game and adapt. Those who choose to stay ahead of the curve by embracing new tools, optimising for the long view and adhering to organic strategies that benefit users and find sustainable ways to implement them, will benefit the most from these changes. SEO practitioners willing to navigate through these shifts will be primed to ride the tailwind of a digital marketplace that is now being forced to play by the rules.
