That route only works if you can show what changed, when it happened and what it cost you. So the useful work starts now, before the next drop, not in a panic afterwards.
Here is the background in short. The CMA gave Google strategic market status in general search in October 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. Google handles more than 90% of UK searches, which is why the regulator is paying such close attention, and this follows the CMA’s earlier move on Google’s AI search and organic traffic. Google has six months to implement the requirement, so expect it to take real shape around the end of 2026.
What the rule actually covers
The requirement asks Google to rank organic results using objective and non-discriminatory criteria, including inside AI Overviews, but not sponsored results. Ads stay out of scope. Google must also give advance notice of significant changes and run a process for businesses to raise concerns about manual actions and material changes that harm them.
Stay a little sceptical, though. The CMA has said it will judge compliance by looking at Google’s processes rather than at ranking outcomes, and it granted a six-month exemption for experimental features. In plain terms, you get a complaints channel, not a guarantee. That makes your own evidence the thing that matters.
What to document now
If your visibility falls, a vague sense that something shifted will not carry a complaint. Record the specifics while they are fresh.
| What to record | Why it matters | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline rankings and traffic, with before and after dates | Shows the size and timing of the drop | Search Console and GA4 |
| Affected queries and landing pages | Pins the change to specific URLs | Search Console performance report |
| Result type, whether organic, AI Overview or sponsored | Only organic and AI Overviews are covered | Manual SERP checks and dated screenshots |
| Timeline against known Google updates | Separates an algorithm change from your own edits | Google update logs and your change history |
| Revenue and lead impact in £ | Turns a ranking story into a business case | GA4 and your CRM |
| Your own recent site changes | Rules out a self-inflicted cause | Deploy logs and CMS history |
Take a familiar case. A UK services firm loses roughly 30% of its organic clicks over a fortnight and assumes Google has singled it out. Without a baseline, it cannot tell whether the cause was the May 2026 Google core update, a manual action, or its own site. For a business turning over £40,000 a month from organic leads, that gap is expensive guesswork.
Read the drop before you challenge it
Rule out the causes you control first. A technical SEO triage and a quick check for hidden SEO risks in CMS changes often explain a fall that looked like Google’s doing. If the timing lines up with a known update, that is a different conversation than a sudden, unexplained decline.
Then turn the numbers into something a director understands. Tie the loss to leads and revenue, since measuring quality leads from SEO is what makes the impact real, and keep it in a dashboard your stakeholders actually use. If you decide to act, prioritise the fixes rather than changing everything at once.
Where does this leave your day-to-day plan? Keep the fundamentals steady. Strong organic marketing services and a properly scoped website SEO audit give you the baseline you will need. A technical SEO agency can hold the evidence trail, generative engine optimisation keeps you visible as AI Overviews grow, and steady PPC management covers the queries where you have slipped while you sort the organic side out.
Frequently asked questions
Does this mean Google cannot change its algorithm? No. Google can still update how it ranks, but it must use objective criteria and give notice of significant changes.
Does the rule cover paid or sponsored results? No. Only organic results and AI Overviews are in scope. Ads are excluded.
When does it take effect? Google has six months from 17 June 2026 to implement the requirement, so around the end of the year.
Can I complain to the CMA about my own rankings? The rule obliges Google to run a complaints process. The CMA monitors whether Google complies rather than judging individual rankings.
Will documenting a drop bring my rankings back? Not on its own. It builds your case and helps you find the cause, but recovery still depends on fixing what went wrong.
Not sure whether your drop is worth challenging?
Most visibility drops have a cause you can find and act on, and a few are worth escalating. If you would rather have a digital marketing agency in London read the data, build the evidence and tell you which is which, book a free consultation and we will take a look.