Is Competition Only One Click Away? The Digital Markets Act Impact on Google Maps

This paper examines the impact of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) on user search behaviour and traffic to online mapping services, focusing on recent design changes to Google’s search results page. In January 2024, Google modified how location-based queries are displayed for users in the EU by removing clickable maps and direct links to Google Maps. We leverage this change and implement a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach comparing EU and non-EU countries to evaluate how increased friction in accessing Google Maps affects search volumes and traffic patterns. We document a significant increase of over 21% in search queries for maps and google maps, largely redirecting users back to Google Maps. While searches for apple maps increased modestly, no significant changes are observed for other competitors such as bing maps. Organic desktop traffic to www.google.com/maps rose by approximately 40%, with no corresponding change in direct traffic or overall desktop visits. A placebo test using mobile traffic shows no effect, confirming the DMA as the causal driver. Engagement metrics suggest a modest decline in user experience. Overall, our findings indicate that while the DMA altered search user behavior, it did not substantially increase traffic to Google’s competitors or reduce usage of Google’s mapping services.