Google will remove Rich Snippets from search results in France, and the rest of the EU could be next.

One of Google's most notable features, and perhaps most importantly, its Rich Snippets, which allow us to view rich results from the SERP itself, the search page, without having to access the website.

For some time now, the battle over copyright has been taking its first toll in the digital world.

In this case, the best example is France, which has just approved a new intellectual property law that requires search engines to pay a fee for displaying rich content (Rich Snippets) .

Google was quick to respond, indicating that not only will it not pay the required fee , but it will also remove from its search results (SERPs) any rich content that might raise intellectual property issues . This leaves the results plain, with no preview, and only the metadata that website authors have entered manually.

France thus becomes one of the first countries to implement the European copyright directive approved this year . This directive directly confronts the press and major digital search engines.

What are Rich Snippets?

Rich Snippets are enriched fragments in search results , normally when a user performs a search in the browser, in this case Google, the results that it offers usually appear accompanied by a preview, in the form of an image, rating, video or other data that helps the user decide which result is the most interesting for their search.

With this new law, France intends to force Google to pay a fee for this preview , and Google has indicated that it will remove these Rich Snippets to avoid having to pay.

Consequences of this change

France was not the first EU country to see the almighty Google stop offering a service for attempting to charge a fee for its services.

Let's remember that both Spain and Germany stopped using the Google News service due to laws requiring them to apply a fee and, therefore, a tax. However, this regulation, which applies in France, must also be applied in the rest of the EU countries , as required by the directive approved in March. Each country can apply it according to its own criteria, but we can see an example of how Google will react to this directive.

Google has the advantage of being the most widely used browser in the EU, with almost 95% of Internet users using it, and this gives it a position of strength that other companies cannot assume.

We will continue to closely monitor any developments in this regard, as we are facing a significant impasse for SEO agencies like Click Online 360 .