BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A return to the format of

10 blue links in search results from years ago could reduce user

traffic to hotels, Google said on Thursday, as it seeks to

balance demands from price comparison websites and hotels in

trying to comply with EU tech rules.

The Alphabet unit has announced a series of

changes in search result formats in recent months to address

conflicting demands from price-comparison sites, hotels,

airlines and small retailers. It is trying to comply with the

Digital Markets Act (DMA), which prohibits it from favouring its

own products and services on its platform.

Last month it tested its old format of 10 blue links per

page in Germany, Belgium and Estonia, an option which it said it

may have to choose if it cannot agree with its rivals.

Google said the test, which finished this week, showed that

the old format was bad for both users and hotels.

"People were measurably less satisfied with their search

results and it took them longer to find hotels, including by

having to do more searches. More people also gave up and did not

find what they were looking for," Oliver Bethell, Director,

Competition Legal said in a statement.

"Overall, traffic to hotels and intermediary sites went

down. Hotels lost the most traffic (more than 10%), affecting

hundreds of thousands of European hotels. Traffic to

intermediary sites largely stayed flat," he said.

The company will now seek feedback from the European

Commission on finding a solution.

Google's announcement came a day after more than 20 price

comparison websites criticised its latest proposal, saying it

has ignored their feedback and that EU antitrust regulators

should charge the company for not complying with the DMA.