The conclusion of a Federal Trade Commission investigation leaves the Mountain View-headquartered company free from any US government threat, although it has agreed to adjust the presentation of search findings and advertisements, reports the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

User experience

Commission director Jon Liebowitz said: ‘We exhaustively investigated whether [Google] uses search bias… the commission has voted to close this investigation. Although some evidence suggested it was trying to remove competition, the primary reason was to improve the user experience.’
Google rivals, including Microsoft, had cried foul over suggestions that better or equally-relevant material was being pushed down search rankings while Google’s own services – including video, shopping and maps – were boosted. However, five commissioners from the US watchdog disagreed.

Resolve

David Drummond, Google's chief counsel, said in a statement: ‘The conclusion is clear: Google's services are good for users and good for competition.’
Microsoft's deputy general counsel Dave Heiner wrote on his company’s website: ‘Hopefully, Google will wake up to a New Year with a resolution to change its ways and start to conform with the antitrust laws… If not, then 2013 hopefully will be the year when antitrust enforcers display the resolve that Google continues to lack.’
Google is still facing a similar investigation in Europe -- where it enjoys a far larger share of the search market than in the US -- and the European commission's competition arm may yet dish out harsher enforcement on the company.