United Kingdom, June 17 -- Google has been ordered to improve the transparency and fairness of its search rankings under new measures introduced by the UK's competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the changes were designed to deliver a "fairer deal" for businesses and consumers who rely on Google's search engine.

Google, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of online searches in the UK, has faced increasing scrutiny since being designated as having strategic market status by the regulator in October last year.

Under the latest conduct requirements, the CMA has instructed Google to introduce "fair ranking" practices for organic search results after businesses complained that the company's systems lacke...