Google launches UK car insurance price comparison service

Seems like a conflict of interest here?  Google knows exactly how to make anything they do appear top of the SEO rankings, even if they don't blatantly cheat and just insert it at the top of all the results anyway.  Where's a regulator when you need one?

I did a quick Google Search for "car insurance". The Top 5 organic results were MoneySuperMarket, Progressive, Confused, Churchill and eSurance. Google's own car insurance comparison search product didn't even feature on the first page of organic search results. Even if it did, it shouldn't be a subject for intervention by the regulator. After all, Google Search belongs to Google and I don't see why the company should be stopped from displaying whatever it wishes to display on its own property as long as it's within the confines of the law. If people don't like what they see on Google SERPs, they can always ditch Google and switch to other search engines - that too, without any switching costs. In any case, the article refers to Google Ads - aka sponsored messages - as the way by which Google can exert its muscle power. Since Google Ads cost money, using them to jockey for top position on a SERP would at worst imply financial - not search - muscle, and certainly shouldn't be subject to regulation.