According to sources close to the situation, Google will shortly make its shopping service a standalone business unit which will bid against competing shopping sites for top ad placement in paid search results.

This comes following assessment of a 2.4B euro fine - and threat of additional fines for remaining in non-compliance - against Google by EU competition regulators.

Google is appealing the EU finding.

The highly-regulated EU is a tough arena in which to try to make a buck.