The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dropped its investigation into claims Google manipulated search engine results, reports said Friday.

Google was Thursday exonerated of bias to push down competitors in the way it presents information, following an almost two-year-long probe.

The search engine, however, agreed to give advertisers access to more information about their campaigns.

The company also promised to end the practice of 'scraping' reviews and other data from rivals' websites for its own products.

Google's competitors including Microsoft Corp had pressed the FTC to bring an antitrust case against the internet site claiming it was tweaking search results to promote its own products.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz addressed the press on the agency's decision to not pursue the case further.

The commission voted 4 to 1 to settle the investigation into Google's injunction requests and voted 5 to 0 to end the probe of its search practices.

"Even though people would like us to bring a big search bias case, the facts aren't there," Reuters quoted Leibowitz as saying.

"The changes Google have agreed to make ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy."

Rivals voiced their disappointment over the outcome including Yelp, which operates the social networking/user review website yelp.com.

"The closure of the commission's investigation into search bias by Google without action ... represents a missed opportunity to protect innovation in the Internet economy," Yelp spokesman Vince Sollitto told the news wire agency in an email.

"We look for the regulatory bodies continuing their investigation to have greater success."

Google's David Drummond, the company's Chief Legal Officer, defended the FTC's decision saying "Google's services are good for users and good for competition".


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