According to reports, Internet search giant Google appears to be poised to agree with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the issue of tweaking the way it displays its search results, in a move which will mark the end of the US regulators' anti-trust investigation into the company's business practices.

As per a Politico report, Google will apparently face voluntary changes with regard to the policies it follows for running its search business. As such, the company will probably be able to avoid a damaging "consent decree" enforced by the FTC; and will walk away largely unharmed in the FTC's biggest anti-trust probe in over a decade.

The non-binding settlement which Google will reportedly reach with the FTC will chiefly end Google's use of restaurant and travel reviews snippets from other websites; thus facilitating the AdWords customers to port their ad campaigns to the company's rivals in search business.

Meanwhile, since anything less than a full-fledged FTC lawsuit against Google will essentially be considered a climbdown by the agency, and will irk Google's rivals no end as they want the company's search monopoly to be curtailed, some reports have revealed that a few competitors met the Department of Justice last week in preparation of the possible lack of forceful FTC action against Google.

However, noting that "Institutionally it's hard to believe they (FTC) won't do something, given all they have invested in Google," former FTC Chairman William Kovacic said: "The likelihood of some intervention is running at 100%."