Google will allow websites to exclude themselves from AI search results
Google is testing a Search Console toggle that lets sites opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode. The change will not affect their normal search ranking.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
Google is giving website owners a way to keep their pages out of its AI-generated search features while leaving regular search placement untouched. The move responds to publisher frustration and comes as Google adds more AI tools to Search.
Google is giving websites a switch that says, “Do not use my pages for your AI answers.” It is like letting a library decide whether its books can be used to help a robot summarize things, while still leaving the books on the shelf for normal readers.
Analysis
What Google changed
Google says it will test a new Search Console toggle that lets webmasters decide whether their domains appear in and help ground AI-generated search features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. The company says the test will start with a small group of domain owners in the UK before expanding globally.
Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from Google’s generative AI features, but Google says the setting will not be used as a ranking signal for regular search results. In other words, opting out affects the AI layers, not standard search placement.
What else is coming
Google is also rolling out new Search Console insights that show which pages appear in AI responses and in which countries. The company says it will keep adding metrics over time as it learns what publishers and creators find most useful.
Why now
The announcement lands after Google’s I/O 2026 keynote, where the company showed a more dynamic Search Box that can expand for complex queries and accept videos, images, files, and Chrome tabs as inputs. It also comes amid rising frustration from publishers who depend on search traffic.
The article points to a recent TBPN interview with Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch, who said his teams were told to assume there would be no search in order to protect revenue and pageviews. He later clarified that search would not literally disappear, but said Google referrals could fall to a single-digit share of total traffic. That context helps explain why this opt-out matters: Google is acknowledging that publishers want more control over how their material is used inside AI search products.
Key points
- Google is testing a Search Console toggle for excluding sites from AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- The opt-out will not change a site’s placement in normal Google search results.
- Google says sites that opt out will lose traffic and impressions from generative AI features.
- Search Console will also gain new metrics about which pages appear in AI responses and where.
- The move follows growing publisher frustration over Google’s AI search products.
If the test expands, website owners may get clearer control over how their content is used in AI search. The new Search Console metrics could also help publishers understand where their pages appear and adjust their strategies.
Sites that opt out could lose traffic and impressions from Google’s generative AI features. Publishers may still feel pressured if AI search keeps changing how people reach information, even with the new control in place.
