Google Begins Testing New Tools to Let Website Owners Opt Out of AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search

Google is bringing new tools for website owners, giving them greater control over how their websites appear on the search engine. On Wednesday, the Mountain View-based tech giant announced that it has started testing new controls, which will allow website publishers to choose whether their website appears in Google's AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search, and AI Overviews in Discovery, depending on user preferences. The new toggle will appear in the Search Console, along with other website tools. Along with this, the company has started rolling out new insights for website operators, which will also appear in the Search Console.

Google's Search Console Will Show New Controls, Insights Soon

In a blog post on Wednesday, the US-based tech giant announced that it has started a new tool that allows website owners to decide whether they want their websites to appear on Google's AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search, and AI Overviews in Discovery, based on their preferences and the user behaviour.

With the new tool, publishers can stop the links and content from their website from appearing in AI-powered summaries integrated within Google's search interface. The company said that the toggle for the same will appear in the Search Console.

Google has also confirmed that websites that opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search will not receive traffic or impressions from its “generative AI search features”. Further, the tech giant said that the control will not be used as a ranking signal outside of AI Overviews. Hence, it would not affect how the websites appear in regular search results.

Apart from this, the Mountain View company has also announced that it has started rolling out new insights for website publishers in Search Console, which will highlight details regarding the appearance of their webpages in its generative AI Search tools, including AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search.

The search giant will now provide impressions metrics, along with information about which webpages are displayed as part of the AI-generated responses and the names of the countries. The company plans to introduce new metrics “over time”.

The company said that these new control and insight tools are currently being rolled out to a “subset of website owners in the UK”, with plans to make them available globally in the future.