Google is giving website owners the ability to opt out of having their content appear in AI-powered search features, the company announced today. It’s a notable concession from the search giant, which has faced mounting pressure from publishers and European regulators over declining traffic and AI search tools.
“[We’re] actively listening to feedback from publishers and creators, and engaging with regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to ensure website owners have the right tools as user preferences evolve, reads a Google blog post. “Today, we’re beginning to test a new control that lets website owners manage how their links and content appear in generative AI Search features.”
According to the blog post, a new toggle in Google Search Console will let site owners control whether their content appears in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI Overviews in Google Discover. Site owners who opt out won’t have their content used to inform AI responses, but they also won’t receive any traffic or impressions from those features. Google was also explicit that the opt-out will not affect how sites rank in traditional search results.
The company is also rolling out new Search Console insights that show publishers how their pages are performing in AI search features, including impression data and which pages are surfacing in AI responses and in which countries. Both the opt-out control and the new analytics are launching first to a subset of UK website owners before a broader global rollout.
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The announcement is a response to pressure that has been building for some time. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that organic search traffic to major publishers had fallen dramatically since Google began rolling out AI features, which have persistent issues with accuracy, hallucinations, and spelling. Google has pushed back on that framing, arguing in today’s post that users of AI Overviews and AI Mode are searching more often and are more satisfied with search overall.
The company also says it has increased the number of links in AI responses, added website previews to encourage clickthroughs, and recently introduced a Preferred Sources feature that lets users choose which sites appear more prominently in AI results.
The opt-out announcement lands weeks after Google’s I/O 2026 developer conference, where the company unveiled an aggressive expansion of its AI search ambitions. New Search agents that monitor the web around the clock on users’ behalf, a conversational follow-up feature for AI Overviews, and a redesigned AI Search Box — the biggest update to Google’s search bar in over 25 years — were among the announcements that signaled how central AI has become to Google’s vision for search.
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