How to Turn Off AI Overview on Google: What Works, and What Doesn't

Here is how to turn off AI Overview on Google, as far as Google allows. The honest answer first: you can't fully turn off AI Overview on Google. Google's own help page says "Features cannot be turned off." But you can get a Google results page without it in one click, and you can make that page your default.

Everything below was checked against Google's help pages in October 2026. Anything marked unofficial can stop working without notice.

Can you turn off AI Overviews on Google?

No. Google's AI Overviews help page says:

"AI Overviews are a core Google Search feature, like knowledge panels. Features cannot be turned off. However, you can select the Web filter after you perform a search. This filter displays only text-based links without features like AI Overviews."

As of October 2026, Google documents no account setting that removes AI Overviews. Every method below works around that.

Every way to get rid of AI Overview on Google, compared

Method	Removes AI Overviews?	Official?
Web filter	Yes, for that search	Yes, Google documents it
Chrome site search with udm=14	Yes, for searches from the address bar	Chrome's site search is documented. The udm=14 parameter is not
A different default search engine	Yes, because you stop using Google	Yes, Chrome documents it
"AI in Search" toggle in Labs	No. It opts you out of experiments	Yes, but it is not an off switch
Google Workspace admin setting	None documented	Not found

1. Use the Web filter

1. Search on google.com as usual.
2. Below the search box, select Web. If it isn't there, click More.

The filter applies to one search at a time. Google's filters help page says: "When you use filters, your Search settings don't change." To stop picking Web every time, make it your default.

2. How to disable AI Overview for every search in Chrome (unofficial)

Chrome lets you add your own search engine from a URL, and the Web filter has its own URL parameter: udm=14. Google does not document this parameter. It works as of October 2026, and Google can change or remove it without notice.

The steps follow Chrome's help page on search engines, on a computer:

1. Open Chrome. At the top right, select More (the three dots), then Settings.
2. Select Search engine, then Manage search engines and site search.
3. Next to "Site search", select Add.
4. Name it Google Web. Give it any shortcut, such as gw. For the URL, enter https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
5. Select Add. Then, next to the new entry, select More and Make default.

We tested this in October 2026 by pulling the same US English results page twice through a search-data service. With udm=14, the query "how to turn off ai overview" returned only standard links. Without it, the same query showed an AI Overview, a People Also Ask box and videos.

Two caveats. Chrome says that at work or school, "your network admin may choose a default search engine or manage your search engines for you." And this only covers searches from the address bar. A search typed on google.com itself can still show an AI Overview.

3. Switch search engines

If you would rather not use Google at all, Chrome's help says: "You can change your default search engine anytime." Go to Settings, then Search engine, then Change.

What doesn't turn off AI Overviews

The "AI in Search" toggle in Labs

Google's AI Overviews help page has a section titled "Turn off 'AI in Search' in Labs". It reads like an off switch. It is not. The same page describes "AI in Search" as Google's "testbed for innovation" for new AI experiments, and says: "To opt-out, turn off 'AI in Search' in Labs." Turning it off opts you out of those experiments. The page still says AI Overviews "cannot be turned off".

Work and school accounts

We found no Google Workspace admin setting that turns off AI Overviews in Search. Google's admin help on age-based access says AI Overviews and AI Mode "are available for Google Search results to Google Workspace for Education users designated as under the age of 18 in most countries". It also says those users "cannot access Search Labs". If you manage accounts, confirm with Google Workspace support before you promise anyone an off switch.

How to turn off AI Mode in Google

AI Mode works differently from AI Overviews: it opens only when you choose it, from the AI Mode button, google.com/ai or the Google app. Our guide to Google AI Mode explains what it is. To keep it out of the way:

• Hide the button in Chrome. Chrome's help says: "To hide 'AI Mode' and 'Add tabs and more' from the address bar, right-click on the address bar, then unselect Always show AI Mode."
• Don't type a follow-up under an AI Overview. Google's help page says a follow-up question there takes you into "a conversational back and forth in AI Mode".
• Know what the Labs toggle does. The "AI Mode" toggle in Search Labs turns off early-access features only. Google calls it "an opt-in experiment to collect feedback on new capabilities". AI Mode itself stays.

For site owners: what you control

If some of your audience now skips AI Overviews, they still see your plain listing: the Web filter "displays only text-based links". So that listing still matters. It needs your page indexed, crawlable and showing a snippet.

You can also keep your content out of AI Overviews. Google documents two levels of control, and both cost you something.

Per page: nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet

Google's robots meta tag documentation says nosnippet "applies to all forms of search results (at Google: web search, Google Images, Discover, AI Overviews, AI Mode) and will also prevent the content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode." max-snippet "will also limit how much of the content may be used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode." data-nosnippet marks single sections of a page "not to be used as a snippet".

The trade-off: these controls are not AI-only. nosnippet also removes your text snippet from normal web results, which is the same listing people see when they use the Web filter.

Whole site: the Search Console control

Search Console's Search generative AI control can exclude a site from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Google says it "isn't used as a ranking or inclusion signal affecting other parts of Search." The cost: "You won't receive any traffic or impressions from these features." And: "Content from other sites will still be available in those features, and it may appear similar to yours."

There is no robots.txt line for AI Overviews alone. Google says "robots.txt directives for Googlebot is the control", so blocking Googlebot affects all of Google Search, not only its AI features. For how AI Overviews choose their sources, see our guide to Google AI Overviews.

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FAQ

How do I change my Google search back to normal?

Select Web below the search box after each search, or set up the udm=14 site search above as your default in Chrome. Google offers no setting that does it for you.

Is it possible to opt out of AI in Google Search?

As a searcher, no: Google says AI Overviews "cannot be turned off". As a site owner, yes: the Search Console control above excludes your site's content from Google's generative AI features in Search.

See what AI Overviews say about your brand. Run a free AI visibility audit. No credit card needed.