Google is testing a new option that lets website owners exclude their pages from generative AI responses in search results. A toggle in Search Console will allow domains to block their content from appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and prevent it from being used as supporting evidence for those answers. The feature is initially being rolled out to a small group of site owners in the UK, with a global expansion planned later.
Google says sites that opt out won't receive impressions or clicks from its AI search features. However, their ranking in standard search results should remain unaffected. For webmasters, this is an important distinction: a site can stay in classic search results while keeping content out of the AI-generated answers that increasingly satisfy user queries without driving traffic to the source.
The new setting comes under pressure from UK regulators. The Competition and Markets Authority stated that the requirement is being introduced because of Google's dominant market position. The regulator believes that publishers, including news organizations, should have stronger leverage in negotiating how and on what terms their content is used in search.
Alongside this, Google will begin adding new data in Search Console about which pages appear in AI answers and in which countries. The company says it continues to collect feedback from publishers and content creators to give them more tools as user behavior in search evolves.
For the media industry, this could be one of the most significant changes in relations with Google in recent years. AI Overviews and AI Mode have already sparked frustration among publishers who fear traffic drops—users get quick answers directly in search and may not open the original material. Now, for the first time, websites have a formal way to opt out of such answers, but they risk losing visibility in the new part of the search ecosystem.