Google’s introduction of AI Overview in May 2024 fundamentally transformed how users interact with search results, presenting artificial intelligence-generated summaries at the top of search pages that synthesize information from multiple sources. While this feature was designed to provide faster answers to complex queries, it has sparked significant frustration among users who prefer traditional search results and raised concerns among content creators about reduced traffic. This comprehensive report examines the multiple methods available to users across different devices and browsers for disabling or circumventing AI Overview, explains the underlying technical mechanisms that make these workarounds possible, explores the motivations behind why users seek these solutions, and analyzes the broader implications of AI-powered search for the future of web traffic and content discovery. By understanding both the straightforward and advanced techniques for managing AI Overview, users can reclaim control over their search experience and make informed decisions about whether they prefer Google’s AI-enhanced results or the traditional link-based search format that dominated for decades.
Understanding Google AI Overview and Its Emergence in Search
Google’s AI Overview, originally known as Search Generative Experience (SGE) before its public rollout in May 2024, represents a significant departure from the company’s traditional approach to search results. Rather than presenting users with a simple ranked list of links—often referred to affectionately as “ten blue links”—Google’s AI Overview uses large language models powered by Gemini to synthesize information across multiple web sources and provide conversational, AI-generated answers directly within the search results page. This feature appeared initially to select users through Google’s experimental Search Labs program in 2023, but following announcements at Google’s 2024 I/O conference, the company began rolling out AI Overview to all users in the United States and subsequently to additional countries and territories throughout 2024 and 2025.
The technical architecture underlying AI Overview relies on sophisticated generative AI models that analyze search queries with unprecedented contextual understanding. Unlike traditional featured snippets that extract a single answer from one webpage, AI Overviews compile information from multiple authoritative sources and create a synthesized response that presents a comprehensive overview of the topic. Google positioned this feature as a response to competitive pressures from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI-powered platforms that have increasingly captured user attention by providing instant, conversational answers rather than requiring users to click through search results. By October 2025, AI Mode—an advanced version of AI Overview—had expanded to over 200 countries and territories in more than 35 languages, with multimodal capabilities allowing users to input queries through text, voice, and images.
The visual positioning of AI Overview on search results pages creates immediate impact on traditional organic rankings. These AI-generated summaries typically occupy substantial vertical space, often measuring approximately 1764 pixels in height, which pushes traditional organic search listings down the page by more than 140 percent. This positioning change means that even websites ranking in the top positions of Google’s organic search results may find themselves below the fold, requiring users to scroll significantly to view the traditional link-based results. The prevalence of AI Overview varies by query type, with informational queries showing AI Overviews approximately 38.7 percent of the time compared to just 11.4 percent for navigational queries, creating differential impacts across different industries and search categories.
Why Users Seek to Disable Google AI Overview
The motivation to disable or avoid AI Overview extends far beyond simple user preference, encompassing legitimate concerns about accuracy, information reliability, economic impacts on content creators, and fundamental questions about how search results should be presented to users. Understanding these motivations provides crucial context for why so many users actively seek workarounds and methods to circumvent this feature, despite Google’s significant investment in developing and promoting it.
Accuracy and Safety Concerns
Among the most compelling reasons users cite for disabling AI Overview are documented instances of dangerous misinformation appearing in AI-generated summaries. High-profile examples that circulated widely on social media demonstrated AI Overview suggesting users add glue to pizza sauce to prevent cheese from sliding off the pizza—advice that appeared to have originated from a satirical Reddit post rather than legitimate culinary guidance. Similarly, AI Overviews recommended eating rocks daily for health benefits and suggested other medically questionable practices that reflected the AI system’s inability to distinguish between satirical content, speculation, and factual information.
Google acknowledged these accuracy challenges, explaining that their AI systems sometimes struggle with contextual understanding, particularly when processing discussion forum content where sarcasm and satire are prevalent. The underlying issue stems from how large language models process information: these systems excel at pattern matching and identifying keywords relevant to queries, but they lack human-like contextual awareness. This creates a particularly dangerous situation when AI Overviews pull from sources without understanding crucial context clues such as whether information is satirical, speculative, outdated, or from an unreliable source. For professionals in technical fields, medical professionals, financial advisors, and others who require precise information, these inaccuracies pose genuine risks that cannot be dismissed as merely inconvenient.
The “time warp effect” represents another documented accuracy problem where AI Overviews fail to distinguish between current information and outdated content that appears frequently on the web. When searching for information such as which player wears a particular jersey number on a sports team, AI Overviews might cite a famous former player rather than the current wearer, providing information that was accurate years ago but is now false. Additionally, when limited high-quality information exists on a topic—what researchers term “data voids” or “information gaps”—AI systems may fill the void with whatever content is available, even if completely unrelated to the search query. This problem particularly affects new product launches, recent business acquisitions, emerging regulations, and other current topics where authoritative sources have not yet published comprehensive information.
Impact on Content Creators and Web Traffic
Beyond individual user concerns about accuracy, a broader economic crisis has emerged for publishers, journalists, and content creators whose traffic has plummeted since AI Overview’s rollout. Research from marketing agency Seer Interactive analyzing data from June 2024 through September 2025 revealed that organic click-through rates (CTR) for informational queries featuring AI Overviews fell 61 percent, declining from 1.76 percent to 0.61 percent. Paid click-through rates on identical queries crashed even more dramatically, plummeting 68 percent from 19.7 percent to 6.34 percent. Even more troubling, organic CTRs for queries without AI Overviews fell 41 percent year-over-year, suggesting broader behavioral shifts toward AI-powered answers across the entire search landscape.
This fundamental change in user behavior represents what the digital marketing community calls “zero-click searches,” where users obtain their answers directly from AI Overviews or alternative AI platforms and never click through to the original source websites. While Google maintains that AI Overview visitors demonstrate higher quality metrics—such as longer time on site and higher conversion rates—most content creators never see these users arrive in their analytics because they never click through in the first place. The traffic losses are not temporary anomalies but represent lasting changes in user behavior, with publications, news sites, and specialized information providers experiencing traffic declines of 20 to 60 percent. For smaller publishers, independent journalists, and niche content creators, these traffic losses threaten the economic viability of their operations, potentially reducing investment in original research, investigation, and quality content creation that both users and AI systems ultimately depend upon.
User Experience and Search Philosophy
Beyond accuracy and economic concerns, many users simply prefer the traditional search paradigm where they receive a list of links and make their own decisions about which sources to investigate. These users argue that AI-generated summaries represent an unnecessary intermediary between them and the actual source information, adding interpretation and potential bias where direct access to original sources would be preferable. Power users, researchers, and academic professionals particularly value the ability to evaluate multiple perspectives and verify information themselves rather than accepting a single AI-generated synthesis. Furthermore, AI Overview can slow search performance, particularly on mobile devices or slower internet connections where generating the AI response adds noticeable latency compared to instantly displayed traditional link results.
The philosophical objection to AI Overview reflects concerns about information agency and user autonomy. Google’s decision to make AI Overviews the default experience—without a simple toggle or off switch—means that users who prefer traditional search must actively work to avoid AI summaries, whether through using workarounds or switching to alternative search engines entirely. This inversion of user choice, where the new feature is enabled by default and users must opt-out rather than opt-in, has frustration that extends beyond the technical effectiveness of the feature to broader questions about user control and digital autonomy.
Desktop Methods for Disabling AI Overview
Users with desktop computers running Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Brave, Vivaldi, and other browsers have multiple options for disabling AI Overview, ranging from temporary per-search solutions to permanent configurations that automatically prevent AI Overviews from appearing across all searches. The most straightforward approach requires no technical knowledge, while more advanced solutions leverage browser customization features to achieve lasting results.
The Web Tab Filter Method
The simplest approach to bypass AI Overview on any desktop browser involves using Google’s built-in “Web” filter, which Google itself provides as part of the search results interface. Immediately after performing any Google search, users will notice a row of filter options below the search bar displaying categories such as “Images,” “Videos,” “News,” and “Shopping”. At the end of this filter row lies a “More” button that, when clicked, reveals a dropdown menu containing additional filter options. Within this menu, users will find a “Web” option that, when selected, instantly reloads the search results page to display only traditional organic search results without any AI Overviews.
Clicking the Web tab effectively applies Google’s built-in udm=14 parameter to the search URL, which instructs Google’s servers to return only traditional web results. This method provides users with the classic ten blue links search experience that dominated for decades, free from AI-generated summaries, knowledge panels, advertisements, and other modern search clutter. The visual difference is striking—instead of an extensive AI-generated answer box dominating the top of the page, users see only clean organic listings with titles, URLs, and brief descriptions. However, the primary limitation of this approach is its temporary nature. Users must manually select the Web tab for every individual search where they want to avoid AI Overviews, making this method tedious and impractical for users who perform numerous searches daily.
Custom Search Engine Configuration in Chrome
For users seeking a permanent solution on Google Chrome, the most reliable method involves creating a custom search engine that automatically bypasses AI Overviews by appending the udm=14 parameter to every search. This approach leverages Chrome’s search engine management features to make traditional web search the default option without requiring users to interact with the Web filter for every search. The process involves accessing Chrome’s settings, navigating to the search engine management section, and creating a new search engine entry that incorporates the special URL parameter.
To implement this solution, users should first click the Chrome menu button (three horizontal lines in the top right corner) and select “Settings”. From the Settings page, users navigate to “Search engine” in the left sidebar menu. Chrome displays a list of available search engines and provides an option to “Manage search engines and site search” (or “Manage search engines” depending on Chrome version). Clicking this option reveals a management interface where users can add new search engines by clicking an “Add” button typically located at the bottom of the dialog. In the dialog that appears, users must fill in three required fields:
The “Name” field should contain a descriptive label such as “Google Web” or “Google Web Only”. This name appears in Chrome’s search engine dropdown and helps users identify this as their web-only search option. The “Shortcut” or “Keyword” field accepts a brief abbreviation that can trigger this search engine from the address bar—common choices include “@web,” “gweb,” or simply “web”. The most critical field is the “URL with %s in place of query,” which must contain the exact string: `https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14`. The %s serves as a placeholder that Chrome replaces with the user’s actual search query, while the &udm=14 parameter instructs Google to return only traditional web results.
After filling in these three fields and clicking the “Add” button, the newly created search engine appears in Chrome’s search engine list. Users must then locate this entry and click the menu icon (three dots) next to it, selecting “Make default” from the options that appear. This step is crucial as it ensures all searches from Chrome’s address bar automatically route through the custom search engine with the udm=14 parameter. After completing this setup, any search performed from the address bar or new tab page will automatically display only traditional web results without AI Overviews.
It is important to note that this method only affects searches performed through the address bar or new tab page. If users navigate directly to Google.com in their browser, they will still see AI Overviews unless they select the Web filter. This limitation affects users who prefer visiting Google’s homepage directly before searching. However, for users who primarily search from the address bar—which represents the majority of casual search behavior—this custom search engine approach provides an effective and permanent solution.
Firefox Implementation
Firefox users can achieve similar results to Chrome through the browser’s search engine customization features, though the interface and process differ slightly. In Firefox, users access search engine settings through the main menu, clicking the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner and selecting “Settings”. From the Settings page, users navigate to “Search” in the left sidebar, which displays search engine management options. Firefox provides an “Add Search Engine” button at the bottom of the search engine list, which, when clicked, displays a dialog for creating a new search engine.
Firefox requires the same information as Chrome: a descriptive name such as “Google (No AI),” a search string using the format `https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14`, and optionally a keyword shortcut. After adding the search engine, users can set it as their default by clicking it in the list of available search engines. Firefox also supports creating custom search engines through third-party extensions that provide additional functionality for managing alternative search configurations.
Safari and macOS Considerations
Safari presents more significant challenges for users seeking to disable AI Overview, as the browser does not natively support custom search engine creation in the same manner as Chrome or Firefox. Safari’s search engine options are limited to a preset list including Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia, without a straightforward method for adding custom configurations. However, several alternative approaches exist for Safari users who desire AI Overview-free search results.
One effective solution involves using third-party Safari extensions specifically designed to enable custom search engines. Extensions such as “Customize Search Engine” (available in the macOS App Store) allow users to add custom search configurations including the udm=14 parameter. These extensions work transparently in the background, applying the custom search URL whenever users perform searches from Safari’s address bar. Users install the extension, configure it with the appropriate custom search URL incorporating the udm=14 parameter, and enable it to run on Google.com domains. This approach provides a solution comparable to Chrome’s native custom search engine feature, though requiring an additional browser extension.
Alternatively, Safari users can use the traditional Web tab method for each search or consider switching to a different browser that offers more flexible search customization. Some users have also had success creating bookmarklets or AppleScript solutions to redirect search queries through the web-only results page, though these approaches require more technical knowledge than browser extensions.
Brave, Vivaldi, and Other Chromium-Based Browsers
Users of other Chromium-based browsers such as Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, and Opera can implement custom search engine configurations similar to Chrome’s approach. These browsers build upon Chromium’s foundation and include comparable search engine management interfaces. The process is substantially identical: access the browser’s settings, locate the search engine management section, add a new search engine with the name, keyword, and URL including the udm=14 parameter, and set it as default. Vivaldi, for instance, follows this pattern exactly, allowing users to add “Google Web Only” as a custom search engine with the keyword “gw” for quick access.
Brave Search, notably, offers an interesting alternative as Brave has developed its own independent search index that does not rely on Google’s results. For users seeking an alternative to Google’s search entirely—not just to avoid AI Overviews—Brave Search provides results from its own index without any AI Overview feature, along with privacy protections that Google does not offer. Brave Search integrates directly into the Brave browser as the default search option for users who downloaded the browser after October 2025, though users can manually switch to Brave Search in other browsers by visiting search.brave.com.
Mobile Methods for Disabling AI Overview
Disabling AI Overview on mobile devices presents additional complexity compared to desktop browsers, as mobile operating systems impose greater restrictions on browser customization and search engine management. However, several approaches exist for both Android and iOS users seeking to avoid AI Overviews on their smartphones and tablets.
Android and Chrome Mobile
Android users with the Google app or Chrome browser have multiple methods for addressing AI Overview, ranging from direct Google Labs controls to custom search engine configuration. For Android users with the standard Google app installed, Google provides a dedicated method through its Search Labs feature. Users open the Google app and tap the “Labs” icon—represented by a flask or beaker symbol typically located in the top left corner of the search screen. This opens Google’s experimental features interface where users will find “AI Overviews for Search” listed as an available experiment. Users can tap on this option and access a three-dot menu button in the top right corner to manage the feature. Selecting “Manage” from this menu reveals a toggle switch specifically for controlling AI Overviews, which users can flip to turn off the feature.
For Android users unable to access Google Labs or those using Chrome Mobile as their primary search interface, custom search engine configuration provides an alternative solution. Chrome Mobile includes search engine management capabilities accessible through the app’s settings menu. Users tap the three-dot menu button in the bottom right corner of Chrome Mobile, select “Settings,” and then navigate to “Search engine“. In the search engine list, users locate an option to “Manage search engines” and add a new custom search engine with the same information required on desktop: name (“Google Web”), keyword shortcut (“@web”), and the URL with the udm=14 parameter.
A creative workaround for Android users involves visiting the website tenbluelinks.org through mobile Chrome, which configures Google Web as the default search engine using OpenSearch standards. Users visit this site, and the page automatically offers to set Google Web as the default search engine for their mobile browser. This approach leverages browser standards for search engine configuration that work across different mobile browsers without requiring manual configuration.
iOS and Safari Mobile
iOS users face the most significant limitations when attempting to disable AI Overview, as iOS Safari does not provide native support for custom search engine configuration comparable to Android or desktop browsers. Unlike Android users who can manage search engines directly in Chrome Mobile, iOS Safari users cannot add custom search engines through standard browser settings. Apple’s restrictions on browser extensions in iOS Safari further limit the available solutions.
The most straightforward approach for iOS users involves using the Web tab filter method, which functions identically on mobile as on desktop. After performing a Google search in Safari, users tap the “Web” filter to reload results without AI Overviews. However, this temporary solution must be repeated for every search, making it impractical for regular use.
iOS users seeking a more permanent solution have several options, each with different tradeoffs. Some users have reported success using alternative browsers such as Firefox or DuckDuckGo’s browser app, which offer more flexible search configurations than Safari. Firefox Mobile supports custom search engine configuration through its settings menu similar to the desktop version. DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine detailed in subsequent sections, allows users to toggle AI features on and off before searching, providing control without requiring browser customization.
Third-party tools designed for iOS offer additional possibilities. Some users have experimented with using shortcuts and automation tools available on iOS to redirect Google searches through custom URLs incorporating the udm=14 parameter, though these approaches require more technical knowledge and may be cumbersome for regular use. Apple has also released some extensions that enable custom search engine functionality for Safari, though these vary in effectiveness and may not work reliably across all iOS versions.
Browser Extensions and Advanced Technical Solutions
Beyond built-in browser features and settings, numerous developers have created browser extensions specifically designed to hide, remove, or disable AI Overviews from Google search results. These extensions provide varying levels of functionality and approaches to addressing the feature.
Hide Google AI Overview Extensions
Several Chrome extensions with similar functionality have been developed to automatically remove or hide AI Overview elements from Google search results pages. The “Hide Google AI Overviews” extension, available on the Chrome Web Store, has garnered over 922 reviews and achieved a rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. This extension works by detecting the AI Overview section of the page and removing it from view, effectively hiding the element from the user interface. The extension is lightweight, approximately 16.44 KB in size, and utilizes open-source code available on GitHub, allowing technically inclined users to inspect the source and verify its functionality.
The extension operates transparently in the background once installed, requiring no configuration beyond enabling it. As users perform Google searches, the extension automatically detects when an AI Overview appears and removes it from the page display. Unlike custom search engine approaches that redirect searches to URLs with special parameters, this extension method allows users to continue visiting Google.com directly while still avoiding AI Overviews.
Another similar extension, “Disable AI Overview,” provides comparable functionality with an even higher user rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars across 598 reviews. This extension, updated as recently as November 2025, similarly works by hiding the AI Overview section from Google search results, leaving only traditional organic listings visible. Both extensions declare that they do not collect user data and respect user privacy by not transmitting information to third parties.
Alternative Approaches: Tampermonkey Scripts and Advanced Tools
For users comfortable with more technical solutions, Tampermonkey scripts offer an advanced method for removing AI Overviews through custom JavaScript execution on web pages. Tampermonkey is a browser extension that allows users to write or install custom scripts that modify web pages before they display. Developers have created Tampermonkey scripts specifically designed to detect and remove AI Overview elements from Google search results pages. Users wishing to employ this approach must first install the Tampermonkey extension from their browser’s extension store, then access the Tampermonkey dashboard and create a new script using code made available through GitHub repositories or Greasy Fork.
While this approach is more technically involved than simply installing an extension, it provides greater flexibility and understanding for users interested in how the solution works. The Tampermonkey script approach has the advantage that users will see the AI Overview briefly appear before it is removed from the DOM (Document Object Model), which may cause a very brief flash before the element disappears. For many users, this minor visual artifact is acceptable compared to the reliability of having full control over how the removal works.
Advanced ad-blocking extensions such as uBlock Origin have also been successfully configured to block AI Overview elements through custom CSS or DOM filtering rules. These powerful extensions, originally designed to block advertisements, can be configured to target the specific HTML elements containing AI Overviews. Users with existing uBlock Origin installations can add custom filters to block Google AI Overview display, though this requires understanding uBlock Origin’s filter syntax.
Alternative Search Engines as Comprehensive Solutions
Rather than continuing to use Google Search with workarounds to disable AI Overviews, many frustrated users have explored entirely alternative search engines that either do not include AI summary features, allow users to control them, or operate under different principles altogether.
DuckDuckGo: Privacy-First with Toggleable AI Features
DuckDuckGo has established itself as a primary alternative for users prioritizing privacy protection and seeking control over AI features. Unlike Google, which collects extensive user data to personalize search results and power advertising, DuckDuckGo does not track or profile its users, meaning searches remain anonymous and are not connected to user identity. This fundamental privacy difference appeals to users who reject not only AI Overviews but Google’s broader data collection practices.
Significantly, DuckDuckGo has implemented AI features as opt-in rather than opt-out, giving users direct control over whether they want AI-powered responses. DuckDuckGo’s “Duck.ai” feature can be toggled on or off through the Settings menu, specifically under “AI Features,” allowing users to completely disable Duck.ai features in the DuckDuckGo browser or selectively disable Duck.ai in DuckDuckGo search while maintaining other functionality. This user-centric approach stands in stark contrast to Google’s default-enabled AI Overview with no straightforward toggle, reflecting fundamentally different philosophies about user agency and control.
Brave Search: Independent Index and Privacy Integration
Brave Search represents another compelling alternative, particularly for users seeking not just to avoid AI Overviews but to support independent search infrastructure. Unlike DuckDuckGo, which relies on Microsoft Bing’s search index for results, Brave has invested in developing and maintaining its own independent search index since 2023. This independence means Brave is not reliant on any Big Tech company’s infrastructure or potentially subject to pressures that affect other search engines.
Brave Search incorporates AI-powered answers through its “Ask Brave” feature, which combines AI chat capabilities with traditional search results on the same page. However, this AI feature is integrated as an optional element that complements rather than dominates the search experience, unlike Google’s prominent AI Overviews. Brave Search’s privacy protections align with its browser offering, with no user profiling or data collection, making it an attractive option for privacy-conscious users seeking comprehensive privacy solutions across both search and browsing.
Perplexity AI: Specialized AI Search Platform
For users who actually value AI-powered search but seek alternatives to Google’s implementation, Perplexity AI offers a fundamentally different approach. Rather than using traditional search results with an AI summary at the top, Perplexity operates as a dedicated conversational AI search platform where the entire experience is built around AI-generated responses from the start. Perplexity’s “Focus Modes” allow users to narrow their search to specific content sources such as academic papers, social media, videos, or the general web. This focus functionality provides control and specificity that Google’s AI Overview does not offer.
Users choosing Perplexity understand that they are explicitly opting for an AI-centered search experience rather than having it imposed upon them by default. Perplexity provides citations and references for its responses, includes related searches suggesting follow-up inquiries, and supports conversational follow-up questions that maintain context throughout the search session. For users who appreciate AI search assistance but want control over how it functions, Perplexity represents a fundamentally different proposition than Google’s default AI Overview.
Other Alternatives: Kagi, Mojeek, Swisscows
Additional search engine alternatives exist for users with specific priorities. Kagi operates as a privacy-first, ad-free search engine requiring paid subscription, operating its own index called “Teclis” internally. Kagi’s “Lenses” feature provides filtered views of search results, allowing users to exclude SEO spam and focus on specific content types such as forums, blogs, or peer-reviewed research. Mojeek operates its own independent web crawler (MojeekBot) and index, operating with explicit commitment to avoiding Big Tech influence.
Swisscows markets itself as a family-friendly semantic search engine that prioritizes privacy by never collecting, storing, or tracking user data. These alternatives serve users with specific preferences, whether privacy, independence from Big Tech, ad-free experiences, or specialized filtering capabilities.
Organizational and Educational Solutions
Beyond individual user methods, organizations and educational institutions have developed systematic approaches to disabling AI Overview across managed devices and networks, particularly addressing concerns about AI distraction and misinformation in educational contexts.
Safe Doc and Educational Implementation
xFanatical Safe Doc represents a specialized solution designed for educational institutions and Google Workspace administrators seeking to block AI Overview systematically across all student devices. Safe Doc operates as a Chrome browser extension that integrates with Google Workspace, providing administrators with policy enforcement capabilities. Through the Google Admin Console, administrators can deploy policies that disable AI Overview across their entire organization or specific organizational units.
The implementation process involves installing Safe Doc on student Chrome browsers, accessing the Google Admin Console, navigating to Devices > Chrome > Apps & Extensions > Users & Browsers, and locating the “BlockGoogleSearchAIOverview” policy. Administrators then set this policy value to “true” and save the configuration, which applies the setting across their managed devices. Once deployed, students accessing Google Search from their school-managed devices will not see AI Overviews, encouraging them to develop research skills by consulting primary sources rather than relying on AI summaries.
Educational institutions adopting this approach cite concerns about AI distraction reducing student focus during research assignments, inaccurate information potentially misleading students, and the importance of developing independent research and critical thinking capabilities. Teachers report that after disabling AI Overview through Safe Doc policies, students submitted more detailed and accurate assignments based on comprehensive research, rather than simply copying AI-generated summaries.
Technical Deep Dive: The udm=14 Parameter and Its Mechanics
Understanding the technical foundation of many AI Overview workarounds illuminates why these solutions work and their permanence as tools for bypassing the feature. The udm=14 parameter represents Google’s official but undocumented method for accessing what the company calls the “Web” view of search results.
What udm=14 Does and Why It Works
The “udm” in udm=14 stands for “user discussion mode” or similar meaning in Google’s internal terminology, though Google has never officially documented this parameter. By appending &udm=14 to any Google Search URL, users instruct Google’s servers to return only traditional web results, bypassing all AI Overview functionality. When users click the “Web” filter button below the search bar on Google’s results page, they are essentially applying this same udm=14 parameter to the URL.
This parameter’s reliability stems from the fact that it is a legitimate Google-provided feature rather than an unsupported hack. Google itself created the Web filter in May 2024 specifically to allow users who prefer traditional search to access it. By encoding this filter option as the udm=14 parameter, Google acknowledged user demand for search results without AI intervention. This legitimacy means the parameter is unlikely to be deprecated or rendered non-functional, as doing so would eliminate Google’s own official Web filter option.
Other udm Parameters and Their Functions
While udm=14 specifically accesses the traditional “Web” results, other udm codes serve different functions within Google’s search infrastructure. Some research has discovered additional undocumented udm parameters that modify search behavior in various ways. For instance, &udm=56 reportedly renders Google search in a minimalist, code-light form with reduced visual elements. However, udm=14 remains the most widely documented and reliably functional parameter for users specifically seeking to avoid AI Overviews.
Implementation in Custom Search Engines
The persistence and universal applicability of the udm=14 parameter across different browsers and devices explains why custom search engine configuration works so effectively. When users create a custom search engine using the URL template `https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14`, they are hardcoding Google’s official parameter into every search their browser performs. This approach bypasses any browser-level changes Google might attempt to make that would affect search engine configuration. Even if Google modified how the Web filter appeared on the search results page, the underlying udm=14 parameter would continue functioning because it operates at the API level of Google’s search infrastructure.
The Broader Impact: Zero-Click Searches and Content Creator Economics
The rise of AI Overview has created profound consequences extending far beyond individual user interface preferences, affecting the fundamental economics of web content creation and the structure of internet search behavior.
Documented Traffic Declines and Their Scale
Research conducted by Seer Interactive analyzing data from June 2024 through September 2025 quantified the magnitude of traffic disruption caused by AI Overview. For informational queries where AI Overview appears, organic click-through rates collapsed 61 percent, declining from 1.76 percent to 0.61 percent—meaning that where six users previously clicked through to websites, now fewer than one does so. Paid search performance suffered even more severely, with click-through rates plummeting 68 percent from 19.7 percent to 6.34 percent.
Most troublingly, these declines are not limited to queries displaying AI Overviews. Even searches without any AI Overview showed organic CTR declines of 41 percent year-over-year. This broader decline suggests fundamental changes in user search behavior driven by the availability of AI-powered alternatives like ChatGPT and Perplexity, not merely Google’s own AI Overview feature. Users are collectively clicking less frequently across all search contexts, indicating a structural shift in how information is discovered and consumed.
The traffic impact varies significantly by industry, with certain sectors experiencing catastrophic declines. Publishers in travel, personal finance, crafts and DIY, mental health, and pet care sectors encounter AI Overviews far more frequently, as these categories consist disproportionately of informational queries ideal for AI summary generation. Some publishers reported losing 20 to 60 percent of their organic search traffic within months of AI Overview’s rollout, with effects persisting or intensifying throughout 2025. For smaller independent publishers, niche information providers, and individual content creators, these losses threaten long-term viability.
The Citation Advantage and New Success Metrics
Amid these challenging circumstances, Seer Interactive’s research identified a critical insight: brands cited in AI Overviews earned 35 percent more organic clicks and 91 percent more paid clicks compared to competitors not cited. This finding suggests that appearing in AI Overviews creates a competitive advantage despite overall traffic declines. However, achieving citations in AI Overviews requires understanding what content characteristics Google’s AI systems favor, necessitating adjustments to SEO strategies.
The visibility of appearing in AI Overviews now matters more than traditional rankings for many queries. When a website appears in an AI Overview citation, it gains exposure to potentially millions of searchers, even if many never click through to the website. This exposure maintains brand awareness and influences user decisions, even when users do not immediately visit the website. Marketers and publishers increasingly recognize that clicks and traffic volume no longer represent the only meaningful metrics—visibility in AI responses, citation frequency, and share of voice merit tracking and optimization.
Adaptation Strategies for Content Creators
In response to these structural changes, content creators and SEO professionals have adopted new strategic approaches to maintain visibility and traffic in the AI-driven search landscape. Rather than abandoning search optimization, leading practitioners advocate for expanded SEO strategies that incorporate AI-specific optimization alongside traditional approaches.
Creating more structured, deeply informative content that directly answers user questions increases the likelihood of appearing in AI Overviews. Using clear headers, FAQ formatting, and structured data markup helps AI systems understand and extract content more effectively. Building stronger E-E-A-T signals—Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness—through cited sources, statistical backing, and authoritative language improves AI system trust and citation likelihood.
Beyond organic search, successful adaption involves expanding visibility across multiple channels. Paid search and social media remain effective methods for reaching targeted audiences and compensating for organic traffic losses. Personalization and content format diversification—offering content in multiple formats including videos, interactive tools, downloadable resources, and detailed written pieces—serve different user preferences and capture users seeking deeper engagement beyond what AI summaries provide.
Most importantly, practitioners emphasize tracking nuanced engagement metrics rather than focusing exclusively on traffic volume. While clicks may decline, the quality of visitors who reach websites through direct referrals or after consulting AI Overviews often demonstrates higher engagement, longer time on site, and better conversion rates. Understanding and leveraging these quality metrics allows content creators to assess true impact beyond the alarming surface-level traffic declines.
Looking Forward: The Future of AI-Powered Search
As we move further into 2025, the trajectory of Google’s AI integration into search points toward continued expansion rather than retreat, with AI Mode—the successor to AI Overview—receiving substantial investment and global expansion.
Continued Global Expansion of AI Mode
In October 2025, Google announced that AI Mode, its most advanced AI search implementation, reached availability in over 200 countries and territories with support for over 35 languages. This expansion represents Google’s most significant geographical push for AI features, demonstrating the company’s commitment to making AI-powered search experiences its default offering worldwide. AI Mode incorporates even more advanced capabilities than AI Overview, including multimodal input (text, voice, and images), the ability to perform complex analysis with data visualization, and agentic capabilities to complete tasks like restaurant reservations.
Potential for Default Behavior Changes
Industry observers have noted signals suggesting that Google may move AI Mode to become the default search experience for all users, potentially making Web-only results the non-default option requiring explicit selection. As of September 2025, Google product managers were already discussing the possibility of AI Mode becoming the default search experience, indicating internal deliberation about this fundamental shift. If implemented, such a change would invert the current arrangement where users seeking traditional search must actively opt-out.
Prospects for Direct Control Options
Despite the lack of a straightforward toggle or settings option to disable AI Overview entirely, there remains some hope that user feedback and competitive pressure may eventually prompt Google to provide explicit user controls. Google stated during the experimental phase of Search Generative Experience that users could opt out, demonstrating the technical capability to provide such controls. User communities continue providing feedback through the “Send feedback” button below AI Overviews, and if these requests reach sufficient volume, Google might reconsider its position on user control options.
Reclaiming Your Search
Google’s introduction of AI Overview in May 2024 fundamentally transformed search results from link lists to AI-synthesized summaries, immediately sparking efforts to disable or circumvent the feature. Users motivated by accuracy concerns, content creator protection, and simple search philosophy preference have multiple effective methods available across all major browsers and devices. Desktop users can implement permanent solutions through custom search engines using the udm=14 parameter, while mobile users must rely on Lab controls, the Web filter, or alternative search engines. Browser extensions provide automated removal of AI Overviews, and dedicated alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Perplexity offer different approaches to search that respect user preferences.
The structural transformation AI Overview represents extends beyond individual user interface preferences to reshape the economics of web content creation, with documented 61 percent declines in organic click-through rates and significant traffic losses for publishers. Rather than resistance proving futile, forward-thinking content creators adapt by optimizing for AI visibility while maintaining traditional search strategies, expanding to multi-channel approaches, and focusing on engagement metrics beyond traffic volume. As Google continues expanding AI Mode globally and considering making it the default search experience, users seeking traditional search results will likely need to remain proactive in employing workarounds or switching to alternative search platforms. The proliferation of solutions for disabling AI Overview demonstrates user agency even in the face of a powerful corporate push toward AI-integrated defaults, highlighting an ongoing tension between platform design choices and user autonomy in the digital age.
