Google announced today that it will let publishers determine whether their websites appear and are used by AI Mode and AI Overviews, independently of regular Search results.
Google is introducing a new opt-out toggle in the Search Console tool to determine whether a site appears in and is used to help ground generative AI Search features.
Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode, or AI Overviews in Google Discover, but will otherwise continue to appear in regular Google Search results and the Discover feed.
This setting only applies to those Google Search products, with the Gemini app excluded.
Google says that a site’s use of this opt-out will not impact its appearance in regular Search. Specifically, this control won’t be used as a ranking signal.
Additionally, Google is giving website publishers new generative AI Search stats in Search Console. Insights include impressions metrics, which pages appear in AI responses, and in what countries.
Google reiterated today that AI Overviews now has over 2.5 billion monthly active users, while AI Mode has over 1 billion monthly users. It’s also increasing the number of links that appear within AI results.
This new control and metrics are beginning to roll out for a “subset” of website owners in the UK to allow for “thorough testing before rolling them out to website owners globally.”
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