Here’s how you can remove Google’s automatic AI overview, for normal search results

Google might insist it’s living in its Gemini era, but for many people, that era is deeply annoying. Over the past year, Google has flooded its search results with AI-generated summaries known as AI Overviews. These are designed to answer your question directly on the results page, meaning you don’t have to click through links anymore. Convenient in theory, except they’re often wrong, or just not what you’re looking for.

The more specific your query, the worse it gets. From confidently incorrect health advice to completely fabricated facts, AI Overviews have caused enough chaos that Google has already had to remove false information, tweak its algorithms, and add visible sources. Unfortunately, there’s still no official way to turn them off completely.

That said, there are a few ways to make them appear far less often.

Use Google’s hidden “Web” filter

Around the same time Google rolled out AI Overviews more widely, it also added a new Web filter to Search. This option strips results back to traditional blue links, and crucially, removes the AI Overview panel entirely.

If you see AI snippets at the top of your search, click Web underneath the search bar. If it’s not visible, hit More and select it from the menu.

Once Web is selected, the AI Overview disappears.

This isn’t a perfect return to old Google, though. The Web filter is strictly for links, meaning YouTube previews, image snippets, and other embedded results won’t show up. It’s text links only, all the way down.

The most reliable fix: Change Chrome’s search settings

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Browser extensions can help, but they’re fragile. Google changes its backend constantly, and plug-ins often break overnight. The simplest and most reliable solution is changing your default search setup in Chrome.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Chrome and type chrome://settings/searchEngines into the address bar.

2. Go to Search Engine > Manage Search Engines and Site Search.

3. Click Add next to Site Search.

4. Fill in the form like this:

   • Name: AI Free Web

   • Shortcut: @web

   • URL: {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&udm=14

5. Save it, then click the three dots next to AI Free Web and select Make default.

This forces Google to load web-only results by default, meaning AI Overviews won’t appear at the top of your searches anymore.

Mobile users aren’t so lucky

Unfortunately, blocking AI Overviews on mobile is much harder. There’s no support for browser plug-ins, and while you can choose a custom search engine, Google doesn’t let you manually add the filter string needed to disable AI summaries.

For now, desktop users have options. Mobile users are largely stuck with whatever Google decides is best for them, correct or not.

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Featured image credit: Canva, X