Google now offers web search – and an AI opt-out button

This is no joke: Google will now let you search the “web.” It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early desktop testing, it looked like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine.

The optional setting filters out almost every other block of content that Google places on a search results page, leaving links and text – and Google confirms On the edge which will also block the company’s new AI overviews.

“Isn’t every search a web search? What is Google Search if not the web?” you might rightly ask.

But independent sites like HouseFresh It is retro dodo pointed out how their business became “buried deep under sponsored posts, Quora advice from 2016, best-of lists from big media sites, and no less than 64 product listings from Google Shopping,” in the words of HouseFresh editor-in-chief Gisele Navarro.

Now, with one click, many of those blockers seemingly disappear.

Search for “best home arcade cabinets”, one of the retro dodobasic queries and is no longer buried – appears on page 1. (Drag our image slider to see the difference.)

HouseFresh It still doesn’t get page 1 billing for “best budget air purifiers” — but it’s higher and you’re no longer pummeled by an overwhelming number of Google Shopping results as you scroll:

If you search for Wyze cameras you will now get a hint about their lax security practices on page 2 instead of page 3:

I’m not sure this represents an improvement for all searches, in part because Google modules he can be useful, and in part because the company doesn’t give up on self-promotion just because you hit the “web” button. Here, you can see that Google still stands out for its “Google AR glasses” anyway, and its “Top Stories” box is certainly a useful addition:

Which of these results helps you learn better about wildfires on Maui? I’m really not sure:

And when you ask Google who wrote it Lord of the RingsIs there any reason you wouldn’t want Google’s full knowledge graph at your disposal?

Admittedly, it’s an answer Google isn’t likely to get wrong.

From what I can tell, the order of Google search results appear to be the same whether you choose “web” or “all”. It doesn’t block links to YouTube videos, Reddit posts, or SEO factories… and I’ve even seen (minor!) ads sponsored by Amazon and Verkada and Wyze pushing down my search results:

“Web” is just a filter that removes Google’s knowledge panels, featured snippets, and Shopping modules — and also Google’s new AI overviews, confirms Google spokesperson Ned Adriance. On the edge. “AI overviews are a feature of Search, just like a knowledge panel or featured snippet, so they won’t appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.

This doesn’t magically solve some of the problems facing Google’s search engine. But it’s a giant delete button for people who have been aggravated by some of the company’s seemingly selfish moves, and a way to preserve the spirit of the 10 blue links even as Google’s AI efforts try to leave them behind.

Danny Sullivan, Public Liaison for Google Research, says you are asking for something like this for years:

As a next step, I would like Google to promote the button to make it more visible. At the moment, the company warns that it does not always appear in the main desktop carousel – You may need to click “More” first and select “Web”.

We hope this all works well on mobile devices too; I still don’t see it on my cell phone.