How to disable AI search results on Google

If AI answers in search results isn't for you, use these steps to disable the feature on Google search.

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@Pureinfotech
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Google disable AI results
Google disable AI results / Image: Mauro Huculak

Google has switched its search result technology to show answers using AI (to what the company calls “AI Overviews”), and while it’s not possible to turn it off completely anymore, it’s possible to disable AI results with a simple workaround that you can apply to Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on Windows 11, 10, and other platforms. 

As the company continues the rollout of generative AI across search and other products, Google has also added a new “Web” filter option that allows the search engine to show only text-based results. When you use this option, the results page will only show blue links for web pages and videos, but you won’t get AI-generated answers. 

The only caveat is that Google won’t let you set this experience as your default search, and on every query, you have to click on the “Web” filter button buried under the “More” menu. However, I can show you a workaround to make this filter your default experience or at least make it easier to access it for a more traditional search experience.

If you find that answers are not accurate using AI or realize that you prefer the traditional result page with links, you can disable the AI Overviews from the results page (sort of).

In this guide, I will teach you the steps to disable the AI results on Google using Chrome and Edge.

Turn off AI search results on Google from Chrome

To disable the AI Overviews on Google from Chrome, use these steps:

  1. Open Google Chrome.

  2. Click on Customize and Control Google Chrome (three dots) menu.

  3. Choose the Settings option.

  4. Click on Search engine.

  5. Click the “Manage search engines and site search” page.

  6. Click the Add button under the “Site search” section.

    Chrome site search add option

  7. In the Name setting, confirm a name for the item, such as “Google Web,” “Google Results,” etc.

  8. In the Shortcut setting, enter the https://google.com domain.

  9. In the URL setting, enter the {google:baseURL}/search?udm=14&q=%s query.

    Chrome disable Google AI search

  10. Click the Add button.

  11. Click the three dots button to open the newly created Site search menu.

  12. Choose the Make default option.

  13. (Optional) Click on Appearance.

  14. Turn on the “Show home button” toggle switch to make the Home button available in Chrome.

    Chrome Show home button

Once you complete the steps, you will be able to access an experience without AI overviews when performing a search query from the address bar or from the Google search box on a new tab. The page results will now show only blue links, and the results will remove AI results as well as images, videos, and other forms of results. However, in the case of videos, you will continue to see results but as blue links.

Turn off AI search results on Google from Edge

To disable the AI answers on Google results from Microsoft Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.

  2. Click on Settings and more (three dots) menu.

  3. Choose the Settings option.

  4. Click on Privacy, search, and services.

  5. Click the “Address bar and search” button at the bottom of the page.

    Address bar and search

  6. Click the “Manage search engines” setting.

    Manage search engines

  7. Click the Add button from the top-right corner.

    Add new Google search engine without AI

  8. In the Name setting, confirm a name for the item, such as “Google Web,” “Google Results,” etc.

  9. In the Shortcut setting, enter the https://google.com domain.

  10. In the URL setting, enter the {google:baseURL}/search?udm=14&q=%s query.

    Edge disable Google AI results

  11. Click the Add button.

  12. Click the three dots button to open the newly created Site search menu.

  13. Choose the Make default option.

After you complete the steps, the Google AI results will be disabled when performing a search from the address bar. If you open the Google.com website, you will access the generative AI answers. As a result, you have to use the address bar to search with blue links only.

If you also use Bing as your search engine, Microsoft has added two settings to disable Copilot AI responses in search results.

Update May 17, 2024: This guide has been updated to ensure accuracy and reflect changes to the process. This trick was found in Tom’s Hardware, but I have streamlined the steps and corrected the instructions that weren’t totally accurate, and for Windows 11 and 10 users, I have added steps to change the settings on Microsoft Edge to disable the AI results on the browser.

About the author
Avatar for Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].