Some websites can now opt out of Google’s AI search features without losing their place in standard search results. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority imposed a conduct requirement this week, and Google began testing its own Search Console toggle the same day.
The real question is whether there’s enough information to make a decision. Google’s new AI performance reports in Search Console show impressions but not clicks. The CMA’s interpretive notes, published alongside the conduct requirement, say Google should also provide click-throughs, click-through rates, and data separated from organic search. That data isn’t in the reports yet.
How We Got Here
The CMA designated Google as having strategic market status in the UK search in October. In January, it opened a consultation on conduct requirements. That same day, Google said it was “exploring updates” to let sites opt out of Search generative AI features. By March, Google’s response to the consultation had changed the language from “exploring” to “developing.”
Before this week, there wasn’t a simple way to keep website content out of AI Overviews. A tag called Google-Extended lets sites opt out of AI model training and grounding, but the content could still appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. There’s also the nosnippet tag that affects AI Overviews and AI search at the same time. You couldn’t opt out of one without losing the other.
In May, Google introduced AI search changes at I/O. The CMA’s final decision says it will “actively monitor” those changes. In June, the conduct requirement was imposed, and Google was testing its own Search Console controls with a subset of UK website owners.
Google hasn’t stated whether the Search Console toggle is intended to satisfy the CMA requirement. The company says it’s engaging with regulators like the CMA and testing the feature first with UK websites. That makes the UK the first market where both a regulatory requirement and a voluntary platform control for AI search are live at the same time.
What Arrived This Week
Three separate changes arrived this week.
The CMA’s conduct requirement, a legal obligation, requires Google to let publishers withhold content from AI search features and from AI model training. Google must clearly attribute domains in AI responses with links that let people reach the source. Importantly, it requires Google not to penalize websites that opt out.
Google’s Search Console toggle, a voluntary product change, lets publishers exclude their sites from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI Overviews in Discover at the domain level. Google confirmed it won’t use the opt-out as a ranking signal for standard search. Page-level controls aren’t available yet. The CMA has given Google until March 2027 to implement them.
Google also started rolling out AI performance reports in Search Console which show how often your pages appeared in AI features, broken down by page and country. Google…
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