How to Turn Off Google AI Overviews: Every Method That Actually Works

Why Google Hasn't Given You an Off Switch

Google's official line has been consistent since AI Overviews launched: it treats them as a standard Search feature, the same category as Featured Snippets or the Knowledge Panel, not an optional add-on with its own toggle. Search Labs briefly offered an opt-out during the 2024 rollout, but that option has quietly disappeared for most accounts as AI Overviews moved from experiment to default behavior.

That's frustrating if you'd rather see the traditional list of links, and you're not alone in wanting it gone. There's a real cost to losing that choice, too — researchers at Pew found that people click through to a website noticeably less often once an AI summary answers the question for them at the top of the page, which changes both how you research things and how much traffic the sites you're reading actually get.

Method 1 — The Web Tab

This is the quickest option and needs no setup. Run your search as normal, then look at the row of tabs under the search bar — All, Images, News, Videos, and so on. Click Web (tap "More" first if it's hidden behind that menu on your screen), and the page reloads with the AI Overview stripped out and the classic ranked list in its place.

The catch: it only applies to that one search. Ask a new question and the Overview is back, so this is best treated as a one-off fix rather than something you want to do dozens of times a day.

Method 2 — The udm=14 URL Parameter

Editing the search URL directly with &udm=14 is the most consistent workaround available in 2026.

Google's search results page is built on "mode" parameters in the URL, and udm=14 happens to be the code for the plain web-results mode — the same thing clicking "Web" does, but automatable. It's been reliable since it first surfaced in mid-2024 and still works as of August 2026.

Backup Methods Worth Knowing

What About on Your Phone?

Mobile is genuinely more limited. There's no Search Labs menu to check, and third-party extensions mostly don't exist on mobile browsers. Your realistic options: tap the Web tab manually on each search (the same tab exists on mobile, just easier to miss), set your phone's default search shortcut to a udm=14 URL if your browser supports custom search engines, or switch to a mobile browser like Brave that filters AI Overviews by default.

Is It Worth the Effort?

If you search Google a handful of times a day and don't mind the occasional AI summary, none of this is worth setting up — just tap Web on the rare search where you want to skip it. If you're a heavy researcher, a writer who needs to verify facts against original sources, or someone who's been burned by an inaccurate summary, setting the udm=14 custom search engine takes about two minutes and solves the problem permanently for every search you run afterward.