Google Gives Publishers An AI Opt-Out

Google (GOOGL) announced that publishers will soon be able to opt their websites out of AI Overviews and AI Mode through a new Search Console control. The feature is rolling out first to a small group of UK publishers before expanding globally. Sites that opt out will receive no traffic and no impressions from Google’s generative AI experiences. Google says the decision will not affect rankings in traditional search.

The change follows action by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which required Google to provide publishers with AI-specific controls after designating the company as having Strategic Market Status. The CMA first proposed the measure in January, arguing that publishers should have a stronger position when negotiating how their content is used by AI systems.

The new control creates the appearance of choice, but the economics remain challenging. Publishers can opt in and allow their content to appear inside AI-generated answers that often satisfy a user’s query without generating a click, or they can opt out and disappear entirely from Google’s AI products while those products continue to occupy premium real estate at the top of the search results page.

Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, recently said he told his teams to “assume there’s no search.” He expects search traffic to become a single-digit percentage of total traffic. That’s a remarkable statement from one of the world’s largest publishers. If you depend on referral traffic, Google has now confirmed where search is headed. Plan accordingly.