Google's Generative AI Control Opts a Site Out of Overviews Without Touching Rank

Search Console now has a generative AI control, and Google's help page says it reached every website on 31 August 2026. The default is inclusion. A site's pages may appear as links in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI features in Discover, and they may be used to ground those answers.

Switching the control off stops both of those uses. Google says an opted-out site should not receive impressions or traffic from the features. The help page also says the control is not a ranking or inclusion signal for the rest of Search. Merchant Center and Google Ads choices are separate. The page can still be read by ordinary Search systems so Google can understand language on the web.

Training is a different switch

This control does not govern model training. Google points publishers who want to limit training of the models behind Search's generative features to a separate control. Blocking the AI answer surface and blocking training are two decisions.

Timing is short but not instant. After the control changes, exclusion generally begins within one to two days. Cached copies can take longer to disappear.

For GEO, the control is a visibility choice with a narrow blast radius: the AI answer modules, not the ten blue links. Measurement of that choice lives in the generative AI performance report, which goes empty once the site is excluded.

Source: Google Search Console Help.