Generative features opt-out
The Search generative AI control in Google Search Console lets you keep your site out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover's AI features.
The generative features opt-out is a setting in Google Search Console, which Google calls the Search generative AI control. It lets you keep your site out of Google's AI features in Search: AI Overviews, AI Mode and the generative AI features in Google Discover. Google says it had reached all websites as of August 31, 2026.
It's a big lever, and a blunt one. Before you pull it, it's worth being clear about what it does and doesn't cover.
What it does
You'll find it under Settings, then Search generative AI, in Search Console. Sites are included by default. If you choose to exclude yours, Google stops showing your site's content and links in those features, and your site no longer gets traffic or impressions from them. Google says changes usually take a few days.
Google also says the setting isn't a ranking signal, so your ordinary search results shouldn't change.
What it doesn't do
It doesn't affect AI training. For that, Google points to the Google-Extended token in robots.txt. It doesn't remove your pages from Google Search. For that, you'd use noindex. And it only covers Google. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and the rest each have their own bots and their own rules.
Should you use it?
For most brands that want to be recommended, opting out works against you. If AI Overviews can't use your pages, they'll describe your category from other people's.
For example, if Harrow & Pine opts out, an AI Overview answering "best espresso machine for a small café" can still name Harrow & Pine from review sites. It just can't use or link Harrow & Pine's own pages to do it, so Harrow & Pine has less say in what's written.
Publishers whose business is the content itself may weigh it differently. That's a decision about your business model more than about visibility.
In AnswerOrbit
We ask Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode about your prompts every day and keep the pages each answer used. If you opt out, Sources shows whether your own pages stop appearing in those answers, and Answers shows what they say about you instead.