# How do I keep my site out of Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode without dropping out of regular Google Search?

**Short answer:** Use the Search generative AI control in Search Console, not robots.txt. Google says AI is built into Search, so its crawler for AI Overviews and AI Mode is Googlebot, and blocking Googlebot takes you out of Search altogether. Google-Extended doesn't help either: it covers Gemini model training and grounding in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI, and Google says it has no effect on inclusion in Google Search. Since August 31, 2026 every site can open Settings > Search generative AI in Search Console and choose Exclude. That keeps the site's links and content out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Google says the control isn't used as a ranking or inclusion signal for the rest of Search, usually takes a few days to apply and doesn't affect AI training. For one page or passage, the nosnippet rule (or max-snippet, or data-nosnippet on a section) also stops content being a direct input to AI Overviews and AI Mode, but it removes or shortens your normal search snippet too.

## Checklist
1. Measure first. Search Console's Generative AI performance report shows impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country, device and date. Google says an excluded site gets no traffic or impressions from these features, so know what you're giving up.
2. Whole site: in Search Console open Settings > Search generative AI and choose 'Exclude my site's links and content from Search generative AI features'. Include is the default for every property.
3. Part of a site: verify that section as its own property (for example the URL-prefix property https://example.com/premium/) and set the control there. A property inherits from its closest parent with a set value, it can override that, and the owner of the top-level domain property sees a notice when a child overrides.
4. Single pages or passages: add <meta name="robots" content="nosnippet"> or an X-Robots-Tag: nosnippet header, use max-snippet:[number] to cap how much text is used, or put data-nosnippet on span, div or section elements. Google says these apply to all its search results, AI Overviews and AI Mode included. The cost: no text snippet (or a shorter one) in regular results either.
5. Don't block Googlebot in robots.txt to escape AI Overviews. Google says robots.txt rules for Googlebot are the control for how your site is crawled for Search as a whole, so this removes you from Search.
6. Decide on training separately. The Search Console control doesn't affect AI training. To keep content out of Gemini training and Gemini grounding, add a Google-Extended group with Disallow: / to robots.txt. Google says that doesn't affect Search inclusion or ranking.
7. Allow time. Google says a control change generally takes a few days, content is excluded within 1 to 2 days after it goes live and caching can delay some of it. Snippet rules only work after a recrawl, which can take days to months; use URL Inspection to check what Googlebot received and request a recrawl.
8. Write down what you changed and when, so a later drop in clicks can be traced to your own opt-out or to something else.

## Which Google control removes my site from AI Overviews: Search Console, nosnippet or Google-Extended?
- Search generative AI control (Search Console): covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Exclude means your links and content won't show in them and content crawled from your site isn't eligible as an input to an AI response there. Google says it doesn't affect ranking or inclusion in other parts of Search, doesn't override Merchant Center or Google Ads choices, and your content may still help power Search as a whole, such as understanding the language of queries.
- Snippet rules (nosnippet, max-snippet, data-nosnippet): set per page or per passage. They apply to web search, Images, Discover, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google notes a max-snippet limit doesn't override uses you've separately allowed, such as in-page structured data or a license agreement with Google.
- Google-Extended (robots.txt token): controls whether content Google crawls may be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini Apps and Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI. It has no user agent of its own; Google crawls with its existing user agents. Google says it intends to support the AIPREF training preference (user-agent: __usage_ai-training) in early 2027.
- noindex: removes the page from Google Search completely, AI features included.

## What do I lose by opting out of Google AI Overviews or using nosnippet?
- Exclude in Search Console: no impressions or clicks from those AI features. Google says content from other sites still appears there and may look similar to yours.
- nosnippet: the page can still rank, but regular results show no text snippet (a static image thumbnail may still appear), which can lower clicks from ordinary results too. data-nosnippet on only the sections you care about keeps a snippet for the rest.
- None of Google's controls apply to other companies' crawlers. OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity and others use their own robots.txt tokens, so check those separately.

## How do I check my site is really out of Google AI Overviews?
- For the Search Console control, watch the Generative AI performance report: once the change has gone through, impressions from these features should stop, because an excluded site receives none. Google's help page also says the report may not show at all for a site that has excluded itself.
- For snippet rules, Google's own troubleshooting steps: confirm the rule is visible to Googlebot with the URL Inspection tool, then allow time for a recrawl.
- For robots.txt, read back what your live file actually says for each AI token after every change, especially if a CDN or plugin adds its own rules.

## Ask Rightshold (free, no key)
Add the MCP server https://www.rightshold.com/mcp to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Grok or VS Code (one-click setup: https://www.rightshold.com/start?ref=seo), then ask: "Which AI crawlers does my live robots.txt disallow right now, and is Google-Extended blocked for training while the search crawlers stay allowed?"

```json
{
  "tool": "read_ai_policy",
  "arguments": {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "path": "/"
  }
}
```
- Free, no key, cached 6 hours. For each AI crawler and user-fetch agent it lists (Google-Extended, GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and others) it says whether the path is allowed and which robots.txt group matched, plus any Content-Signal lines.
- It reads your published robots.txt only. It can't see your Search Console setting or nosnippet tags; check those in Search Console and with URL Inspection.

_Rightshold reads your published robots.txt and AI signals on request. It doesn't connect to Search Console, change your settings or see how Google uses your content. Control details above are from Google's documentation as of November 9, 2026 and can change._

## Sources
- [Google Search Console Help: Search generative AI control (rolled out to all sites August 31, 2026; exclude, inheritance, timing)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16908024?hl=en)
- [Google Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report (Search)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139)
- [Google Search Central: AI features and your website (Googlebot robots.txt is the Search control; nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet, noindex)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features)
- [Google Search Central: Robots meta tag, data-nosnippet and X-Robots-Tag specifications (nosnippet and max-snippet cover AI Overviews and AI Mode)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag)
- [Google Search Central: Google's common crawlers (Google-Extended; no effect on Search inclusion or ranking; AIPREF early 2027)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-common-crawlers)

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_Not legal advice. Updated 2026-11-09. JSON: https://www.rightshold.com/answers/how-to-keep-your-site-out-of-google-ai-overviews-without-leaving-google-search.json_