Google Search Console now has a setting that takes a website out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and the AI features in Google Discover. On October 21, 2026, Google updated its “Control what you share with Google Search” page, which now points site owners to that setting. For a plumber, dentist or landscaper, it is a switch worth checking once, mostly to confirm nobody has turned it off.
Google says AI Overviews has “over 2.5 billion monthly active users” and that AI Mode has “surpassed one billion monthly users.” Those are the answers your customers read before they decide who to call. Here is what the setting does and what to check.
What Google announced
Google first described the control in June 2026 in a post by Mrinalini Loew, General Manager, Google Search Ecosystem. The post and the Search Console help page set out how it works:
- It is now available to every site. The help page says: “As of August 31, 2026, we’ve rolled out this control to all websites worldwide.”
- It lives in Search Console. You find it under Settings, then Search generative AI. It covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Google Discover.
- There are three options. Include is “the default control for all properties.” Exclude removes your site’s links and content from those features. Inherit control from parent makes a property follow the setting of its parent property, and it is the default when a parent exists.
- Excluding has a clear cost. Google’s post says: “Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.”
- It does not change your normal rankings. Google’s post says: “This control will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside of these generative AI Search features.” The help page says the same thing about other parts of Search.
- It is separate from AI training. The help page says: “This control doesn’t affect AI training.” For training, it points to a different control, Google-Extended. To keep content out of Google Search entirely, it points to noindex.
- Changes take time. The help page says “it generally takes a few days for your site’s content to be excluded.”
The updated “Control what you share” page lists this setting alongside older tools: the robots meta tag, data-nosnippet and the X-Robots-Tag. Google describes those as “page- and text-level settings to adjust how Google presents your content in search results.”
Search Engine Roundtable reported on September 1 that Search Console also has a report showing impressions of your pages in these AI features, which pages appeared, and the countries and devices involved. It does not include click or query data.
What it means for a local service business
The setting was built mainly for publishers who worry that AI answers replace visits to their pages. A local service business is in a different position. You do not earn money when someone reads your page. You earn money when they call you. If Google’s AI answers a question like “who fixes tankless water heaters near me” and your site is excluded, Google says your links and content will not appear in that answer. A competitor’s will.
Check the setting today
Log in to Search Console, open Settings and find Search generative AI. You want to see Include, or Inherit control from parent with the parent set to Include. This takes two minutes.
It is worth checking even if you never touched it, especially if a web designer or an agency set up your Search Console account. If someone else switched it to Exclude, Google’s help page is clear about the result: no traffic or impressions from these features.
Check who has access
While you are in Settings, look at the list of users and owners. Anyone who can change this setting can take your site out of AI Overviews. Remove people who no longer work with you. If you have more than one property for the same site, check each one, because a property set to inherit follows its parent.
Use the AI report as a starting point
If the AI impressions report shows data for your site, look at which pages appear. If it is only your homepage, your service pages may not be answering the questions customers ask. The report does not show clicks or the questions people typed, so treat it as a sign of presence, not proof of leads.
If you want to hide something specific, use a narrower tool
Some owners would rather Google did not quote a particular line, such as a price that changes often. Excluding the whole site is a blunt way to handle that. Google’s page lists data-nosnippet as a text-level setting for how your content is presented in search results. Fixing the out-of-date line on your own page is simpler still.
What did not change
Google has not said how AI Overviews or AI Mode choose which businesses to name. Leaving the setting on Include makes your site eligible. It does not put you in any answer. No AI engine can be bought or guaranteed.
The setting covers Google only. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing and other assistants have their own sources and their own rules, and this switch has no effect on them.
Measurement is still thin. The Search Console report shows impressions without clicks or queries. The way to see whether you are named in AI answers is still a fixed set of buyer questions re-run every month, with a record of which businesses come up.
The short version
Google Search Console lets any site opt out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI features in Discover, and Google says sites that opt out get no traffic or impressions from them. For most local service businesses the right setting is the default, Include. Check it today, along with who has access to your account, and use narrower tools if you only want to hide a single line.