Make Google Search Clean Again!

Why You'd Want a Clean Search Experience

It's true that AI is advancing at an incredible pace. Companies like Google and Microsoft are pushing AI into everything, but as a learner, this can negatively impact both productivity and the learning process.

I used to start my research on ChatGPT to save time, and then move to Gemini when ChatGPT would occasionally hallucinate or provide an incorrect answer. In the end, I'd still find myself on Google to fact check everything. Over time, I realized that these tools weren't great for my learning, and I could have saved so much time by going straight to the source.

So, I began Googling regularly, which I believe every learner should do. However, over the last few months, Google has integrated "AI Overviews" (which is essentially Gemini under the hood) directly into search results. For nearly every query, it's the very first thing you see. Since I want to keep this article short, I won't go into detail about why learning with AI can be problematic, but here are a couple of articles that support this point:

• Kids who use ChatGPT as a study assistant do worse on tests

• Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning

Removing AI from Your Chrome Search

• Using Extensions: I've tried a few Google extensions to remove these AI Overviews, such as Hide Google AI Overviews and Bye Bye Google AI. While these extensions work for some users, I found they were inconsistent and often failed to remove the AI result. That's why I'm going to share a permanent, more reliable solution today.

Forcing Google to Show Only Websites

This method is the most reliable way to "turn off" AI Overviews without installing a third-party extension. While Google could change or remove this functionality at any time, it is currently the best solution.

1. Open Chrome's settings by selecting the three dots at the top right and then choosing Settings at the bottom of the menu.
2. Select Search engine on the left.
3. Select Manage search engines and site search on the right.
4. Scroll down and select Add next to the Site search section.
5. Fill out the form with the information, and then select Add/Save.
6. Select the three dots next to Web, and then select Make default.
7. Google AI Overviews is now hidden. To test it out, open a new tab and enter some search terms into the navigation bar at the top of Chrome. The results now open directly to the Web section instead of All, which is where AI Overview lives.

Tip: If you ever need to undo these changes, return to chrome://settings/searchEngines and change the default search engine to Google (or any other website).