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It's hard to imagine given its popularity and entrenchment in modern society, but Google Search today is vastly different than the same product just a few years ago.
The most obvious recent change is the addition of generative AI search results, also known as “AI Overview.” Previously, it was an experimental option called “Search Generative Experiences” that users had to select through Google Labs, but the addition of these results (using Google's Gemini AI model to create new results from across the board every time they search) generated) aims to summarize and extract the most relevant and important information. Information based on your search query.
Following last week's I/O conference, Google is making this the default search experience in the US (and soon around the world) as it seeks to counter and counter the rise of competitors like Perplexity and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
However, many users have openly complained about the new Google Gen AI search results, noting that they are often inaccurate, in some cases dangerously so.
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Fortunately, there is a solution for users who want to return to a more “pure” original Google search experience, untainted by Gen AI results.
Google has added a new “Web” tab at the top of its search engine, removed all Gen AI results, and even removed the old “Featured Snippets,” which cut text from a web page and reproduces it at the top of the search engine results. Pages (SERPs). It also appears that most ads/sponsored posts will also be removed.
However, there is no way to keep this option as Google's default, at least officially. You have to search and see the AI results and tab through each time.
It can be a pain to have to navigate to this tab every time you want to search, but my old colleague Ernie Smith from the blog Tedium has found a clever workaround that's getting cheers from some users.
He writes:
“…Is there anything I can do to minimize the pain of having to click the “Web” option buried in the menu every time?
The answer to that question is yes. It's not easy to do, as Google's URLs seem to be superfluous these days, but if you add a URL parameter to your search (in this case “udm=14”), your search will show web results. can be accessed directly. .“
In fact, as long as you set the default search engine in your browser or bookmark the URL “https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14”, you should be able to access the web. Gen AI free version of Google is available every time you search.
At X, users love Smith's findings and embrace them enthusiastically.
It will be interesting to see how widespread this workaround is. If enough people choose this path, Google will reconsider making Gen AI's summarized search results the new default, and replace this more orderly and “purer” version of search with “blue links.” Should I put it back on the list?
Time will tell.
