Google will allow publishers in the United Kingdom to opt out of having their content used in the company's AI-powered search features, following requirements set by the country's competition regulator.
The move comes after the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) directed Google to provide publishers with greater control over how their content is used in AI search products. Publishers will be able to manage participation through a new toggle in Google Search Console, the company's platform for website owners.
Websites that choose to opt out will no longer appear in Google's generative AI search experiences, including AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI Overviews in Discover. Google said it will begin testing the feature with a subset of UK publishers before expanding it globally.
The CMA described the change as a "world first" and said it would strengthen publishers' ability to negotiate agreements with Google regarding the use of their content in AI products.
The regulator designated Google as having "strategic market status" in October last year, paving the way for additional oversight. In January, it called on the company to give publishers a choice over whether their content could be used in AI search features or to train standalone AI models.
In addition to the opt-out mechanism, Google will be required to provide clear attribution for publisher content used in AI-generated responses. The company said it has recently increased the number of inline links within AI responses and introduced website previews to encourage users to visit source websites.
Google said opting out of AI search features will not affect a website's ranking in traditional Google Search results.
The company also plans to introduce new reporting metrics in Search Console, including data on impressions and information about which pages appear in AI-generated responses and the countries where they are displayed. Additional metrics are expected to be added over time.
Google said its AI Overviews feature currently reaches more than 2.5 billion monthly active users, while AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users globally.