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Knowledge base v2.13.0 · Community edition · data through 2 October 2026

Topic · Publisher controls

The generative AI opt-out in Search Console

A property-level Search Console setting, Search generative AI, lets a site leave AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI in Discover: excluding removes both links to the site and use of its content to ground answers, so the site gets no traffic or impressions from those features, and include is the default. Google says the setting is not a ranking or inclusion signal for regular results and does not affect AI training, which Google-Extended governs; changes generally apply within 1–2 days, and a child property inherits from its closest parent that changed the setting. Day 2 repeated this, with John Mueller presenting it as one of very few indexing-like settings in Search Console, and added the page-level route: nosnippet keeps content out of AI Overviews and AI Mode as a direct input and max-snippet limits that use, as Google's robots meta tag specification confirms, but both also remove or shorten regular snippets. Author’s view: lead-generation, local and e-commerce sites should normally stay included, because AI answers cite and link sources. Day 3's Search Console talk repeated it: every property owner can tell Google whether the site's content may be used in AI search results, because Google wants content owners to control their content. In the Day 1 Q&A, captured by a second recording, Google said the Google-Extended token in robots.txt opts a site out of Google's AI training, that blocking all AI crawlers while allowing search crawlers is a personal decision every site owner can make, and that Apple offers a similar control for Applebot; a community speaker advised not blocking AI training bots in most cases, so that models can represent the brand accurately. Gary Illyes said the generative AI report launched alongside the control, with impressions only to start. Author’s view: Google-Extended is a usage token, not a crawler; disallowing it does not stop Googlebot fetching pages and controls only Gemini training and grounding, while the Search Console setting governs AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google's Day 1 robots.txt talk, in an audio recording, added that robots.txt was designed only to control which clients may access what, not how content is used, and that disallowing the Google-Extended token keeps a directory or a whole site out of Gemini model training; it named Apple's Applebot-Extended as a similar token.

Based on D1-C029, D1-C030, D2-C103, D1-C031, D1-C032, D1-C033, D2-C102, D2-C072, D2-C083, D2-C728, D2-C070, D2-C082, D1-C034, D3-C436, D1-C485, D1-C484, D1-C487, D1-C303, D1-C196, D1-C486, D1-C513, D1-C522, D1-C524

24 claims · raised in 6 sessions · said or shown on Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3

Open in Reef mapOpen in Graph

Things in this topic 14

2 more things

Counts are claims that name the thing. All things

What to do

  • Lead-generation, local and e-commerce sites should normally stay included.
  • Review the Generative AI performance report before changing the setting.
  • Test exclusion on a child property before applying it to a whole domain.
  • To leave AI features only, use the Search Console setting; use nosnippet or a low max-snippet only if you also accept losing regular snippets.

Day 1: Crawling 18

Shown on screen 1

SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C029

Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting web rankings. Its states are inherit from parent, include and exclude.

“Direct control over AI Overviews and AI Mode without impacting web rankings.”

Wording checked against the slide or recording

Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence slide photo, transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-10fact F-012glossary term Search generative AI control

  • Extended by D2-C103 Day 2: Setting the Search generative AI control in Search Console to exclude keeps a site's links and content out of…
  • Repeated by D3-C436 Day 3: Search Console has a tool with which every property owner can tell Google whether the site's content may be…

Said on stage 8

StageConsistent with docsD1-C196

Google said Search Console's generative AI reporting launched alongside the generative AI control, starting with impressions only, and may expand later.

Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of SearchEvidence transcript

Things
  • Repeats D1-C124 Day 1: Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to…
  • Repeated by D3-C440 Day 3: Google called AI reporting in Search Console an evolving space and expects the generative AI report to get…
StageConsistent with docsD1-C513

The standard's official name is the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP). Google stressed that it was designed in 1994 only to control which automated clients may access what on a site, and has nothing to do with how the content is used.

Speaker GoogleIn Day 1, 15:10 · How Google interprets robots.txtEvidence transcript

Things

Used byglossary term RFC 9309 (Robots Exclusion Protocol)

  • Extends D1-C086 Day 1: Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled…
StageConsistent with docsD1-C522

Google said a site can keep a directory or the whole site out of Gemini model training by disallowing it for the Google-Extended token in robots.txt, and that Google respects that policy; the speaker believed Google was the first to offer such an opt-out from model training.

Speaker GoogleIn Day 1, 15:10 · How Google interprets robots.txtEvidence transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-11glossary term Google-Extended

  • Extends D1-C086 Day 1: Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled…
  • Repeats D1-C485 Day 1: To opt out of Google's AI training, a site can use the Google-Extended token in robots.txt.
  • Extended by D2-C025 Day 2: In Google's example fetch record, the robots policies that apply to a fetch, shown as the value…
StageConfirmed by docsD1-C485

To opt out of Google's AI training, a site can use the Google-Extended token in robots.txt.

Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript

Things

Used byrequirements DEV-AIF-05, DEV-IDX-11

  • Answers D1-C481 Day 1: An audience member asked whether Google plans dedicated user agents for AI, as OpenAI has several, so that…
  • Repeated by D1-C522 Day 1: Google said a site can keep a directory or the whole site out of Gemini model training by disallowing it for…
StageNot in docsD1-C487

A Google panelist said Apple offers a robots.txt control for Applebot similar to Google-Extended, so a site can allow Applebot for search while opting out of Apple's AI use.

Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 16:35 · Q&AEvidence transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-AIF-05

  • Answers D1-C481 Day 1: An audience member asked whether Google plans dedicated user agents for AI, as OpenAI has several, so that…
  • Repeated by D1-C524 Day 1: Other companies have similar 'extended' robots.txt tokens; Google named Apple's Applebot-Extended.

What Google's documentation says 6

DocsSourceD1-C030

The Search generative AI control covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Excluding removes both links to the site and use of its content to ground answers.

Publisher Google Search Console HelpAnnotates Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of Search

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-10glossary term Search generative AI control

  • Repeated by D2-C103 Day 2: Setting the Search generative AI control in Search Console to exclude keeps a site's links and content out of…
DocsSourceD1-C062

Google's guide for generative AI features recommends the Generative AI performance report in Search Console for measuring how content performs in generative AI features on Google Search and Discover.

Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 1, 11:45 · How Search works and where's AI?

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-MON-07glossary term Generative AI performance report

  • Extended by D3-C535 Day 3: Beyond Search Console, Google's AI features guide suggests tracking conversions and time spent on the site in…
DocsSourceD1-C124

Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

Publisher Search Central blog (3 June 2026)Annotates Day 1, 11:45 · How Search works and where's AI?

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-MON-07glossary term Generative AI performance report

  • Repeated by D1-C196 Day 1: Google said Search Console's generative AI reporting launched alongside the generative AI control, starting…
  • Extended by D2-C607 Day 2: Check AI Overviews and AI Mode with native-language queries in each target market, not with translated…
  • Extended by D3-C063 Day 3: Google said fan-out queries are not added to Search Console, because Google considers them part of its…
  • Repeated by D3-C437 Day 3: Search Console added reporting of the impressions a site's content gets in the AI surfaces of Google Search…
  • Repeated by D3-C439 Day 3: Search Console's generative AI report shows impressions broken down by pages, countries and devices.
  • Extended by D3-C495 Day 3: Nik Vujic said he hopes Search Console's generative AI report will get query data.
  • Extended by D3-C542 Day 3: Google's own line on Day 1 was to measure success by metrics that matter to the business, and its Generative…

Analysis by the author 3

AnalysisD1-C034

Lead-generation, local-service and e-commerce sites should normally stay included, because AI answers cite and link sources. Sites selling paywalled or licensed content should test exclusion on a child property first. Use nosnippet only if you also want out of regular snippets.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 1, 11:35 · What's new in the world of Search

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-10

  • Extended by D2-C072 Day 2: The nosnippet rule also prevents a page's content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI…
AnalysisD1-C523

The 'first' needs care: OpenAI documented how to block its GPTBot crawler in robots.txt in August 2023, before Google announced Google-Extended on 28 September 2023. What Google-Extended added was a token that controls AI-training use of pages fetched by Google's existing crawlers, separately from Search; Apple later introduced a similar token, Applebot-Extended.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 1, 15:10 · How Google interprets robots.txt

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-AIF-05

  • Extends D1-C086 Day 1: Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled…

Day 2: Indexing 5

Shown on screen 3

SlideConfirmed by docsD2-C072

The nosnippet rule also prevents a page's content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search.

“Also prevents the content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search results.”

Wording checked against the slide or recording

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexingEvidence slide photo, transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-05glossary term nosnippet and data-nosnippet

  • Extends D1-C034 Day 1: Lead-generation, local-service and e-commerce sites should normally stay included, because AI answers cite…
SlideNot in docsD2-C102

John Mueller's slide said Search Console has very few indexing-like settings and listed the Search generative AI control as the one control in his talk that is not a meta tag.

“Very few "indexing-like" settings are in Search Console”

Wording checked against the slide or recording

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexingEvidence slide photo, transcript

Things
SlideConfirmed by docsD2-C103

Setting the Search generative AI control in Search Console to exclude keeps a site's links and content out of Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, so the site gets no traffic or impressions from them; include is the default.

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexingEvidence slide photo, transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-10

  • Repeats D1-C030 Day 1: The Search generative AI control covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover.…
  • Extends D1-C029 Day 1: Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews…

Said on stage 1

Analysis by the author 1

Day 3: Serving: Ranking, Search Console, and Performance 1

Said on stage 1

StageConfirmed by docsD3-C436

Search Console has a tool with which every property owner can tell Google whether the site's content may be used in AI search results, because Google wants content owners to control their content.

Speaker Ariel KroszynskiIn Day 3, 13:55 · Inside Search Console: What’s New & How to Use ItEvidence transcript

Things
  • Repeats D1-C029 Day 1: Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews…

Across days and sessions 19

  1. Stage D1-C513 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    The standard's official name is the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP). Google stressed that it was designed in 1994 only to control which automated clients may access what on a site, and has nothing to do with how the content is used.

    extends
    Docs D1-C086 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled content may be used to train future Gemini models and to ground Gemini apps and Vertex AI.

  2. Stage D1-C522 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google said a site can keep a directory or the whole site out of Gemini model training by disallowing it for the Google-Extended token in robots.txt, and that Google respects that policy; the speaker believed Google was the first to offer such an opt-out from model training.

    extends
    Docs D1-C086 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled content may be used to train future Gemini models and to ground Gemini apps and Vertex AI.

  3. Analysis D1-C523 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    The 'first' needs care: OpenAI documented how to block its GPTBot crawler in robots.txt in August 2023, before Google announced Google-Extended on 28 September 2023. What Google-Extended added was a token that controls AI-training use of pages fetched by Google's existing crawlers, separately from Search; Apple later introduced a similar token, Applebot-Extended.

    extends
    Docs D1-C086 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler with its own user agent string. It decides whether crawled content may be used to train future Gemini models and to ground Gemini apps and Vertex AI.

  4. Slide D2-C025 Day 2 · How is HTML interpreted

    In Google's example fetch record, the robots policies that apply to a fetch, shown as the value opt-out-google-extended, travel with the fetched page into processing.

    extends
    Stage D1-C522 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google said a site can keep a directory or the whole site out of Gemini model training by disallowing it for the Google-Extended token in robots.txt, and that Google respects that policy; the speaker believed Google was the first to offer such an opt-out from model training.

  5. Slide D2-C072 Day 2 · Controlling indexing

    The nosnippet rule also prevents a page's content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search.

    extends
    Analysis D1-C034 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    Lead-generation, local-service and e-commerce sites should normally stay included, because AI answers cite and link sources. Sites selling paywalled or licensed content should test exclusion on a child property first. Use nosnippet only if you also want out of regular snippets.

  6. Slide D2-C103 Day 2 · Controlling indexing

    Setting the Search generative AI control in Search Console to exclude keeps a site's links and content out of Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, so the site gets no traffic or impressions from them; include is the default.

    extends
    Slide D1-C029 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting web rankings. Its states are inherit from parent, include and exclude.

  7. Analysis D2-C607 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Check AI Overviews and AI Mode with native-language queries in each target market, not with translated English keywords, and compare with the country breakdown of Search Console's generative AI performance report; topics where competitors are cited and you are not point to missing or weak local content.

    extends
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  8. Stage D3-C063 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    Google said fan-out queries are not added to Search Console, because Google considers them part of its infrastructure.

    extends
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  9. Stage D3-C495 Day 3 · Lightning session L: Understanding SERPs and your users

    Nik Vujic said he hopes Search Console's generative AI report will get query data.

    extends
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  10. Docs D3-C535 Day 3 · Lightning session L: Understanding SERPs and your users

    Beyond Search Console, Google's AI features guide suggests tracking conversions and time spent on the site in tools such as Google Analytics to understand the value of traffic from AI features.

    extends
    Docs D1-C062 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's guide for generative AI features recommends the Generative AI performance report in Search Console for measuring how content performs in generative AI features on Google Search and Discover.

  11. Analysis D3-C542 Day 3 · Lightning session L: Understanding SERPs and your users

    Google's own line on Day 1 was to measure success by metrics that matter to the business, and its Generative AI performance report shows impressions but no clicks; together with the community talk this argues for a report that puts organic next to direct, branded paid search, conversions and revenue.

    extends
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  12. Stage D1-C196 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    Google said Search Console's generative AI reporting launched alongside the generative AI control, starting with impressions only, and may expand later.

    repeats
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  13. Stage D1-C522 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Google said a site can keep a directory or the whole site out of Gemini model training by disallowing it for the Google-Extended token in robots.txt, and that Google respects that policy; the speaker believed Google was the first to offer such an opt-out from model training.

    repeats
    Stage D1-C485 Day 1 · Q&A

    To opt out of Google's AI training, a site can use the Google-Extended token in robots.txt.

  14. Stage D1-C524 Day 1 · How Google interprets robots.txt

    Other companies have similar 'extended' robots.txt tokens; Google named Apple's Applebot-Extended.

    repeats
    Stage D1-C487 Day 1 · Q&A

    A Google panelist said Apple offers a robots.txt control for Applebot similar to Google-Extended, so a site can allow Applebot for search while opting out of Apple's AI use.

  15. Slide D2-C103 Day 2 · Controlling indexing

    Setting the Search generative AI control in Search Console to exclude keeps a site's links and content out of Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, so the site gets no traffic or impressions from them; include is the default.

    repeats
    Docs D1-C030 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    The Search generative AI control covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Excluding removes both links to the site and use of its content to ground answers.

  16. Stage D3-C436 Day 3 · Inside Search Console: What’s New & How to Use It

    Search Console has a tool with which every property owner can tell Google whether the site's content may be used in AI search results, because Google wants content owners to control their content.

    repeats
    Slide D1-C029 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting web rankings. Its states are inherit from parent, include and exclude.

  17. Stage D3-C437 Day 3 · Inside Search Console: What’s New & How to Use It

    Search Console added reporting of the impressions a site's content gets in the AI surfaces of Google Search, found in the left navigation nested under Search results.

    repeats
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  18. Stage D3-C439 Day 3 · Inside Search Console: What’s New & How to Use It

    Search Console's generative AI report shows impressions broken down by pages, countries and devices.

    repeats
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  19. Stage D3-C440 Day 3 · Inside Search Console: What’s New & How to Use It

    Google called AI reporting in Search Console an evolving space and expects the generative AI report to get richer, with more information in the future.

    repeats
    Stage D1-C196 Day 1 · What's new in the world of Search

    Google said Search Console's generative AI reporting launched alongside the generative AI control, starting with impressions only, and may expand later.

Built on these claims 6

Developer requirements 5

Facts 1

Sources 9