SEO Recap covering August 1, 2026: Google's AI opt-out control and Top Stories in AI Overviews

Daily summary of what matters in SEO, GEO, AEO, and AI search generated with Claude Code (beware of hallucinations)

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AI in Search / AI Overviews

What Opting Out Of Google's AI Search Features Means Now
Source: Search Engine Journal

• Google is rolling out a Search generative AI control in Search Console that lets sites exclude content from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's AI features without leaving Search, a setting prompted by a UK CMA conduct requirement imposed in June.
• The control covers only AI features and is not a ranking or inclusion signal elsewhere. It differs from Google-Extended (which governs Gemini training and grounding) and from robots.txt, noindex, and snippet directives.
• NewzDash found Top Stories carousels rendering inside AI Overviews on 15.5% of tracked US trending news results and 17.46% in the UK, so opting out of AI could also remove publishers from Top Stories, though Google has not confirmed this.
• The generative AI performance report shows only impressions, with no clicks or queries, leaving no clean baseline to weigh the opt-out decision. The CMA requires Google to share click data and click-through rates starting in December.
• Page-level controls for generative Search features are not due until March 2027 under the CMA timeline. Google must report compliance every 6 months in the first year.