fix Google Search

Remove AI slop

This will probably make the biggest change in the layout. Makes the AI material and various other growth hacking stuff disappear from the top of search results pages so it’s easier to get to the normal links.

Firefox desktop: install the udm14 extension. (remove AI from Google Search on Firefox)
Firefox mobile: configure a custom search engine following the steps at How to turn off AI overviews in Google, and why they aren’t worth it
Google Chrome: Make a new search shortcut with the udm=14 parameter: Google Search’s “udm=14” trick lets you kill AI search for good - Ars Technica
Vivaldi: Add a search engine in Settings: How I Made Google’s “Web” View My Default Search
Apple Safari: Use the Customize Search Engine extension: remove AI from Google Search on Safari

Block search ads

Update: I moved this section up in the list because the ongoing problem with malware delivered through search ads is not getting any better. Even People Managing Google Ad Campaigns Are Getting Their Accounts Seized By Scammers. There are also reports of search malvertising spoofing the Semrush SaaS marketing platform, the Homebrew package manager for Mac OS and the Kaiser Permanente employee portal.

As of 2026, if ads are showing up on Google Search for you, you have a security problem.

The FBI recommends Use an ad blocking extension when performing internet searches. Right now the extension that is best at blocking search ads is uBlock Origin. Yes, this is a pain if you are fine with seeing ads on legit sites—you have to turn the ads back on for any site that can run them responsibly. I hope to be able to move this tip back down on the list if Google can fix their malvertising problem, but for now it’s a must. Winners don’t click search ads.

Turn off ad “personalization”

If you have a Google Account, go to https://myadcenter.google.com/home and set Personalized Ads to Off. This is important to do even if you have the ads on Google Search blocked, because this setting affects ads in a lot of other places, too. Turning personalized ads off won’t reduce the raw number of ads, but will make it harder for Google to match you with a deceptive ad targeted at you in a variety of contexts. (The scam ads are even impersonating Google now.)

You will probably see about the same number of scam ads, but you’ll probably get more cheap obvious general-interest scams and fewer well-camouflaged ones that you’re more likely to click. More: Google Ads Shitshow Report 2024

Start a blocklist

Some sites are better at SEO than at content and keep showing up in search results. This step doesn’t help the first time that a crap site comes up, but future searches on related topics tend to get better results as I block the over-SEOed sites to let the legit sites rise to the top.

Firefox: Personal Blocklist
Google Chrome: Andrew Kirkcaldy at PC Guide covered the Personal Blocklist extension and several similar extensions for Google Chrome. The original Personal Blocklist is no longer available but there are other options.

This one keeps getting better as my blocklist grows. If you try this one, be patient.

(update 21 Feb 2026) I have noticed that some people are fine with the “AI Overviews” slop at the top of the search results. Part of the answer can be found in The Stupidity of Google’s Site Reputation Abuse Policy by Lars Lofgren. The problem is that Google’s policies encourage random sites to publish their own slop. So Google’s own slop, of higher than average quality, is often no longer contending against the sites that would have ranked highest on “old Google” but against B-list SEO slop. (This is a side effect of how Google makes more money putting an ad on slop than on legit content.) So removing “AI Overviews” by itself without a decent blocklist might not be a big win, depending on what you search for.

Fix click tracking

Use ClearURLs to remove tracking redirects. (Original Google results were links to sites—now they’re links back to Google which redirects to the sites, collecting extra data and slowing down browsing by one step. ClearURLs restores the original behavior. (To me it feels faster but I haven’t done a benchmark.)

Turn off browser advertising features

These are not used much today, but turning these off will probably help you get cleaner (less personalized) search results in the future, so might as well check them.

And we’re done. (Yes, 1998 called, they want their ten blue links page back.) I’m wondering why these fixes are even possible, when forcing AI usage on users is a big priority for Google and other big companies. My best guess is that cleaned-up search is like Google Fi Wireless and other islands of remaining pre-enshittification Google—something that some big cheese at the company depends on for their own productivity. Next step: cleaning up YouTube will let you keep watching videos without getting AI slop and weird political and health disinformation auto-played for you.

(Update 7 Sep 2025) If you are responsible for maintaining computers for others, you can install a enterprise management policy to block accidental click-throughs to search ads, as an additional layer of protection on top of whatever ad blocker the user chooses. More info: Search malvertising protection using enterprise policies

(update 5 Sep 2025) You Can Now Tell Google Which Websites You Prefer in Search Results by Jake Peterson. Preferred Sources, as the name implies, lets you tell Google which websites you prefer to read news from.

(update 19 Jul 2025) Three Ways to Remove AI From Google by Jake Peterson. (More tips and links to extensions)

(update 20 Apr 2025) Google is WRONG: structured data does impact your site’s ranking. (Elie Berreby covers the situation from the web site side. One of the reasons that Google search results have gotten worse is that click-through rate (CTR) affects page ranking. Pages now get ranked higher based on the ability to get a click, not just on the harder task of getting an inbound link. If everyone ran an extension to stop sharing click data, we’d all get better results.)

How Do I Protect My Privacy If I’m Seeking an Abortion? – The Markup Includes an example of how the AI Overview feature can misinform users about health and legal issues. Turn it off to help stay safe.

Return of the power user The gap between what your computer does out of the box and what you get when you tweak and customize it is back.

Click this to buy better stuff and be happier

Commission sends preliminary findings to Alphabet under the Digital Markets Act Alphabet gives its own services more prominent treatment compared to others by displaying them at the top of Google Search results or on dedicated spaces, with enhanced visual formats and filtering mechanisms. (not if I can help it. I don’t have to worry about this now.)