The Verge: “This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine. The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text — and Google confirms to The Verge that it will block the company’s new AI Overviews as well…“Web” is just a filter that removes Google’s knowledge panels and featured snippets and Shopping modules — and Google’s new AI Overviews as well, Google spokesperson Ned Adriance confirms to The Verge. “AI Overviews are a feature in Search, just like a knowledge panel or a featured snippet, so they will not appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.” It doesn’t magically fix some of the issues facing Google’s search engine. But it is a giant opt-out button for people who’ve been aggravated by some of the company’s seemingly self-serving moves, and a way to preserve the spirit of the 10 blue links even as Google’s AI efforts try to leave them behind. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, says he’s been asking for something like this for years…”

See also Chrome Unboxed – Google’s new “Web Filter” in search feels like a bad joke: “…Google used to just deliver up the thing you were searching for via sites that matched your query. While all the things Google has added to search result pages over time can sometimes be helpful, the truth is they have served only to keep you in Google’s system for longer and on other websites less. And SGE (search generative experience) is the worst version of this yet. It seems that moving forward, SGE will be foisted on us all, and to give users what most of us actually want, they have put in a new filter (like news, shopping, images, videos, etc.) simply called “Web.” And, as it rolls out over the next few days, it will let you see your search results without all the other, extra stuff Google has crammed in over the years. Sounds great, right? Well, it would be pretty awesome if it was the first, second or third filter shown to users. But it most definitely is not…”