Can You Block Google AI Mode? The Crawlers and Controls That Actually Apply

Google does not publish a user agent for AI Mode. AI Mode and AI Overviews draw on the same index that classic Search uses, and Googlebot is the crawler that builds it. Google states that AI is built into Search and integral to how it functions, which is why robots.txt directives for Googlebot are the control.

That has a blunt consequence. A rule like this removes you from AI Mode, but it also removes you from Google Search:

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /

There is no middle token. You cannot write a robots.txt rule that keeps your blue links and drops your AI Mode appearances. Anyone selling an "AI Mode robots.txt rule" is describing something Google does not document.

The eligibility rule explains why. Google's AI features page (last updated December 2025) says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It adds that there are no additional technical requirements. So the levers that remove you are the levers that break indexing or snippet eligibility.

Google-Extended is the token most people try first, and it is the wrong one for this job. Google documents it as a control over training and grounding for Gemini Apps and Vertex AI. Google's crawler documentation also says it does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search and is not used as a ranking signal.

AI Mode is a Search feature. Disallowing Google-Extended therefore does nothing to AI Mode or AI Overviews. It is the right tool if you want to keep content out of Gemini Apps training and grounding, which is a separate surface with separate rules. The Gemini crawler controls page covers that side.

The same split exists at other vendors. If your real goal is to stop model training while staying visible in AI answers, the playbook for blocking training but keeping AI search walks through each vendor's tokens.

Google names four on-page controls for limiting how content shows in its AI features. All four work through the snippet and indexing rules, so they affect classic Search too.

A page-level directive looks like this:

<meta name="robots" content="nosnippet">

A section-level one wraps the text you want held back:

<span data-nosnippet>Internal pricing notes</span>

Use data-nosnippet when one block is sensitive and the rest of the page should stay visible. It is the only sub-page control Google documents. Bing supports the same attribute and says marked content is still indexed but excluded from snippets and AI summaries.

The real risk runs the other way. Snippet directives often get inherited from a template, so check that none of them is hiding content you want shown.

Google added a property-level control in Search Console for its generative AI features. As of the documentation in our evidence base, it covers AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Google Discover, and Google says it expects to update that list over time. Discover is part of the scope, so the Discover AI summaries question is worth reading alongside this one.

Four details matter.

• It is an opt-out. Inclusion is the default control for all properties. You do not need to opt in to appear.
• Rollout is partial. Google's help page describes it as rolling out to a subset of website owners. Many properties have no visible toggle yet. Check your own account as of October 2026 rather than assuming.
• Child properties inherit. The default for a child property is to inherit the control from its parent. One setting on a domain property can silently apply to every URL-prefix property beneath it.
• It is separate from training. Opting out of display does not stop Google using content to power Search as a whole, such as helping its systems understand the language of users' queries. Training is the Google-Extended question.

Google says the control is not used as a ranking or inclusion signal for other parts of Search. The ranking impact question covers that in more depth, and the guide to Google's AI features control shows where the setting lives.

Start with what you want to keep, then pick the narrowest control that does the job.

1. Keep Search, drop AI Mode for the whole site. Use the Search Console control, if your property has it. It is the only documented option scoped to generative features.
2. Keep the page, hide one passage. Use data-nosnippet on that section.
3. Keep the page indexed, show no text anywhere. Use nosnippet or max-snippet:0, and accept the loss of classic snippets.
4. Remove the page from Google entirely. Use noindex, or a Googlebot disallow for sections you never want crawled.

Two limits apply to all of them. Eligibility is not inclusion: Google says indexing and serving are not guaranteed, so staying eligible does not promise an AI Mode appearance. And Google notes AI Overviews and AI Mode may use different models and techniques, so results on one do not predict the other.

The Search Console setting is invisible from outside. No crawl and no API reveals it. That makes it the first thing to check if you show up in classic Search but never in AI Mode.

• Open each property in Search Console and look for the generative AI control. Record whether it is set or inherited.
• For multi-property setups, work top down from the domain property. The inheritance audit playbook gives a checklist.
• Search your templates and rendered HTML for noindex, nosnippet, max-snippet and data-nosnippet.
• Confirm robots.txt allows Googlebot on the sections you want visible.
• Review the Search Console generative AI report for impressions. It reports impressions only, with no clicks or position. A confirmed Google bug depressed impressions from around 12 August 2026, so treat that window with care. The generative AI report playbook explains how to read it.

To see whether AI Mode names you for a given query, the AI Mode Checker on 99Visibility runs that check without an account.