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Artificial intelligence has increasingly permeated search engines in recent years, with Google’s AI Overviews appearing in nearly half of all queries. While AI Overviews can occasionally provide assistance, they often lead to frustration or rely on inaccurate or outdated data. If you long for the traditional Google searches that returned a list of links, we have positive news.
By adjusting your Google settings, you can ensure that your search results display only websites using the “Web” search filter. Furthermore, you can obtain these link-based results directly from your browser’s address bar. We will guide you through the process for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
Understanding the Google Search Web Filter
Google’s new Web filter functions similarly to its other filters for results such as News, Images, Videos, or Shopping. When the Web filter is enabled, your search results will display solely text-based links, devoid of AI summaries, videos, or knowledge panels like “Top Stories” or “People Also Ask.”
This filter is expected to appear below the search box on the Google Search results page, alongside other filters like News, Images, and Videos. You will typically need to click on the three-dot “More” menu to access it as an option.
Activating the Web filter link will present Google Search results composed entirely of text-based links, with no AI summaries or additional features. The “Web” option will now be underlined and highlighted in blue under the search query box. Although our initial tests did not reveal any sponsored search results or advertisements, specific queries may still trigger ad results, as confirmed by a Google spokesperson.
Obtaining Google Search Web Filter Results for Address Bar Queries
Depending on your browser, it is relatively straightforward to modify your settings so that address bar searches direct you straight to Google Web filter results. You will need to create a custom site search shortcut in your browser and initiate that search using a keyword or set it as your default for all searches.
The essential URL to recall is https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14. The “%s” represents your search query, and the “udm=14” tag limits your results to the new Web filter.
If you prefer not to modify browser settings, you can use the website &udm=14, developed by Ernie Smith of Tedium. It provides a user-friendly interface to Google Search with the necessary Web filter parameter built-in automatically.
Google Chrome
Open a Google Chrome browser window, then click on the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner, next to your Google account profile. Select Settings near the bottom of that menu, or access your Chrome settings by entering chrome://settings in the browser address bar.
Choose Search engine from the left-hand column, then click “Manage search engines and site search” in the middle of the browser window. Scroll down to “Site search” and click the blue Add button.
In the resulting pop-up window, assign a name to the new search shortcut and a keyword to trigger it. We used “Old Google” and “og.” For the last field—”URL with %s in place of query”—enter the aforementioned URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14. Click the blue Add button.
Now, entering “og” followed by your search term in the address bar will yield results using Google’s Web filter.
To set it as your default search option, click the three-dot menu next to your new site search and select “Make default.” After setting the new search shortcut as your default, all of your address-bar searches will use the Web filter—no keyword required.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium codebase, making the steps for adding a Google Search Web filter shortcut similar to those for Google Chrome. Navigate to Settings by clicking the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner, then select Privacy, search, and services.
Near the bottom of the subsequent screen, select Address bar and search, then Manage search engines. Alternatively, access this screen directly by entering edge://settings/searchEngines in your Edge address bar.
Click the Add button to create your new site search shortcut. The Search engine is your name for the shortcut (we used “Old Google”), the Shortcut is the term that triggers that specific site search (we used “og”), and the URL template is the string that triggers the Google Search Web filter: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14.
To make this new Google URL your default search engine, return to the Address bar and search settings page and click on the drop-down menu next to Search engine used in the address bar. Select your new custom site search, and your address bar searches will default to the Google Search Web filter.
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox requires a different approach for setting up search shortcuts. Instead of using the search settings, you will create a new bookmark with a keyword shortcut, then use that keyword in the address bar to trigger Web filter results for Google Search. Unfortunately, Firefox does not support adding new search engines in its desktop version.
From the Bookmarks drop-down in Firefox, select Manage Bookmarks. On the following screen, right-click on the folder in your Bookmarks where you’d like to place the shortcut, then select “Add Bookmark”.
In the subsequent pop-up window, enter a Name (e.g., “Old Google”), the URL https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 and a Keyword (such as “og”) to save the search filter as a bookmark. Click the “Save” button, and the Google Web filter results will be accessible by entering your keyword before any address-bar searches.
Apple Safari
Safari does not support custom site shortcuts by default. We were able to add the Google Web filter search only by installing the free Safari extension Smart Keyword Search, which enables site search shortcuts.
After installing Smart Keyword Search, enable permission for the extension to adjust your Google search results. Go into Settings, click on Extensions at the top of the window, select Smart Keyword Search, then click on the “Edit Websites” button. On the following page, click the drop-down menu next to google.com and select “Allow.”
Close the Settings window, then click the Smart Keyword Search icon that appears next to the Safari address bar. This will open a dialog with the various “rules” the extension uses to modify searches. Click the “compose” button to start a new rule, then enter a name (e.g., “Old Google”), prefix (e.g., “og”), and a familiar URL for the Web filter search shortcut.
Smart Keyword Search uses the variable “{search}” instead of “%s” to indicate a search query, so you will need to enter a slightly different URL: https://google.com/search?q={search}&utm=14. Click the “submit” button. Now, entering “og” (or your selected prefix) before any searches in your address bar will return results restricted by Google’s Web filter.
Restricting Google Web Searches to ‘Verbatim’ Results
You can further customize your Google searches to ensure that the engine returns results based only on the exact terms you use—not synonyms or related terms. The “verbatim” tool was introduced in 2011 and is usually accessed through the “Tools” link under most Google searches.
To add a “verbatim” restriction to your Web filter shortcut, append the attribute “&tbs=li:1” to the end of your custom search URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14&tbs=li:1.
Any searches made using this new URL will now return text-based web links for your exact search queries.