Google Web Filter vs AI Overview Extensions

Use Google's Web filter when you want a search view focused on text-based website links. Use AiHide when you prefer targeted control over AI Overviews and question sections in supported desktop results pages. These approaches change different things, so choose based on how you want to search rather than treating them as interchangeable switches.

What the Web filter does

Google documents Web as a filter that shows text-based links without features such as AI Overviews. After running a search, look for Web among the result filters; it may be inside More. Select it to try that view for your query.

This is a useful first option when your immediate goal is to browse website links. It does not require AiHide. Try it with a search you know well and decide whether that filtered view gives you what you need before choosing an additional tool.

Do not assume that a filtered results page is identical to the usual page with one box removed. Judge the visible view on its own terms. If your preference is specifically about a particular section, rather than a link-focused view overall, separate display controls may be a closer fit.

What AiHide changes

AiHide provides two categories: AI Overview and AI Questions. Each has Hide, Minimize and Off modes. You can remove a targeted section from view, keep a Show/Hide control, or leave that category alone.

That separation is useful if your preferences are selective. You may want to keep occasional access to an overview while hiding question sections such as People also ask. Or you may want the overview hidden while leaving the question category untouched. You do not have to make the same choice for both.

Read our comparison of the three modes for behavior details. These are extension display choices, not account-wide Google settings or model controls.

Choose by the result you want

Choose Web for a link-focused search view

If you simply want to look through website links for the current search, begin with Web. It is a direct option within Google Search and does not depend on installing a desktop extension. It is also worth checking when you are on a device where AiHide is not supported.

Choose AiHide for independent section controls

If your recurring frustration is an overview or a question section in regular desktop results, AiHide lets you address that category specifically. Minimize is particularly useful when you want to decide whether to reveal content instead of always leaving it open or fully hiding it.

Keep both options understandable

You can evaluate each approach with your own searches. When comparing them, keep track of which view you selected and which AiHide modes are active. That makes the difference easier to judge than changing several controls at once and trying to infer what happened.

Check browser and device scope

AiHide is a desktop browser extension. Installing it on a computer does not change results in the native Google app on your phone. Chrome mobile's desktop mode also does not make desktop Chrome extensions available there. Our mobile guide explains those boundaries.

A browser extension also needs permission to act on the page. If it appears ineffective, check the current category, mode and site access before assuming that the choice itself is wrong. Our troubleshooting guide covers that situation.

Neither option disables every Google AI feature

Keep the goal specific: choose a different search view or change the display of supported sections. Neither choice should be described as turning off Gemini everywhere, removing AI from your Google account or disabling an entire conversational AI Mode experience.

If you are uncertain which feature you are seeing, start with our feature identification guide. Once you know what is on the page, it is much easier to choose a control that actually matches the problem.