Do you miss the days when Google Search simply displayed a list of links rather than a slowly updated field of questionably reliable AI-generated information? You can return to an earlier, simpler era by tweaking your Chrome settings.
Last week, Google started adding AI suggestions to all search results. Some people probably like these summaries, but in my opinion they take too long to load. I’d rather see a list of links right away than wait for a summary of those links to appear a few seconds later, possibly filled with inexact information. If you agree, the good news is that Google now offers a web search engine. The bad news: there is no uncomplicated way to set this option as default.
At least it wasn’t until journalist Ernie Smith w Boredom found a way to force search engines to display Google search results.
How to display Google web results by default
Basically, you need to create a custom search engine in your browser that points to Google’s experience on the web. This can be done by adding https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 as a search engine. Smith explains it well, but if you’re not interested in all the technical details, just know that the URL points your browser specifically to the Google results panel.
Smith described how to do this in Vivaldi, which is great, but I thought I’d show you how to set the Internet as default in Google’s web browser (and the most popular web browser in the world): Chrome.
-
To get started, open your Chrome settings and go to Search Engine > Manage search engines and site search.
Source: Justin Pot
-
Click To add button that you will find under the list of search engines.
Source: Justin Pot
-
Name your novel search engine something like “Google Search”. For the shortcut, I recommend just using “network” because Chrome will prevent you from using the word “Google” (a detail I find hilarious). Finally, an crucial note about the us URL
https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14. This will direct your query to the Google search engine.
Source: Justin Pot
-
Click Rescue. You’ll see your novel search engine in the list – click the three dots next to it and click Set as default.
Source: Justin Pot
The novel search engine is now set as the default. Go ahead and try searching for something: you’ll only get links. No quick responses to AI-generated summaries.
Source: Justin Pot
Wait, why is my LinkedIn page superior to my personal website? What did I do to deserve this? Never mind: the point is that I now only see links from the Internet in search results.
This workaround doesn’t completely fix Google, but it does make your search experience much better and faster. (Read Lifehacker’s guide to getting Google to show good search results again for more tips.)
