Google Search has experienced substantial transformations over the years, incorporating AI into numerous elements of its operations. Nonetheless, for users desiring a more straightforward experience, Google provides a ‘Web’ mode that presents a basic list of ten links per page, removing extra features such as AI Overviews and Knowledge cards. This mode can be enabled by appending “&udm=14” to the end of a search query. Although the manual addition of this parameter can be tedious, a microsite named Tedium offers a workaround by utilizing this URL parameter as a default. The Web mode emphasizes links exclusively, delivering a refreshing alternative to Google’s feature-rich search results. Users have the option to set this mode as the default on both mobile and desktop devices, guaranteeing a more streamlined search experience. In spite of the advantages of AI features, numerous users prefer the simplicity of the Web mode, underscoring the perceived decline in search quality over the last ten years.
