How To Use Google’s Web Search Filter By Default? Step By Step Guide

To use Google’s “Web” search filter by default, you must create a custom search engine in your browser using a specific URL parameter (udm=14) and set it as your default search tool. Google does not offer a single click button within its standard account settings to permanently lock this filter on, but customizing your browser’s address bar achieves this goal permanently.

What is the “Web” Filter?

Introduced by Google, the “Web” filter strips away modern, cluttered search layout elements. Clicking it forces Google to display only traditional, text based hyperlinks.

What Does It Block?

• AI Overviews / Summaries
• Large video grids and image carousels
• “People Also Ask” accordions
• “Top Stories” and knowledge panels
• Heavy commercial ads and shopping blocks

You can learn how to remove your personal info from Google search using beginner’s guide.

Why Make It Your Default?

• Lightning Fast Speed: Pages load noticeably quicker because the browser does not have to render resource-heavy AI modules or widgets.
• Distraction Free Research: It brings back the classic “10 blue links” format, allowing you to quickly scan raw source documentation.
• Data Savings: It consumes fewer data packets, which is highly beneficial for capped or slow internet connections.

The Technical Mechanism Behind the Hack

When you browse Google normally, the web address looks like ://google.com.
By manually appending a special developer parameter called udm=14 to the end of that web string, Google’s servers instantly bypass the dynamic AI layout and render the classic web only interface.

Step by Step Guide for Beginners

Because browsers handle default search engines differently, find your specific browser below to configure it.

Method A: Google Chrome (Desktop)

1. Open Google Chrome on your computer.
2. Click the Three Dots (⋮) in the top right corner and select Settings.
3. On the left side menu, click Search engine.
4. Click on Manage search engines and site search.
5. Scroll down to the Site search section and click the Add button.
6. Fill out the three pop-up fields exactly like this:
   Search engine: Google Web
   Shortcut: www.google.com (or simply google)
   URL with %s in place of query: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
7. Click Save or Add.
8. Find your newly created “Google Web” under the Site Search list, click the Three Dots next to it, and select Make default.

Method B: Mozilla Firefox (Desktop)

1. Open Firefox and type about:config into your address bar, then press Enter.
2. Accept the warning prompt (“Accept the Risk and Continue”).
3. In the search bar at the top, paste: browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh.
4. Change its setting toggle from false to true.
5. Now, click the Firefox menu (three horizontal lines) and go to Settings -> Search.
6. Scroll down to the Default Search Engine or Built-in search engines list and click Add.
7. Enter Google Web as the name, and input this exact URL string:
   https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
8. Scroll back to the top of the Search Settings page and change your primary default search dropdown menu to your new Google Web engine.

Method C: Microsoft Edge (Desktop)

1. Open Edge, click the Three Dots (…) in the top right corner, and choose Settings.
2. Click Privacy, search, and services from the left panel.
3. Scroll down to the absolute bottom of the page and click Address bar and search.
4. Click Manage search engines
5. Click the Add button.
6. Input the fields:
   Search engine: Google Web
   Keyword: google
   URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
7. Click Add, then click the three dots next to your new entry and select Make default.

You can learn how to clear cache in Chrome using step by step guide.

Verifying It Works

To make sure you completed the steps properly, open a completely blank tab in your browser. Type any random word (e.g., “space exploration”) into your top URL address bar and press Enter.

When the results page loads, you should immediately notice a clean list of text websites. Look right under the search query bar; the “Web” tab should be explicitly underlined or highlighted by default.

How To Block Specific Individual Websites From Showing Up In Search Results?

To block specific individual websites from showing up in your Google results, you have three primary methods. You can modify your custom URL string using operators, install a browser extension, or use a third party custom search engine.

Here is how to set up each method so it works alongside your clean, web only layout.

Method 1: The Zero Install URL Trick (Best for Address Bars)

If you already completed the steps to set up the clean udm=14 web filter, you can modify that exact same custom URL string to permanently hide specific websites.

Google recognizes the minus sign (-) followed by site:domain.com as a command to completely delete that domain from your results.

Step by Step for Chrome, Edge, or Brave:

1. Open your browser’s Search Engine Settings (where you previously added the Google Web filter).
2. Find your custom Google Web search engine and click Edit.
3. Look at the URL with %s in place of query field. It currently looks like this:
   https://google.com
4. To block a site (for example, Pinterest), change the URL string to this:
   https://google.com
5. To block multiple websites (for example, Pinterest and Reddit), chain them together separated by a + sign like this:
   https://google.com
6. Click Save.

Now, every time you search using your browser’s address bar, Google will automatically filter out AI modules and block those specified domains.

Method 2: Use a Browser Extension (Best for Visual Control)

If you want the ability to block websites on the fly with a simple click, a browser extension is the most flexible choice.

Recommended Extensions:

• uBlock Origin: While primarily an ad blocker, you can add custom cosmetic filters to hide search results.
• BlockSite or uBlacklist: These are dedicated tools designed specifically to wipe out chosen domains from search engine results pages (SERPs).

Step by Step using uBlacklist (Available on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge):

1. Visit your browser’s extension store and search for uBlacklist.
2. Click Add to Browser / Install.
3. Run a Google search for anything.
4. Next to every search result link, you will now see a small text button that says “Block this site”.
5. Click that button on any junk website, and it will instantly vanish from your current and future search results.
6. Alternatively, click the extension icon in your toolbar to open its options page and paste a massive list of domains you want blocked all at once.

Method 3: Use the “udm14.com” Alternative (Easiest for Mobile)

Setting up complex URL strings or installing extensions on mobile browsers (like Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android) can be incredibly frustrating.

A developer created a shortcut site called udm14.com to solve this.

1. Go to udm14.com on your phone or desktop browser.
2. The site contains a built-in search bar that forces Google into the clean web only text mode automatically.
3. To block websites here, simply type your search query normally, followed manually by -site:domain.com.
4. On many mobile browsers, once you visit a custom search site like this, you can go into your mobile browser settings and select “udm14” as your default mobile search tool.