Google Shuts Down Blocked Sites Feature

Another Google service bites the dust. Google has quietly killed off the Blocked Sites feature from Google Search, that allowed users to block select websites from appearing in search results. The feature was introduced two years ago in an effort to keep low quality sites out of search results. The tool granted users more control on what they want to see on their search results page.

Google Operating System now reports that Blocked Sites has been removed from the search preferences page. Clicking on the manage blocked sites page greets users with the message:

Manage Blocked Sites (DISCONTINUED)
Dear users,

We have discontinued offering the blocked sites feature for now. We continue to offer the Chrome extension for blocking sites, and will reconsider features for blocking unwanted search results in the future.

You may download your blocked sites list as a text file below.

Google recommends the official Personal Blocklist Chrome extension to block domains from search results from now. The extension however doesn’t sync across all computers, so you aren’t able to take your personal block list around with you, which you could with managed blocked sites feature. And of course, it works only with Chrome.

Apparently, Blocked Sites went missing last year when Google started integrating Google+ with search results. When asked why, Google initially said it was in the process of restoring the feature but then later said “it might take some time.”

Early this year, Google said there’s no time frame at all for when or if it will be restored:

We don’t have firm plans on that feature, so nothing really concrete to share about where that’s going. But if people want to block sites, we’d recommend this Chrome extension from Google: