Disable proposing Google Search on empty results

Product Support

AI-generated summary

In a support thread titled ‘Disable proposing Google Search on empty results’, user ecki requested the removal of the automatic Google search suggestion that appears when a forum search yields no results, noting it is misleading for closed communities. User Moin clarified that this feature should typically only appear if login_required is false, but acknowledged the site’s specific configuration. Moin provided a CSS solution to hide the element .google-search-form and suggested replacing the associated JavaScript text strings to remove the prompt entirely. User Richie confirmed that applying the CSS fix was successful and thanked Moin. Finally, ToddZ reported that they had also hidden the suggestion and updated the site text after noticing it.

1

When entering a search term which is not found the search results page at the bottom suggests me to search via Google. I dont want to promote Google and also its missleading to asume the closed-community content is searchable with a Google search.

Can you turn that off?

2

I am surprised that it is shown to you in a closed community. I think it should only appear if login_required is false.
This is what I see in my login-required forum:

start a new topic
start a new topic1586×552 68.3 KB

3

yeah unfortunatelly we dont have login regquired = true but have nearly all categories limited to level1. (Idea behind is to have a friendly start page which basically shows public company news announcements).

But good to know that Discourse already observes this.

4

You can hide the google search with css

.google-search-form {
    display: none;
}

To get rid of the “Try searching with Google instead:”[1] and “Or try searching with Google instead:”[2] you could replace the texts js.search.search_google and js.search.or_search_google with something like “(Or) try searching with a different term.”

  1. for users who cannot start a new topic ↩︎

  2. for users who can start a new topic ↩︎

5

I’ve just applied this today, thank you :slight_smile:

No Google promotion
No Google promotion1948×702 38.5 KB

6

Glad to have spotted this. I hadn’t really noticed the Google suggestion before, and I’ve hidden it and edited site texts today too.