The Search Console generative AI performance report shows how many times your pages appeared as links in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, broken down by page, country, device and date. It gives you impressions only: no clicks, no queries. As of 30 September 2026 it is available worldwide, which makes it a useful visibility baseline but not proof that AI features send you traffic.
Key Takeaways
- Google introduced the report in June 2026 and, per Search Engine Land, expanded it globally on 31 August 2026, alongside a control to opt out of AI features.
- It reports impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates. It does not report clicks or the queries that triggered the appearance.
- History does not backfill, so take a baseline now and keep AI impressions in separate reporting columns.
- It covers text and multimodal searches (including Lens and Circle to Search) but excludes Discover and Search Labs experiments.
- Use it to find which pages get cited, then validate the value with analytics, not with the report alone.
What the report actually contains
Google's Search Console Help page says the report shows how your site performs in generative AI features on Search. The metric is impressions: how many times links to your site appeared in those features. You can organise by four dimensions.
- Pages, grouped by canonical URL after redirects.
- Countries, by where the search originated.
- Dates, daily, weekly or monthly, in Pacific Time.
- Devices: desktop, tablet, mobile.
Search types covered are text searches and multimodal searches such as images, Google Lens and Circle to Search.
What it leaves out
The help page lists what is excluded: Search Labs experiments, Discover data (which has its own report), and anything beyond 1,000 rows in a table view. Preliminary data can appear as dotted lines and change, and chart totals can differ from table totals because of how data is aggregated.
Independent commentary adds the gaps that matter most for decisions. Web Moves notes there is no click data and no query information, and argues that an impression inside an AI answer "is not the same kind of event as an impression on a results page." I agree with that framing. A user can read a summary that cites you and never visit.
Impressions without clicks or queries: good for presence, weak for attribution.
How I would set it up this week
1. Take the baseline now
Because history does not backfill, every week you wait is a week you cannot compare later. Export the page-level and country-level tables and store them in a sheet with the export date. Tables cap at 1,000 rows, so for larger sites export by country or by date slice.
2. Keep AI impressions separate
Do not add them to your standard web impressions. They measure a different event. I use a separate block in the monthly report labelled "AI features: visibility only".
3. Build a cited-pages list
Sort by pages. The pages Google surfaces in AI features are a direct signal of which content the systems treat as source material. In client reviews, I look for patterns: are the cited pages definitions, comparisons, step-by-step guides, or data pages? Compare against pages that rank well in classic results but never appear here.
4. Cross-check against real visits
For each cited page, check analytics for referral changes and Search Console's standard report for clicks. If AI impressions rise while classic clicks fall on the same pages, you may be seeing the substitution effect. If both rise, the AI feature is adding visibility. Neither conclusion is proven by this report alone; it gives you the hypothesis.
A practical reading guide
| What you see | What it might mean | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| High AI impressions, few clicks | Answer satisfies the user, or you are cited in a low-intent context | Page-level classic clicks; conversion data |
| AI impressions on old pages only | Systems favour established sources | Refresh dates, add original data |
| Strong in one country only | Localised source preference or feature rollout differences | Country tab vs your target markets |
| Mobile-heavy AI impressions | Feature is more prominent on phones | Mobile page experience and snippet layout |
| Zero data | Insufficient impressions, or opted out | Help page notes low-volume sites may not see the report |
The opt-out sits next to this report
Search Engine Land reported the report arrived together with a control that lets site owners decide whether they appear in and help ground responses in Google's generative AI features, and said the control would not be used as a ranking signal outside those features. Sites that opt out get no traffic or impressions from those features. If you turn it off, the report will go quiet. I discuss that decision in a separate post on Google's AI opt-out control.
What the report can and cannot tell a client
Can tell them: your content is being used or linked in AI experiences, which pages, in which countries, on which devices, and how that trends.
Cannot tell them: how much traffic it produced, which questions triggered it, whether users were satisfied, or whether visibility converted.
Report visibility and value in separate lines; do not let one stand in for the other.
Where this fits with AI visibility tools
Third-party AI visibility tools sample prompts and estimate share of mentions. This report is different: it is Google's own count for your property. That makes it the least ambiguous data for AI Overviews and AI Mode, though only for Google. It says nothing about ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini app answers. Also note that rank trackers are under stress right now because of Google's goto redirects; first-party data matters more this quarter, which I cover in another post.
In organic work for edtech brands, including growth at Masai School (masaischool.com), the lesson was to measure what the platform itself hands you first, then layer estimates on top. Same principle applies here.
Limits worth stating in every report
- Impressions are not visits.
- No query data means no intent analysis from this report.
- Data can be preliminary and revised.
- It excludes Discover and Search Labs.
- Google's own comparisons of AI feature usage (for example, its claims about monthly users) are company-reported and do not tell you what happens on your pages.
A monthly reporting template
Here is the block I would add to a monthly SEO report. Line one: total AI feature impressions for the month and the change against the previous month. Line two: the top ten pages by AI impressions, with their classic clicks alongside. Line three: countries where AI impressions are growing fastest. Line four: one action taken because of the data, such as refreshing a cited page or adding original data to a page that is cited but thin. Line five: a standing caveat that impressions are not visits. Keeping the caveat in every report stops stakeholders from reading presence as performance, which is the most common mistake I expect to see with this data.
Sources
Google Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report, Search Engine Land on the worldwide rollout, and Web Moves on the report's limitations. Verified 30 September 2026.
FAQ
What does the Search Console generative AI report measure?
It measures impressions: how many times links to your pages appeared in Google's generative AI features on Search, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. You can view it by page, country, date and device.
Does the report show clicks from AI Overviews?
No. It shows impressions only, according to Google's help page and Search Engine Land's coverage. To estimate traffic impact you have to compare with your standard performance report and analytics.
Can I see which queries trigger my AI appearances?
No, not in this report. Commentary on the launch points out that query data is absent, so you cannot analyse intent directly from it. You can infer themes from which pages appear.
Is the report available in every country?
As of 31 August 2026 Google says it is available worldwide, following a gradual rollout. Some sites may not see it if they have too few impressions.
Does it include AI Mode?
Yes. Google's help page says it tracks impressions from both AI Overviews and AI Mode, covering text searches and multimodal searches such as Lens and Circle to Search.
Does it cover Google Discover's AI features?
No. The help page says Discover data has its own separate report and is not included here. Search Labs experiments are excluded as well.
Can I get historical data?
Not before the report launched for your property; commentators advise taking a baseline now since history does not backfill. Export regularly to build your own record.
Should I combine AI impressions with my normal impressions?
I would not. They represent different events, and merging them can inflate perceived performance. Keep them in a separate column or section in reports.
What should I do if the numbers look tiny?
Check whether your site has enough volume; Google notes low-volume sites may not have data to display. If you opted out of AI features, you should expect no AI impressions.
Work with Younus
I have 4+ years of marketing experience across organic growth, SEO and content strategy, and I help teams turn platform data into reports that stand up to scrutiny. To see my work or start a conversation, use the contact form at younusfardeen.in.