GoogleAI Search
What Search Console’s AI performance report can tell you
Google’s AI report shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Read its filters, aggregation rules and missing metrics before using it in client reports.
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Search Console’s AI performance report shows how often a site’s links appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It adds useful visibility data, but it does not provide AI-specific clicks, click-through rates or the queries behind those appearances.
What appears in the report
Google’s documentation describes impressions by date, page, country and device. Search Labs experiments are excluded. The report may be absent when a property has too few AI impressions, so a missing report is not proof that a site has never appeared.
Google began introducing the report in June 2026. Its worldwide rollout, alongside the Search generative-AI control, was reported complete on 31 August.
An impression records a displayed link under Google’s counting rules. It does not tell you whether someone read the whole answer, trusted the source or visited the site.
Why chart and table totals can differ
Aggregation matters. The chart can count at property level: more than one result from the same property in an answer does not necessarily produce more than one property impression. Page-level rows count differently, and filtering to a URL changes the aggregation.
Do not add every page row and assume the sum must match the chart. Check the active filters and Google’s definitions first. The interface also limits the rows it shows, and the newest data can be preliminary.
These details matter when exporting a monthly report. Record the property, dates, filters and aggregation alongside the number so next month’s comparison uses the same basis.
What the data cannot explain
More AI impressions alongside fewer organic visits is a reason to investigate, not proof that AI answers caused the decline. Rankings, query mix, seasonality and tracking changes can all affect the comparison.
Use the report alongside ordinary Search performance and site analytics. For other assistants, use a separate citation measurement process; Google’s report does not measure ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity.
The opt-out is a separate decision
The visibility report and the control for inclusion in Google’s AI features answer different questions. One measures appearances; the other changes eligibility. Neither promises to restore clicks in regular Search.
Before changing a client’s setting, confirm its current scope and effects in Search Console, agree the decision with the client, and record the date. We cover the trade-offs in whether to opt a client out of AI Overviews.
