Search Console's Generative AI performance report counts impressions only: how often links to your site were shown in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. As of 30 October 2026 the report has no clicks, click-through rate or position. Clicks from those features are reported in the regular Performance report's Web search type.
- Google says it rolled the Generative AI performance report out to all websites worldwide as of 31 August 2026 (Google, Search Console Help, read 30 October 2026).
- Google defines impressions in this report as how many times links to your site were shown to a user in a generative AI feature on Google Search (Google, Search Console Help, read 30 October 2026).
- Google says sites appearing in AI features are reported in the Performance report, within the Web search type (Google, Search Central documentation, read 30 October 2026).
- A logging error lowered the report's impressions for 13 to 17 August 2026, and Google's update of 21 August says the missing data was restored (Google, Search Console Help, read 30 October 2026).
- Penlid's AI search report tool flags a weekly change as mostly chance when the smaller of the two weeks has under 100 impressions (Penlid, AI search report tool page, read 30 October 2026).
What is the Generative AI performance report?
The Generative AI performance report is a Search Console report of how often links to your site were shown in Google's generative AI features on Search, which Google lists as AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google announced it on 3 June 2026. Discover has its own separate report, and Search Labs experiments are left out. Google's optimization guide tells site owners to use the Generative AI performance report in Search Console
to measure performance in these features.
Why can't you see the report in Search Console?
Google's help page names two reasons you might not see the report: your site has not received enough impressions in generative AI features, or you excluded your site from them. The second is a Search Console control, and Google says Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.
Rollout is no longer a reason: Google says the insights reached all websites worldwide as of 31 August 2026.
What does the report show?
The report shows impressions, which you can group by page, country, date or device and filter by search type. Google's help page describes each part as follows.
| Part | What Google says |
|---|---|
| Features | AI Overviews and AI Mode; Search Labs experiments are excluded |
| Pages | The final URL after redirects, mostly the canonical URL |
| Countries | The country where the search originated |
| Dates | Days, weeks or months, in Pacific Time |
| Devices | Desktop, tablet or mobile |
| Search type | Web: text-based, or Web: multimodal (image searches such as Google Lens) |
| Export | One button downloads the chart and the table data |
Google's launch post also lists hourly granularity for dates, which the help page does not, and says it may add metrics (adding additional metrics over time
), so check the report itself for changes.
What does the report not show?
As of 30 October 2026 the report shows no clicks, no click-through rate, no position and no queries, because Google's help page and launch post list impressions as the only metric and name no query dimension.
- Clicks, click-through rate and position. None is listed, so the report cannot say how many people clicked a link to your site in an AI answer.
- Queries. The help page lists four dimensions (pages, countries, dates and devices), and a query is not one of them.
- AI Overviews against AI Mode. Both sit in one report, and the help page describes no filter or dimension that separates them.
- An API search type. The Search Analytics API reference, last updated 11 August 2026, lists six search types (discover, googleNews, news, image, video and web) and never mentions generative AI.
Where do clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode show up?
Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are reported in the regular Performance report, inside the Web search type, and not in the Generative AI report. Google's AI features page, last updated on 10 December 2025, says sites appearing in AI features are reported on in the Performance report, within the "Web" search type
. In the regular report, Google counts a click on an external link in an AI Overview or AI Mode as a click, and gives every link in an AI Overview the same position. We found no filter on the pages we read that separates AI clicks from other Web clicks, so checking whether AI Overviews are taking your clicks means comparing the same pages over time.
How do you read the chart and the table?
Read the chart as impressions for your whole property and the table as impressions per page, country, date or device, and know that the two totals can differ. Google says the chart is aggregated by property, so if two results from the same site appeared in a generative AI search results feature, they count as a single impression in the chart total
, while the pages table counts each page. By that rule, if one AI answer links to three of your pages, the chart counts 1 impression and the pages table counts 3.
- Google says the usual Search performance limits apply here, including a 1,000-row table. In the regular report, Google says some rare or long-tail rows might be omitted from a 1,000-row table but are included in the chart total (why a Search Console export stops at 1,000 rows).
- The newest data can be preliminary and is drawn as a dotted line (why the last few days in Search Console change).
- In the export, values shown as ~ or - are zeros, so a 0 means zero or not available.
Has Google reported bad data in this report?
Yes: Google's data anomalies page records a logging error that lowered impressions in the Generative AI performance report in Search for 13 to 17 August 2026. Its update of 21 August says Missing data for this period has been restored.
That page lists issues from the last 3 to 16 months, so check it before comparing dates. Our AI search report tool tests an export for this dip, and the Search Console anomaly check tests a regular Performance export against Google's documented anomalies.
How do you compare AI impressions with your regular data?
Export both reports for the same dates and the same Web search type, then divide each page's AI impressions by its web impressions. Google says the report includes data from the Web search type, so we read that share as part of the same impressions; that is our inference, not something Google states. Our free AI search report tool does the sum in your browser with the thresholds below, which are our judgment calls, not Google's rules.
| Rule | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Files opened | A choice of files totaling more than 64 MB is not opened |
| Weekly change | First full week against the last; needs at least 2 full weeks; flagged as mostly chance when the smaller week has under 100 impressions |
| 13 to 17 August check | Each of the five days against the same weekday in the 7 days before and the 7 days after; a day is tested only when that comparison figure is at least 60 impressions; at least 3 of the five days must be testable; the dip is reported when every tested day is under 60% of its comparison figure |
| Share of web impressions | None for a page with more AI than web impressions; none for any page when more than 20% of matched pages are flagged |
| Concentration | Shares held by the top 1, 5 and 10 pages; exactly 1,000 rows gets a warning that the table may be cut off |
Keep your own history too. Google's Analytics Help says Search Console keeps data for the last 16 months.
The tool can download a baseline CSV to append to next month's, and our guide to keeping Search Console data older than 16 months covers the regular report.
Example (illustrative numbers)
These numbers are invented and are not data from any site. A site exports the Generative AI report for 29 days, Sunday to Sunday, plus the regular Performance report for the same dates and the Web search type.
The weekly change. Our tool leaves out the newest day as possibly preliminary, so 29 − 1 = 28 days remain, and 28 ÷ 7 = 4 full Sunday-to-Saturday weeks.
| Week | AI impressions |
|---|---|
| 1 | 62 |
| 2 | 70 |
| 3 | 75 |
| 4 | 79 |
The change compares the first full week with the last: (79 − 62) ÷ 62 = 17 ÷ 62 = 27.4%. The smaller week, 62, is under 100, so the percentage is flagged as mostly chance. As a rough check, if the weeks were independent random counts, the gap between them would have a standard deviation of about √(62 + 79) = √141 = 11.9, so the gap of 17 is 17 ÷ 11.9 = 1.4 standard deviations. Real impressions tend to vary more than random counts do, so this check is generous.
The share of web impressions. The two exports match 10 pages. Page /a has 41 AI impressions and 560 web impressions, so its share is 41 ÷ 560 = 7.3%. Page /b has 52 AI and 38 web impressions, which cannot be a share of the same impressions, so it is flagged and gets no share. One flagged page in 10 is 1 ÷ 10 = 10%, under the 20% line, so the others keep their shares. At 3 flagged pages, 3 ÷ 10 = 30% would pass 20% and no page would get a share.
What this cannot tell you
The report cannot tell you why a number moved. Your content, a change in which features Google shows or what the report counts, seasonal demand and data problems all move the same count, and Google says of the list of features the report includes, We expect to update this list over time as we develop Google Search.
- It cannot tell you about visits. Google's general definition says an impression means a user
has seen (or potentially seen)
a link, so a count is exposure only. - It cannot tell you what an answer said, only that a link to your site was shown in it, or how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Bing present your site.
- It cannot give you a baseline older than its own data. Google's help page states no start date, and Search Console keeps 16 months (our methodology page lists known gaps in Search Console data).
Questions people also ask
What is generative AI in Search Console?
In Search Console, generative AI appears in the Generative AI performance report, which counts impressions of links to your site in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and in the control that includes or excludes your site from Search generative AI features. Google says a site must be included in those features to be eligible for display in them.
How do you track AI Overview clicks?
The Google pages we read show no separate number for AI Overview clicks. The Generative AI report has no clicks, and Google reports clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the regular Performance report's Web search type, where those pages describe no filter that isolates them. To look for an effect, compare Web clicks, impressions and position for the same pages before and after a date, and read AI impressions beside them.
Why is the generative AI report not showing in Search Console?
The Generative AI report may be missing for two reasons Google names: your site has not received enough impressions in generative AI features on Google Search, or you excluded your site from Search generative AI features. If you excluded it, Google says to make sure you have included your site in those features.
How do you track AI search performance?
To track AI search performance on Google, read the Generative AI report for AI Overview and AI Mode impressions and the regular Performance report for clicks. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report that counts citations in Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing and select partner integrations, and Bing says of its page-level counts, This reflects how often pages are cited, not page importance, ranking, or placement.
Each of those two reports covers the AI features its own company lists. Our methodology treats a single AI answer as not a measurement, so we sample each tracked prompt repeatedly, as our guide to measuring AI visibility explains. Bing's side is covered in Bing Webmaster Tools and ChatGPT search.
Sources
- Generative AI performance report (Search), Search Console Help, Google, read 30 October 2026.
if two results from the same site appeared in a generative AI search results feature, they count as a single impression in the chart total.
We expect to update this list over time as we develop Google Search.
- Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console, Google Search Central Blog, Google, read 30 October 2026.
adding additional metrics over time
- New opportunities, control and insights for website owners, The Keyword (blog.google), Google, read 30 October 2026.
Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central documentation, Google, read 30 October 2026.
reported on in the Performance report, within the "Web" search type
- Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search, Google Search Central documentation, Google, read 30 October 2026.
To measure how your content is performing in generative AI features on Google Search and Discover, use the Generative AI performance report in Search Console.
- What are impressions, position, and clicks?, Search Console Help, Google, read 30 October 2026.
An impression means that a user has seen (or potentially seen) a link to your site in Search, Discover, or News.
- Data anomalies in Search Console, Search Console Help, Google, read 30 October 2026.
Missing data for this period has been restored.
- Performance report (Search results): Troubleshooting data discrepancies, Search Console Help, Google, read 30 October 2026.
- Search Analytics: query, Search Console API reference, Google, read 30 October 2026.
- [GA4] Queries report, Analytics Help, Google, read 30 October 2026.
Search Console keeps data for the last 16 months.
- Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview, Bing Blog (Webmaster), Microsoft, read 30 October 2026.
This reflects how often pages are cited, not page importance, ranking, or placement.
- AI search report analyser, Penlid, read 30 October 2026.
- Methodology: how we measure, and what we can't, Penlid, read 30 October 2026.