Updated 14 November 2026. Written for business owners and small marketing teams who manage their own Search Console.
Short answer: Search Console now has a Generative AI performance report that shows how often your pages appeared inside AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google Search, plus a separate view for AI features in Discover. It counts impressions only: no clicks, no queries, no position. You can split the numbers by page, country, device and date. Use it to see which pages Google cites in AI answers, then compare those pages with your normal organic clicks.
What the report is
Google announced the reports in June 2026 on the Search Central blog, starting with a subset of sites, and widened access over the summer. Google's Search Console Help page explains the Search version. Search Engine Roundtable reported that the report sits as an expandable tab under the main Performance report, and that it only appears once a site has enough impressions in AI features.
What it shows and what it does not
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| Impressions when one of your URLs appears in AI Overviews or AI Mode | Clicks and CTR |
| Pages (grouped to the canonical URL) | Search queries |
| Countries | Average position |
| Devices (Search view only) | Search Labs experiments |
| Dates, hourly to monthly | Revenue or conversions |
A summary of these limits is on Quattr and CrawlRaven. The missing click data is the main frustration for site owners: a page can be cited many times in AI answers and still send few visits.
Watch for data bugs before you panic
The report is new and has had logging problems. Search Engine Land reported a logging error from 13 August 2026 that lowered impressions without any real change in visibility. In November, Google confirmed another logging issue that lowered impressions in the report from 9 to 11 November 2026, as noted in the Search Engine Roundtable recap. Google lists known issues on its data anomalies page. Check it before you change anything on your site because of a sudden drop.
The November 2026 core update is also rolling out, so traffic can move for other reasons too. See our core update checklist.
Six ways a small business can use it
1. Find your most-cited pages
Open the Pages tab and sort by impressions. These are the pages Google trusts enough to show inside AI answers. Keep them accurate and up to date: prices, timings, contact details and dates.
2. Compare AI impressions with organic clicks
Take the top cited pages and look them up in the normal Performance report. A page with many AI impressions but few organic clicks may be answering the question fully in the AI box. Add something the summary cannot give: a calculator, a price list, a downloadable checklist, a clear call to action.
3. Spot pages that never appear
If your service pages are missing while blog posts appear, the service pages may be too thin. Add a short direct answer near the top, specific facts about your service and FAQs written in the words customers use.
4. Check country and device
For a local business, AI impressions from outside your market are less useful. If most impressions come from mobile, test the cited pages on a phone: speed, readable tables and a tap-to-call button.
5. Track the trend, not one day
Use weekly or monthly views. Daily numbers are noisy, the latest data can be preliminary, and logging bugs can distort a few days.
6. Measure real visits in analytics
Because the report has no clicks, set up your analytics to separate Google organic traffic and landing pages, and track enquiries from each landing page. That tells you whether AI visibility turns into leads.
Should you opt out of AI features?
Google has tested a setting that removes a site from AI Overviews and AI Mode. Most small businesses should not use it: you lose visibility in the answers customers are reading, and competitors who stay in get cited instead. Opt out only if you have a clear business reason, such as paid content.
Make your pages easy to cite
The basics have not changed: a fast, crawlable site, clear headings, one topic per page, and honest, specific information. Our guide to SEO for Google AI Mode and the technical SEO checklist cover the steps. If you want someone to set this up and report on it monthly, see our SEO services or book a free call.