How to Read the Search Console Generative AI Report

What is the generative AI performance report in Search Console?

The generative AI performance report is a Search Console report that counts how often your links were shown in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google's help page documents one metric for it: impressions. Google's Search Central blog announced it on June 3, 2026, for "a subset of websites." The help page now says it reached all websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026.

The help page lists two features it covers, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google says it expects "to update this list over time." None of this is new traffic, though. Google says the report "includes data from the Web search type in the Performance report (Search results)." So the AI impressions here are already inside your Web numbers. Treat the report as a closer look at data you had, not as extra visits.

Where is the report, and why might it be missing?

The report opens from its own Search Console address, and it is usually missing because the site has too few impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. A menu path is not listed in Google's help page (checked Oct 27, 2026). This is the address the help page links to:

https://search.google.com/search-console/performance/search-analytics/ai

If the report does not appear, the usual reason is volume. Under "Not seeing the report?", Google says this "usually happens when your site hasn't received enough impressions in generative AI features." A young site usually has few impressions of any kind, so an empty report is likely there. The second documented cause is a setting. Someone may have excluded the site under Settings > Search generative AI. In that case, Google says, "You won't receive any traffic or impressions from these features." With no impressions, there is nothing to report.

What counts as an impression in AI Overviews and AI Mode?

An impression counts each time a link to your site is shown in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google says standard impression rules apply to both. Its page on impressions, position, and clicks gives the details.

• A link must be shown. Google defines an impression as a user having "seen (or potentially seen) a link to your site."
• In a carousel or an expanding section, an item must "typically be scrolled into view" or expanded by a click to count.
• An AI Overview "occupies a single position in search results." Every link in it shares that position.
• A follow-up question in AI Mode counts as a new query. Its impressions belong to that new query.
• A click on a link to an external page counts as a click, in AI Overviews and in AI Mode.
• Google says these rules "are subject to change."

The chart and the table also count in different ways. By default the chart counts by property. So two of your links in one AI answer make one impression. Add a URL filter, and the chart counts by URL instead. The Pages table counts by page, and Google says that is the usual reason its totals can differ from the chart. Pages are grouped by the final URL after any redirects. Google adds that "most performance data in this report is assigned to the page's canonical URL." So a duplicate URL's data usually shows up under its canonical URL. The newest data can be preliminary. It shows as a dotted line, and it can still change.

What does the report leave out?

Google's help page for the Search Console generative AI report lists no clicks, CTR, position, or queries (checked Oct 27, 2026). It documents impressions and four ways to break them down. The right column lists what the help page leaves out, which does not prove the report lacks it. Google's launch post says it may add "additional metrics over time." So check again before you rely on the list. The Web: multimodal filter came later, too. Google announced it for the Performance report and the generative AI report on September 24, 2026.

• ChatGPT and Perplexity answers are not on Google Search, so they are not in this report.
• The Gemini app is not mentioned on the help page. It lists only AI Overviews and AI Mode (checked Oct 27, 2026).
• Generative AI features in Google Discover have a separate report.
• Search Labs experiments are excluded "as these experiments are still in active development."

Visits from those AI apps reach your analytics instead, usually as referrals from their domains. The guide to AI referral traffic shows how to group them in GA4. Two export details matter for the next step, too. Values shown as ~ or - in the report become zeros in the download. So a zero can mean "not available." And the usual 1,000-row limit applies, so a large site may not see every page in the table.

How do you compare it with the Performance report?

You compare the Search Console generative AI report with the Performance report by exporting both Pages tables and joining the rows by URL. Use the same dates and search type in both. That gives each page an approximate AI share. It is the part of a page's Web impressions that came from AI Overviews and AI Mode.

• Pick one date range, and use it in both reports.
• In the Performance report for Search results, pick a web search type, text-based or multimodal. Open the Pages tab and export.
• In the generative AI report, pick the matching search type. Open the Pages tab and export.
• Paste both exports into one sheet, and match the rows by URL.
• For each page, divide AI impressions by Web impressions. That ratio is the page's AI share.

Treat the ratio as approximate. Both Pages tables count by page, which is what makes the join work. Google says page data in each report "is aggregated by page." Still, each Pages table shows at most 1,000 rows, so a page in one export may have no match in the other. A share above 100 percent most likely means two rows did not match cleanly. Never add the two reports together. The AI impressions are already inside the Web impressions, so adding them counts them twice.

In a spreadsheet, put Web impressions in column B and AI impressions in column C. This formula in column D gives the AI share. It leaves the cell blank when a page has no Web impressions. The template below also has columns for clicks, CTR, average position, and notes.

=IF(B2=0,"",C2/B2)

Once the sheet is filled in, the AI share can sit next to the other columns of a content audit template. Then each page's keep, improve, merge, or remove decision can take it into account.

What do the patterns suggest, and what do you check next?

The patterns in the join are hypotheses to test, not diagnoses, because the report shows impressions and not the reasons behind them.

Each impression here is a link to your page shown in an AI answer. That makes it one kind of AI citation. For the first pattern, I would start by testing an answer capsule under each question heading. The free AEO Checker grades each section of a page for one. For the second pattern, the question is why a page earns impressions but no clicks. That needs the Performance report's clicks over time, not this report.

Should you exclude your site from Search generative AI features?

Exclude your site only if you accept losing every link and impression in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features. The control is under Settings > Search generative AI. Google says exclusion stops your site "being linked to within these features." It also says the control "isn't used as a ranking or inclusion signal affecting other parts of Search." Check this report and the generative AI report for Discover first for the impressions you would give up. Clicks are not listed in Google's help page for either report (checked Oct 27, 2026), so you would be weighing impressions, not the clicks at stake. For page-level controls such as nosnippet, the guide to position zero covers each option.

What should a small or new site do with this report?

A small or new site should expect the Search Console generative AI report to be empty or tiny at first. Put the effort into the pages, not the numbers. The report usually appears only once a site has enough AI impressions. A blank screen is a stage, not a verdict. Check it once a month.

• Does the report exist yet? If not, note the date and look again next month.
• Which pages have AI impressions, and are they the pages you want found?
• Did the AI share of your main pages rise, fall, or hold?
• Is Settings > Search generative AI still set the way you chose?

Between checks, work on what you control. Make sure Google can index the pages that matter. Open each section with a direct answer. Keep your business details the same everywhere they appear. Want a second opinion first? The free AI Search Visibility Audit is one option in the table below. Search Console access is optional; as the audit page says, "it makes the findings sharper, but the audit works without it."

Disclosure: I run the free audit, and Content Audits is a service I sell, so weigh the source. If the report already shows AI impressions on the pages you care about, the free monthly check and join sheet may be all you need.