Google Search Console reports AI Overviews and AI Mode in two places. The main Performance report counts their impressions, clicks and positions inside the "Web" search type, mixed with all other results. A separate Generative AI performance report, launched in June 2026, shows impressions only, by page, country, device and date. Neither report shows which queries triggered an AI answer.
TL;DR
- AI Overview and AI Mode traffic is included in Performance > Search results under the "Web" search type. There is no filter there to separate it out.
- The Generative AI performance report isolates impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google announced it on 3 June 2026 and says it reached all websites worldwide on 31 August 2026.
- That report's documented metric is impressions. Its dimensions are Pages, Countries, Devices and Dates. It has no Queries tab.
- Every link in an AI Overview shares the AI Overview's single position. A follow-up question in AI Mode counts as a new query.
- Search Labs experiments are not included.
What Search Console reports about AI features
Google's AI features and your website guide (last updated 10 December 2025) says sites appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode "are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console", reported in the Performance report "within the 'Web' search type". Since then Google has added a dedicated report and a control. As of 30 September 2026, this is what exists:
| Where in Search Console | What it covers | Metrics | Can you isolate AI features? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance > Search results | All Search traffic, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, in the Web search type | Clicks, impressions, CTR, average position; queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance, dates | No. There is no AI Overview or AI Mode search appearance type. |
| Generative AI performance report (Search) | AI Overviews and AI Mode | Impressions; pages, countries, devices, dates; Web: text-based and Web: multimodal | Yes, for impressions and pages |
| Generative AI performance report (Discover) | Generative AI features in Discover | Impressions; pages, countries, dates | Yes, for Discover |
| Settings > Search generative AI | Control to include or exclude your site from these features | None | Not a report |
How AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted
Google's impressions, position and clicks page (as of 30 September 2026) gives the rules:
- AI Overviews: clicking a link to an external page counts as a click. Standard impression rules apply. "An AI Overview occupies a single position in search results, and all links in the AI Overview are assigned that same position."
- AI Mode: clicking a link to an external page counts as a click. Standard impression rules apply. Position follows the same method as a normal results page. "If a user asks a follow-up question within AI Mode, they are essentially performing a new query."
- Search Labs: "Search Console doesn't include data from experiments in Search Labs."
So in the main report, a link cited third in an AI Overview gets the same position as the first link in it. Nothing in the row tells you the impression came from an AI Overview.
What the Generative AI performance report shows
Google's launch post (3 June 2026) and the help page list impressions as the metric, with these dimensions:
- Pages: the final URL linked by the AI feature after redirects, mostly assigned to the canonical URL.
- Countries, Devices and Dates (hourly, daily, weekly or monthly).
The report includes data from the Web search type only, and the usual limits apply, including the 1,000-row table. Google says it is working with site owners on "adding additional metrics over time". If you can't see the report, Google gives two reasons: your site hasn't had enough impressions in these features, or it has been excluded through the Search generative AI control.
How to find AI traffic signals, step by step
- Check the control. Go to Settings > Search generative AI. "Include" is the default. If it says "Exclude", your site gets no impressions or traffic from these features.
- Open the Generative AI performance report. Google's help page links straight to it. Leave the search type on Web: text-based and set a date range.
- List the pages. Open the Pages tab and sort by impressions. These are the URLs Google cites in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Estimate the AI share per page. In Performance > Search results, set the same dates and the Web search type, open the Pages tab and note each page's total impressions. Divide the AI impressions by the total. Treat it as an estimate: both tables count by page, but row limits and processing can differ.
- Find likely trigger queries. In the main report, filter by one of those pages and apply a question-query regex (see regex filters in Search Console). This gives candidates only. Search Console does not confirm which query showed an AI answer.
- Watch CTR on those pages. Compare periods in the main report. A drop in CTR with steady impressions on pages with many AI impressions is a signal worth checking. Our guide to impressions vs clicks explains other causes.
- Export both reports with the Export button and track the AI share each month.
What the data can't tell you
- Which queries triggered an AI Overview or AI Mode answer for your page.
- Clicks, CTR or position inside AI features only. The dedicated report documents impressions, and the main report mixes AI clicks with everything else.
- What the AI answer said about you, or whether it cited you accurately.
- Anything about ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Gemini apps. For those, see how to check AI search visibility.
Context from outside Google helps. A Pew Research Center study of 900 US adults' browsing in March 2025 found users clicked a link inside an AI summary in 1% of visits to pages with one (Pew Research Center, 22 July 2025). That is why impressions are the most useful AI metric in Search Console today. To model the traffic effect, try the AI Overviews traffic loss calculator.
What doesn't affect AI Overview eligibility
Google says a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to be a supporting link, and "there are no additional technical requirements". Google also says you don't need "new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup". Google-Extended is not the switch for these features either. Google's crawler documentation says Google-Extended "does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search". To manage AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google points to the Search generative AI control in Search Console and to the usual nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex rules. For how to adapt content, read our guide to Google AI Mode SEO.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see AI Overview clicks in Google Search Console?
They are counted, but not separated. Clicks on links in AI Overviews and AI Mode are included in the Performance report's Web search type with all other clicks. The Generative AI performance report documents impressions, not clicks.
Is there a search appearance filter for AI Overviews?
No. Google's list of search appearance types, as of 30 September 2026, has no AI Overview or AI Mode entry. Use the Generative AI performance report instead.
Does the Generative AI performance report show queries?
No. Google documents Pages, Countries, Devices and Dates as its dimensions. You can find candidate queries in the main report, but Search Console does not confirm which ones showed an AI answer.
What position does a link in an AI Overview get?
The AI Overview's position. Google says an AI Overview occupies a single position, and all links inside it are assigned that position.
How are AI Mode follow-up questions counted?
As new queries. Google says impressions, position and clicks in the new response are counted against the follow-up question, not the original one.
Sources
- AI features and your website (Google Search Central, last updated 10 December 2025)
- What are impressions, position, and clicks? (Search Console Help, as of 30 September 2026)
- Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (Google Search Central Blog, 3 June 2026; note added 31 August 2026)
- Generative AI performance report (Search) (Search Console Help, as of 30 September 2026)
- Generative AI performance report (Discover) (Search Console Help, as of 30 September 2026)
- Search generative AI control (Search Console Help, as of 30 September 2026)
- Performance report: dimensions and data groupings (as of 30 September 2026)
- Google's common crawlers (Google for Developers, last updated 14 July 2026)
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears (Pew Research Center, 22 July 2025)
This post is part of our Google Search Console guide.
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Malhar Shah founded and leads Vidern. He has done SEO since 2016, helping SaaS companies, e-commerce brands, and local businesses in the US, UK, UAE and worldwide grow their organic search and AI visibility.