Open the Search Console Generative AI report from the Performance section, set the date range to the last three months, and read the Pages tab. The report counts how often Google showed links to your pages in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It shows impressions only, so check clicks in the regular Performance report and check ChatGPT and Gemini yourself.
Google announced the report on June 3, 2026 and rolled it out to all websites worldwide on August 31, 2026. It is also the first official Search Console view that separates AI answer impressions from the rest of your Google data. This post explains what the report counts, how to read it step by step, and what it cannot tell you.
What does the Search Console Generative AI report show?
The report shows impressions: how many times links to your site appeared in AI features on Google Search. Google’s help page lists AI Overviews and AI Mode as the features covered. You can split the impressions by page, country, device and date, with hourly, daily, weekly and monthly views.
An impression means a person saw a link to your page. However, it does not mean a visit, a call or a customer. The table shows what the report covers and where to find the rest.
| Factor | In the AI report? | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | Yes | Generative AI report |
| Pages | Yes | Generative AI report, Pages tab |
| Countries and devices | Yes | Generative AI report |
| Clicks | No | Performance report, Search results |
| Queries | No | Performance report, all Google results |
| Position | No | Performance report, all Google results |
How do you read the Search Console Generative AI report?
Compare the AI report with the regular Performance report for the same dates and the same pages. These six steps take about 15 minutes.
- Open Search Console and select your property. A domain property covers every version of your URLs.
- Open Generative AI from the Performance section. If you cannot find it, use the “Open the Generative AI performance report” link on Google’s help page.
- Then set the date range to the last three months so a small site has enough data to read.
- Next, open the Pages tab, sort by impressions and write down your top five URLs.
- Open Performance, then Search results, with the same dates. Filter to each of those five pages and note the clicks, impressions and click-through rate.
- Finally, mark every page with many AI impressions and few clicks. Google shows those pages in AI answers, and people rarely open them.
Then read the title and the first paragraph of each marked page. A reader decides from those two elements whether the page answers the question.
Can you add AI impressions to your Search Console totals?
No. Google says the generative AI data is already part of the Web search type in the main Performance report, so adding the two reports counts the same impressions twice. So treat the AI report as a filtered slice. On October 30, 2026, the three-month view for avantscale.co showed 2.72K impressions and 1 click in the Performance report, and 2 impressions in the Generative AI report. Our site is new, so these numbers are small, and they show the relationship, not a trend.
The Pages tab in our report listed three pages with one impression each, while the chart total read 2. Use the chart total for the whole site and the Pages tab to compare single URLs, and do not add the page rows together.
Clicks also follow the same rule. Google’s AI features guide says traffic from AI features is included in the overall search traffic in Search Console, and the Performance report does not label those clicks separately.
What can the report not show you?
It cannot show what an AI answer said, whether it recommended your business, or anything outside Google. Instead, the report only logs that a link to your site appeared. As of October 30, 2026, it has no click data.
- Clicks, queries and average position for AI answers.
- The wording of the answer, including wrong phone numbers, hours or services.
- Mentions of your business that do not link to your site.
- What ChatGPT, Gemini and other assistants say about you.
- Visits or leads from any of these.
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How do you check what AI answers say about your business?
Run the same five buying questions in each engine and record what every answer says. Answers change between runs, so repeat each question before you log a result, and see how ChatGPT local recommendations compared with Google Maps in our Quezon City test.
- Write five questions a customer would ask before hiring a business like yours, for example “Who offers payroll services for small businesses in Pasig?”
- Open a private window and ask each question in Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini.
- Record whether each answer names your business, which page it links to and every wrong fact.
- Fix wrong facts at the source, such as your own page or your Google Business Profile.
- Repeat monthly with the same wording and compare the results.
Our free AI visibility self-check walks through the same steps. Tracking these answers every month is what our consulting and audits page covers, and what an AI visibility audit checks lists the questions we run.
What should you fix first when AI impressions look low?
Fix indexing and snippet eligibility first, because Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in AI features. Google’s AI features guide adds that the same SEO basics apply, so work through this list:
- Run the page through URL Inspection and confirm Google has indexed it.
- Remove any nosnippet or noindex tag you did not mean to add.
- Put the facts you want quoted, such as address, hours and services, in text on the page, not inside images.
- Link the page from related pages on your own site.
- Skip special AI files and markup. Google says you do not need them to appear.
None of this guarantees that Google shows your page. However, it removes the technical reasons it could not. A missing or empty report does not tell you whether your pages appear in AI answers, and Google’s help page lists the reasons a report can be missing. For the October 15, 2026 link changes, read what to check on your site after Google’s AI Mode link update, and for the terms, see SEO vs AEO vs GEO.
Search Console Generative AI report: FAQ
Does the Search Console Generative AI report show clicks?
No. The report shows impressions only. Instead, Google counts clicks from AI features inside the Web search totals of the regular Performance report and does not label them separately. To see clicks for one page, open Performance, then Search results, and filter to that page.
Why is my Generative AI report missing or empty?
Google rolled the report out to all websites worldwide on August 31, 2026, and its help page lists the reasons a report can be missing. A missing report does not prove your pages are absent from AI answers. Run the five-question check in AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini instead.
Does a high AI impression count mean more customers?
No. An impression means Google showed a link to your page in an AI feature. It does not record a click, a call or a sale. Before you draw a conclusion, compare the AI report with clicks in the Performance report and with leads in your own records.
See what Google, ChatGPT and Gemini say about your business
Search Console shows when Google displays your links. However, it does not show what AI answers say about you. Our free audit runs 10 buying questions across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews for your business, a person replies within 24 hours on weekdays, and you keep the audit. Get your free audit
