Google Search Console AI reports expand as clicks data stays hidden

By Vikram Singh · 2026-07-26

What the report shows and what it launched with

Before 3 June 2026, every impression generated by an AI Overview or AI Mode result was buried inside the standard Performance report in Search Console, indistinguishable from a conventional organic listing. Google launched dedicated generative AI performance reports in Search Console on 3 June 2026, giving site owners a separate view of their visibility within AI features in Search and Discover for the first time.verifiedVerified Source: developers.google.com^[1] That single change matters because the margin between appearing in an AI Overview and appearing in a standard blue-link result is not academic, it shapes how traffic is allocated.

The Search generative AI performance report covers AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search, breaking impressions down by pages, countries, devices and dates.^[2] A companion Discover generative AI performance report handles generative AI features inside Discover, broken down by pages and dates.^[3] Both launched on the same date and both show impressions only.

Where the rollout stands now

John Mueller, Google's Search Advocate, addressed the pace of the rollout on 23 June 2026 via Bluesky. "Yeah, nothing super exciting," Mueller said. "We're just rolling these out incrementally to sites, and reviewing the feedback along the way. I know everyone wants the new shiny thing immediately... but first, patience :)"verifiedVerified Source: bsky.app^[5]

Marie Haynes said on 23 June 2026 that she had seen the generative AI performance report in Search Console for a US eCommerce site.^[6] Nilesh Yadav confirmed the same day that the report had reached India, saying, "Google have rolled out the Generative AI reporting in India."^[7] Glenn Gabe, an SEO consultant, said he could see the report across several US properties and told others to check their Search Console properties, noting they might have access too. His full observation: "Yep, I'm see it now for some US sites. Check your GSC properties, you might have it too."

Switzerland sightings circulated in the same period, suggesting Google's incremental approach is moving across geographies rather than rolling out by language or market size alone. Mueller's framing, with feedback review built into the rollout, implies the feature set is not yet final.

What remains hidden: no clicks, no queries

The Search generative AI performance report shows impressions only, with no clicks and no query-level breakdown available for AI Overviews or AI Mode.verifiedVerified Source: support.google.com^[2] For anyone trying to calculate click-through rates, conversion attribution or keyword-level performance from AI surfaces, the report offers half a picture. Impressions without clicks cannot confirm whether visibility inside an AI Overview translates into a visit.

That gap sits awkwardly against the position taken by Nick Fox, SVP and head of Search at Google, who said that "AI features in Search send billions of clicks to websites weekly."^[8] Fox's figure may be accurate, but Search Console currently provides no mechanism for a site owner to verify or measure their share of it. The claim exists; the data to test it does not.

Query-level data is equally absent. Standard Search Console performance reports show which search terms drove impressions and clicks to a given page. The generative AI reports do not. Publishers cannot see which queries triggered an AI Overview that featured their content, making optimisation for those surfaces a process of inference rather than measurement.

Merchant Center's AI search data and what it adds

Google Merchant Center introduced AI performance insights that reveal share of voice and visibility on AI-powered shopping surfaces, including AI Mode and AI Overviews.^[4] For product-focused sites, that is a meaningful addition. Share-of-voice data allows a retailer to understand whether its products are surfacing in AI-powered shopping results relative to competitors, even if the underlying click mechanics remain opaque.

Merchant Center's framing around AI Mode and AI Overviews suggests Google is treating commerce as the first vertical where AI surface performance gets quantified in a commercially useful way. Whether that approach extends to informational or service-category sites, and whether clicks eventually follow, is the open question the Search Console rollout has placed in front of every SEO and content team.

How to use the report now

Google's guidance points site owners toward the Performance section of Search Console, where the generative AI report appears as a separate tab from the standard Search results view once enabled for a property.^[1] Access is still not universal; as of 23 June 2026 the rollout remained incremental, and properties without the tab should check again in the days following Mueller's confirmation.

For sites that do have access, the actionable layer is the page-level breakdown. Identifying which URLs are generating AI impressions, even without click data, indicates where Google's generative systems are drawing on a site's content. Tracking impression volume over time as AI Mode and AI Overviews expand will at least establish a baseline before click data, if it arrives, can be layered on top. John Mueller confirmed Google is collecting feedback throughout the incremental rollout, which ran from 3 June 2026 and was confirmed as ongoing on 23 June 2026.

Vikram Singh

Vikram Singh covers banking for Bushletter. He focuses on strategy, digital banking and where the money actually moves.