---
title: "How to Report on AI Overviews in Search Console"
description: "Search Console now has dedicated generative AI reports. Here is what they count, what they leave out, and how to pair them with a query proxy and Bing data."
author: "Team"
category: "Search & AI Visibility"
date: 2026-11-08T15:05:03.298Z
canonical: "https://contentagents.dev/blog/how-to-report-on-ai-overviews-in-search-console"
---

# How to Report on AI Overviews in Search Console

![digital marketing, seo, google](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/10/09/08/32/digital-marketing-1725340_1280.jpg?w=1200&q=75)

> Search Console now has dedicated generative AI reports. Here is what they count, what they leave out, and how to pair them with a query proxy and Bing data.

For a long time the honest answer to "how much traffic do AI Overviews take?" was that Search Console could not say. That changed in 2026. Google now offers a dedicated generative AI report, and it reports something narrower than most people expect. Knowing what it counts, and what it leaves out, is the difference between a defensible slide and an embarrassing one.

Anyone who must explain a shift in clicks gets a one-hour routine below. The tools are free: Search Console, a regular-expression filter, a spreadsheet and Bing Webmaster Tools.

## What changed in Search Console

  ![](https://hsppuvezyxmkpzkgfkho.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/enrichment/024a6468-4c4c-4195-b8c2-21b4170617d4/3ff67506-a441-48ef-a779-4867d6221403/76e02ad9-5cb8-4441-a913-4b5e0e6c2278.png)

On 3 June 2026 Google announced new Search Generative AI performance reports, with dedicated views for Search and for Discover. According to the announcement, they show [impressions within generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, device and date](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports), and by 31 August 2026 they had rolled out to all websites worldwide. The same data stays inside the main Performance report, which means the new view is a cut of numbers you already had, not extra traffic.

Older guidance is now out of date. Google's AI features page, last updated in December 2025, still describes sites in AI features as [reported on in the Performance report, in the Web search type](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), and makes no mention of the new report. Anything you read claiming Search Console has no AI view predates June 2026.

The announcement lists impressions as the metric. A third-party walkthrough from LLM Pulse adds that [the report carries no clicks, click-through rate or average position, and no queries](https://llmpulse.ai/blog/gsc-generative-ai-report/), that it applies the usual 1,000-row limit and that adding it to your search totals would double count. Treat those as the writer's reading of the product, and confirm them in your own account.

## Step one: open the report and export a baseline

  ![](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/09/24/14/29/macbook-459196_1280.jpg?w=960&q=75)
  Photo by [377053](https://pixabay.com/photos/macbook-laptop-google-display-459196/) on [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com)

Open the generative AI report for Search and set a range that matches your regular reporting. Export the page table and note the date, because Search Console does not keep history for ever. Note your own large changes next to it, such as migrations, redesigns and publishing bursts. A baseline without context is just a picture.

Give Google's confirmed updates their own row. The September 2026 spam update, for instance, lasted from 24 September to 8 October according to [PPC Land](https://ppc.land/googles-spam-update-ends-after-nearly-14-days-violating-sites-risk-demotion/), and [what to check after it](/google-september-2026-spam-update-what-to-check) covers the follow-up.

## Step two: read it by group of pages, not by page

Single-URL numbers bounce. Group pages by template or topic, such as comparison pages, how-to guides or product pages, and compare the groups. Split by country and device too, since a global total can hide a drop in one market. When a group appears in AI features more after an edit, treat it as a hint to test, not as proof that the edit worked.

## Step three: estimate the click side with a query proxy

Because the report holds no clicks, you still need the regular Performance report for that. In Pew Research Center's March 2025 browsing study, [AI summaries showed on 8% of one- or two-word searches against 53% of searches with ten or more words](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), and on 60% of questions. The sample is US adults, yet it supplies a workable proxy, since long queries are where summaries cluster.

In the Performance report, add a query filter using a custom regular expression and paste this pattern to match ten or more words:

^(\w+\s+){9,}\w+$

Export both segments and compare each year on year for clicks, impressions and average position. Long queries losing clicks while short ones hold, with position steady, makes an AI effect plausible. Write "consistent with" and never "caused by".

## Step four: look at impressions and clicks together

A page whose impressions hold or rise while clicks drop and position stays put is still being shown, but fewer people follow the link. That fits an answer sitting on the results page, though a layout change could do the same. Chart brand-search impressions alongside; if they climbed while clicks fell, awareness may be doing work that clicks used to record.

## Step five: add Bing's citation data

Microsoft's AI Performance report counts citations of your site in Copilot, Bing's AI summaries and a few partner products, listing [total citations, average cited pages, page-level activity and grounding queries](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/2026/2/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview/). June 2026 brought Intents, Topics, [Citation Share and Compare](https://blogs.bing.com/search/June-2026/New-AI-Visibility-Insights-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Intents-Topics-Citation-Share-Compare). The unit is citations, not clicks, and the grounding queries are a sample. Our [Bing walkthrough](/bing-ai-performance-new-reports-citation-share-compare-intents) goes through the screens. Bing is a different engine from Google, so do not assume the two behave alike.

## Our position: use the AI report as a presence gauge, not a loss meter

The temptation is to subtract AI impressions from total impressions or to read them as clicks you lost. Do not. An impression in a generative feature records that a link was shown, not that the answer was read or that a click was lost. The report has no clicks beside it, so any "clicks lost to AI" figure built from it is a guess dressed up as data.

We would use it for what it measures: which pages Google considers worth showing in AI features, in which countries, on which devices, and whether that presence is rising. Pair it with the query proxy for clicks and a prompt-based check for what answers actually say. The cost is that the story you give leadership is less dramatic than a single loss number. We would revise this view if Google added clicks and queries to the report, since the click side could then be measured directly.

## A worked reading, with invented numbers

Take a site comparing March 2026 with March 2025. Short queries lost a little in clicks with steady position, while long question-style queries lost about a quarter, gained impressions and kept position. The generative AI report shows the how-to group in AI features in two of its three largest countries. That shape suits more answers on long queries and fewer clicks after they appear, but it proves nothing, since a competitor move or a layout test could draw the same picture.

A report line could say that long-query clicks fell with stable position and rising impressions, which fits AI summaries on question-style searches as Pew's data suggests, that the AI report shows how-to pages in AI features, and that cause cannot be confirmed from Search Console alone, so brand searches and AI citations are being tracked. It is modest, accurate and usable.

## A short export checklist

Before you present, make sure the sheet holds six things: the AI report export by page group, the Performance export split by query length, the Bing citation export, a row of dated annotations, the definition of each metric and a note of any range or row limit applied. A reader who can see these can judge the argument. A reader who cannot will assume the worst.

## Who needs which view

Executives need one line on direction and one on confidence. Content owners need the page-group table so they can see where to focus. Analysts need the raw exports and the definitions. Giving each audience its own view stops the common failure where a dashboard built for analysts is pasted into a board deck and misread as a loss figure.

## What none of this tells you

The report cannot say which query triggered an answer, whether your brand was named in its text, whether a rival was recommended instead or what the answer said about you. For those, run a prompt-based check, using [the spreadsheet playbook](/track-ai-citations-with-a-spreadsheet-a-four-step-playbook) and the [measurement guide](/ai-visibility-metrics-complete-measurement-guide).

## FAQ

### Can I see AI Overviews in Search Console?

Yes. Since June 2026 Google has offered Search Generative AI performance reports showing impressions in AI features by page, country, device and date, available to all sites by 31 August 2026.

### Does the AI report show clicks?

The announcement lists impressions only. A third-party walkthrough reports no clicks, click-through rate, average position or queries. Check your own account.

### Do I need special markup to appear in AI Overviews?

Google says there are no additional requirements beyond being indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet.

### Does Bing report AI citations?

Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report with citation counts and grounding queries, in preview since February 2026.


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Source: https://contentagents.dev/blog/how-to-report-on-ai-overviews-in-search-console