Does the report show clicks from AI answers?

Google's help page describes impressions: how many times links to your site were shown in an AI feature. Google's announcement says it plans to add more metrics over time. Your overall Performance report still shows clicks from Search as a whole.

Why can't I see the report?

Google says this usually means your site has not had enough impressions in AI features yet. It can also mean the site was excluded from AI features in Search Console settings.

Do I need a special file or markup for AI Overviews?

No. Google's own documentation says there are no additional requirements or special optimizations for AI Overviews or AI Mode. The normal SEO basics apply.

Does this cost anything?

Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. You need to verify that you own the site once.

See when Google's AI answers show your business: the new Search Console report

Google Search Console now shows how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Here is what changed, how to open the report in two minutes, and what to do with what you find.

By Custom Tailored Agents team · Oct 12, 2026 · 4 min read · figures checked 2026-10-12

What changed: Google Search Console, the free tool Google gives site owners (Google: "a free service offered by Google", checked 2026-10-12), now has a report that shows how often your pages appear inside Google's AI answers. That means AI Overviews (the summary at the top of many searches) and AI Mode. Google announced it on June 3, 2026 for a test group and says that as of August 31, 2026 it is rolled out to all websites worldwide (Google Search Central blog, checked 2026-10-12).

What it means for you: until now these impressions were mixed into Search Console's overall numbers, so an owner could not see them on their own. Now you can, for free, in about two minutes once your site is verified.

What the report shows

In Google's announcement, the report is a "separate view dedicated to visibility from generative AI features" (Google Search Central blog, checked 2026-10-12). The help page lists what it shows (Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report, checked 2026-10-12):

Impressions: how many times links to your site were shown in an AI Overview or in AI Mode.
Pages: which of your pages the AI answers linked to.
Countries and devices: where the searches came from, and on phone, tablet or desktop.
Dates: the trend over time, by day, week or month.

One more change landed on September 24, 2026: the report can now be filtered to searches made with a picture, such as Google Lens, Circle to Search and Chrome's "Search this image" (Google Search Central blog, checked 2026-10-12). For a trade business, that is the customer who photographs a broken part and searches for it.

How to open it in two minutes

Sign in to Google Search Console with the Google account that manages your website. If your site is not set up yet, Search Console walks you through proving you own it.
Open the Generative AI performance report.
Click the Pages tab. These are the pages Google's AI answers chose to link to.
Set the date range to the last three months and look at the line. Is it going up, flat, or empty?

What to do with what you find

If the report is there: look at which pages appear. Open each one and note what it answers. Then give your other services the same treatment: one service per page, one clear answer, your service area named in plain words.

If the report is missing: Google's help page says this "usually happens when your site hasn't received enough impressions in generative AI features on Google Search." That is useful news too. Unless your site is opted out (see the setting below), it tells you Google's AI is not choosing your pages yet.

Check one setting either way. Search Console now has a control that lets a site leave Google's AI features. Google is plain about the cost: "Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features" (Google: new controls for website owners, updated 2026-08-31). If someone switched it off for you, you are invisible there by choice.

There is no special trick

You may hear that AI search needs new files or secret markup. Google says the opposite: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary" (Google Search Central: AI features and your website, checked 2026-10-12).

So the work is the basics, done on every page and kept done:

Text Google can read on the first visit, not hidden behind scripts.
One page per service, each answering the questions customers ask.
Your business name, service area, hours and phone the same everywhere.
Structured data that tells Google what each page is about.

What we have not verified

Whether being shown in an AI answer brings calls. The report counts impressions, not phone calls, and we have not measured that link for any business.
Exactly how often Google refreshes this data for a small site. Google marks the newest data as "preliminary" until it settles.
Any promise of a ranking. Nobody can promise one; Google's own page says indexing and serving "isn't guaranteed" (Google Search Central: AI features and your website, checked 2026-10-12).

Sources are Google's own announcements and help pages, each linked above with the date we checked it. Custom Tailored Agents is not affiliated with Google.