How do I find the Generative AI performance report in Search Console?

Open Search Console, go to Performance, and look for a Generative AI tab alongside Search results and Discover. If it's not there yet, your site likely hasn't had enough impressions in AI features, or you may have opted out via the Search generative AI control. The report shows impressions only, broken down by page, country, device and date, with no clicks or queries.

What the report is

Google's own help documentation describes it simply: the generative AI performance report shows data about how your site performs in generative AI features on Google Search. It's designed to show how organic impressions from these features change over time, which pages get the most or least exposure, and where that exposure comes from geographically or by device, as Google explains in its Search Console help centre.

Right now it covers two capabilities. Google states the report currently includes impressions for AI Overviews and AI Mode, and says this list is expected to grow as Search develops. Discover has its own separate version, covered below.

The default view is impressions-only. Google's help page is explicit that impressions mean how many times links to your site were shown to a user in a generative AI feature. If you're used to thinking in clicks and CTR from the standard Performance report, this is a different mental model.

Who has access and when it rolled out

The rollout was staged. TechWyse reported that both the report and the opt-out toggle launched first to a subset of website owners in the United Kingdom, with Google testing before wider release and no confirmed global date at that point. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable later confirmed the wider rollout, writing that Google released the generative AI performance reports and Search generative AI controls to everyone globally, following a slow expansion that began in the first week of June.

The Discover-specific version followed a similar path. Google's help page for that report confirms a full worldwide rollout as of 31 August 2026, and the opt-out control reached the same milestone, with Google stating it rolled out the control to all websites worldwide as of 31 August 2026.

Step-by-step: how to open the report

1. Log into Google Search Console for the property you want to check.
2. In the left-hand menu, go to Performance.
3. Look for the expandable Generative AI tab. Barry Schwartz describes it as appearing as an expandable tab under the main performance report in Search Console.
4. For image-related AI visibility, there's an extra step. SearchEngineWatch lays out the path: go to Performance > Generative AI, then set Search type to Web: multimodal. This chart shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode specifically where an image was part of the search, since Google added Web: multimodal to the search type filter to cover image-based queries via Lens, Circle to Search, uploaded images and Chrome's Search this image action.

If you don't see the Generative AI tab at all, don't assume it's broken. See the pitfalls section below.

How to read and configure the report

The report groups data along four dimensions. According to a practitioner summary of Google's documentation, pages are grouped by the final URL linked by a generative AI feature after any redirects, mostly assigned to the page's canonical URL, while countries are grouped by the country where the search originated. You can also break data out by device and date, mirroring the filters in the standard Performance report.

This matters for diagnosis. If one page pulls a disproportionate share of AI impressions, it's worth investigating with tools built for AI visibility specifically; our guide to comparing GEO tools can help you decide whether you need deeper tracking than Search Console offers alone.

What it does not show, and where to find clicks

This is the part that trips people up. Search Engine Land reported at launch that the reporting includes impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates but does not include click data. That's a significant gap if you're trying to prove ROI from AI visibility work, a theme we've covered in Google adding more links to AI Overviews while still not showing the clicks.

If you want click or query-level data on AI Mode, it isn't in this new report at all. John Mueller reportedly told the community, as documented by Barry Schwartz, that Search Console includes information on AI Overviews and AI Mode in the general performance report. One analysis summed up the new Generative AI report bluntly: it shows impressions grouped by page, country, device, or date, nothing else, no clicks, no positions, no queries. TechWyse adds context here too, noting that this data is already included in the overall performance report, where it continues to be tracked; the new addition is a separate dedicated view.

There's also no API access. A technical review from Cogny found that the type field on searchanalytics.query still only accepts the long-standing values, with no aiOverview or aiMode type and no separate endpoint; the report lives entirely in the Search Console UI. If you're building dashboards or automated reporting, you'll need to pull this manually or rely on third-party tracking, one reason tools built specifically for AI visibility have grown popular, as we discussed in Indexa's launch confirming AI visibility tracking is now mainstream.

How it relates to the Search generative AI control

The report and the opt-out control are designed to work together. Google's help page explicitly links them, saying the Generative AI performance report helps you get an idea of how changing your control may impact traffic to your site. The control itself lives under Settings. Google specifies it manages inclusion in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI features in Google Discover, and is accessed via Settings > Search generative AI in Search Console. One practitioner summary adds that the default option is "Include my site's links and content," which is enabled by default.

Opting out has real consequences. Search Engine Land reported Google's own statement that sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from generative AI features, though this control is not used as a ranking signal for search results outside of those features, so it shouldn't hurt core web search. We covered the mechanics and trade-offs of this toggle in Google lets publishers opt out of AI Overviews entirely.

For Discover specifically, impressions are counted carefully. Google's help page for the Discover version notes that an impression requires the link to be scrolled into view, and only one impression is counted per result per session even if a user scrolls back to a card. Discover's AI treatment is evolving fast too, something we've tracked in Google testing AI 'Dive deeper' summaries inside Discover.

Common pitfalls

The most common issue is simply not seeing the report. Google says this usually happens when your site hasn't received enough impressions in generative AI features. But there's a second, easy-to-miss cause: Google notes this may also be because you've excluded your site from Search generative AI features, and to become eligible you need to check that you've included your site in those features. Check your opt-out setting before assuming you're simply too small to show up.

Another pitfall is treating the report as proof that AI visibility equals business impact. Impressions tell you exposure, not engagement, and plenty of brands with strong AI visibility still see thin downstream traffic, a pattern we've examined in Google's own data showing AI Mode cuts clicks to your website.

Our view: this report is a useful first signal, but relying on it alone will leave you blind to clicks, queries, and anything happening outside Google's own AI surfaces like ChatGPT or Perplexity. If you want a fuller picture of how AI platforms represent your brand, run a free AI visibility scorecard alongside what Search Console gives you.

One honest limitation: because the report has no click data and no public API, you cannot currently build a reliable automated pipeline from it, and any conclusions about traffic impact have to be inferred rather than measured directly.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I see the Generative AI report in my Search Console property?

Google says this usually happens when your site hasn't received enough impressions in generative AI features, or because you've excluded your site from Search generative AI features via the opt-out control. Check Settings > Search generative AI first before assuming it's an impressions issue.

Does the Generative AI performance report show clicks?

No. Search Engine Land confirmed at launch that the reporting includes impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates but not click data. For any click or query data related to AI Mode, John Mueller reportedly pointed people to the general Performance report instead.

Can I pull this data through the Search Console API?

Not currently. Cogny's technical review found the searchanalytics.query type field has no aiOverview or aiMode value and no dedicated endpoint, meaning the report lives entirely in the UI.

What's the difference between the Generative AI report and the Discover generative AI report?

They cover different surfaces. The main report covers AI Overviews and AI Mode, while the Discover version tracks impressions specifically within Discover cards and carousels, counting one impression per result per session based on scroll visibility.

If I opt out using the Search generative AI control, will it hurt my regular Google rankings?

No. Google stated that sites which opt out won't receive traffic or impressions from generative AI features, but the control isn't used as a ranking signal outside those features, so core web search shouldn't be negatively affected.