What this article covers: The measurement: where Search Console shows impressions in Google’s AI answers, with our own data.
Plenty has been written about optimising for AI search, but until recently none of it could be measured. You followed the recommendations and then guessed: server logs showed that the crawlers had visited, and you typed your name into ChatGPT and hoped for the best. Neither tells you whether Google actually shows you in its AI answers.
For its own AI features, Google now gives you the answer directly. Search Console has a report that counts impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus a separate report for Discover. One important caveat: both reports only measure Google's own features. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and other providers are not included, and they offer no comparable report for site owners. Here is where to find the reports, what they actually tell you, and what we saw on two of our own sites.
Where to find the report
In Search Console, open Performance in the left menu. The Generative AI (Search) report covers Google's generative features in Search, namely AI Overviews and AI Mode. Generative features in Discover have a separate Discover report, which only appears if your site has enough Discover impressions. Search Labs experiments are not included.
If the entry is missing, there are three possible reasons. The rollout has not reached your property yet, the site does not have enough impressions in Google's AI features, or it has been opted out of them. In all three cases there is nothing to configure — the report appears on its own.
Tip: Google introduced the report on 3 June 2026 and extended it to all sites on 31 August 2026. On both of our sites we saw data from early June, so it is worth looking at a longer range than the last week. Source: Google Search Central.
What it tells you and what it does not
This is the most important part, and the easiest to misread. The report counts impressions — how often a link to your site appeared in an AI answer. It does not tell you how many people came to your site as a result.
| Available | Not available | |
|---|---|---|
| Metrics | Impressions | Clicks, CTR, average position |
| Dimensions | Pages, countries, devices (Search only), days | Queries; separate figures for AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| Coverage | Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode (Discover in a separate report) | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and other providers |
The practical consequence: the report is an excellent indicator of visibility, not of traffic. If someone sells it to you as a measure of traffic from AI answers, they either know too little or are not telling you everything.
What we saw on a small service site
The first site is ge-ko.si — ours. A small service site with a few dozen pages and eleven articles. You would expect the service pages to be cited most often in AI answers, since they are the most visited and the most optimised.
They are not. The most visible page is an article: the piece on why ChatGPT does not know you. On its own it accounts for roughly a fifth of all our impressions in AI answers, several times more than any service page. Behind it come the home page and an article about design costs, and only then the pricing and offer pages.
What we saw on a large content portal
The second site is Živalce.si, a content portal about pet breeds with several hundred pages. The numbers there are on a different scale: 14,900 impressions in three months across 680 different pages appearing in AI answers. Daily impressions grew from around thirty in June to more than three hundred and fifty.
More interesting than the total is the spread. There is no single page carrying everything — 680 pages are visible. The top spots go to individual breed pages and advice articles, such as what a hamster eats or which aquarium fish suit a beginner.
The pattern we see on both
The two sites are completely different in size, industry and purpose, yet the pattern is the same. What appears most often in AI answers is content that answers a specific question. Not a description of your offer, not a company profile, but a page that explains something.
That makes sense if you think about how an AI answer is produced. The system is composing an answer to a user's question and looks for sources that answer that question. A page titled "Our services" answers no question directly. A page titled "How much does website maintenance cost" answers exactly one.
Two sites are not a study and we are not claiming otherwise. But the pattern is clear enough to shift priorities: if you want to be in AI answers, content matters more than one more sales page.
What to do with what you see
When you open the report, look at the pages tab and answer three questions.
- Is anything appearing at all? If the report is empty, the problem is not your content but access or structure. Work through the ten-point checklist — the usual causes are blocked crawlers or content that only exists once the browser renders it.
- Which pages appear? If they are informational pages and articles, you are on the right track. Check that there is a clear path from those pages to your offer. A reader arriving through an AI answer often lands in the middle of an article, not on your home page.
- Which topics are missing? If nothing appears for your main service, you probably have no content answering a question about it. That is the most concrete list of topics to write about you can get — it comes from real queries, not from guesswork.
Leave the opt-out switch alone
Alongside the report Google released a setting that opts your site out of generative AI features. Anyone who uses it loses every impression and all the traffic that comes with them. Google states the setting is not a ranking signal elsewhere in Search.
For the vast majority of businesses opting out is the wrong call. It only makes sense if you deliberately keep your content out of AI answers — for material behind a membership or subscription, for example. If you are considering it out of concern about attribution, the real question is a different one: how your content is cited, and whether what is said about you is correct.
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly is this report in Search Console?
In the left menu, open Performance and choose Generative AI (Search). The report combines AI Overviews and AI Mode. Generative features in Discover have a separate Discover report.
Why can't I see the report?
Three possible reasons: the rollout has not reached your property yet, the site does not have enough impressions in AI features, or it has been opted out of them. Nothing needs configuring — the report appears on its own.
Does the report show how much traffic I get from AI answers?
No. It counts impressions only — how often a link to your site appeared in an AI answer. Clicks, click-through rate and average position are not shown.
Does the report also show whether ChatGPT cites me?
No. Search Console only measures Google's features: AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus Discover in a separate report. There is no such report for ChatGPT, Perplexity or other providers; there you can only check manually and look at referral visits from them in your analytics.
What should I do if the report is empty?
Check access and structure rather than content. The two most common causes are AI crawlers blocked in robots.txt or by the hosting provider, and content that only appears once the browser renders it, so the crawler never sees it.
Is it worth opting out of AI answers?
In most cases, no. Opting out means losing every impression and all traffic from AI answers. It only makes sense for content you deliberately keep out of them, such as material for members or subscribers.