Search Console Generative AI Performance Report: How to Check AI Overview and AI Mode Visibility

What the generative AI performance report shows

The report lists impressions for URLs shown in generative AI features in Google Search. You can examine the data by page, country, date, and device. AI Overviews and AI Mode are included together, rather than reported as separate features. Google's announcement explains the available dimensions.

Item	What it tells you	What it does not tell you
Impressions	How often a link to a URL appeared in Google AI features	How often that link was clicked
Pages	Which URLs appeared and how often	Which queries caused the appearance
Country, device, and date	Where, on what device, and when visibility occurred	A separate total for AI Overviews and AI Mode

For example, an increase in impressions for a service page means that page appeared more often in generative AI features. It does not establish that a page edit created more enquiries. Review organic clicks, GA4 visits, and conversions separately.

Why chart and table totals can differ

The chart is aggregated at the property level, while the page table is aggregated by URL. If several URLs from a site appear in one generative AI result, the totals may not match. That difference does not necessarily indicate a tracking problem. Compare figures with the same view and aggregation level. Google documents the aggregation rules.

What to check when the report is missing

If the report is unavailable, the site may not have enough generative AI impressions, or its Search Console setting may exclude it from generative AI features. A missing report cannot be explained by content quality alone.

Check the Search Console setting, public access to the URL, indexing, and snippet restrictions. See our checklist for sites missing from Google AI Overviews for the technical checks.

Search Console and GA4 measure different things

Google Analytics 4 can classify visits from known AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, in its AI Assistant channel. Links from AI Overviews and AI Mode are not part of that channel; Google classifies them under Organic Search. Google's default channel-group documentation describes the distinction.

Use the tools for separate questions.

Question	Primary place to check	Metric
Did a URL appear in Google's generative AI features?	Search Console generative AI performance report	Impressions
Did visitors arrive from ChatGPT or another AI assistant?	GA4 Traffic acquisition	Sessions, landing pages, key events
What happened across Google Search overall?	Search Console search performance	Clicks, impressions, CTR, position
Did a visit lead to a business outcome?	GA4 and enquiry or sales records	Key events, qualified leads, sales

The GA4 AI Assistant channel classifies visits when the referrer matches a known source. It cannot capture visits with no passed referrer, or people who read an AI answer and later visit through another route. Treat it as the traffic that was identified, not every effect an AI answer may have had.

For a measurement framework that also covers brand mentions, page citations, and competitive share, see our guide to AI search visibility measurement.

Choose review priorities from the pages that appear

The page list in the report can guide review priorities. A high impression count is not a reason to rewrite every page. Consider the page's business role and present condition.

Page situation	Review	Decision
High visibility on a page tied to enquiries	Answer, scope, pricing or conditions, evidence	Review the content and next step first
High visibility on an informational article	Relevant next pages and the reader's next action	Keep the article useful; review internal links
Low visibility on an important page	Access, indexing, generative AI setting, central question	Review technical access and content gaps
Falling visibility	Update date, changes, seasonality, ordinary Search trend	Record conditions before assigning a cause

If a pricing or comparison page appears often, check whether its conclusion is followed by the scope, included work, extra costs, and the date of the information. The aim is to help people judge the offer after opening the page—not to repeat the same wording for more impressions.

Record changes alongside the metrics

Keep the edit date and the edited sections with page-level performance data. A monthly comparison alone cannot separate a content change from seasonality, campaigns, demand shifts, or changes to Google's features.

Record	Example
Target URL and central question	A pricing page for prospective recruitment-site buyers
Edit date and details	Added scope and extra-cost conditions to the price table
Comparison period	Matching days before and after the edit, or year over year
Search Console	Generative AI impressions; organic clicks and CTR
GA4	AI Assistant, Organic Search, landing page, key events
Business outcome	Enquiry quality, qualified leads, sales

More visibility with fewer enquiries calls for a review of the page and its next step. Conversely, a small number of visits may produce valuable leads. Do not reduce these signals to one success metric; look at how people find the information, what they read, and what they do next.

Review technical access and content after checking visibility

The generative AI performance report is a starting point for choosing a page to examine. Impressions alone do not prove that a change worked. Check whether the URL is accessible, whether search display is restricted, whether it answers a central question, and whether it gives readers the relevant conditions and evidence.

Please Cite Me! audits the technical condition and content of a public URL, including crawl access, headings, evidence, and useful detail. Use it to decide what to review first on a page identified in the report.