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Google is now giving us actual AI-search performance data

AI reporting

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Table of Contents

Key Takeaways
  • Google Search Console now reports AI search performance data. Impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features have been visible for all properties worldwide since August 2026.
  • A multimodal search filter launched on 24 September 2026 showing exactly how much traffic comes from Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and Chrome's right click image search.
  • Click data is not yet part of the AI search report. Only impressions are available right now, but Google and the UK's CMA have both committed to adding click data in a future update.
  • You can opt out of AI search features at the property level inside Search Console Settings, but doing so removes your site from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI surfaces entirely.
  • Brands that start reading and acting on these reports now will have months of optimisation data before competitors even know the reports exist.

Search Console now includes AI search performance metrics. The number of impressions your pages generate inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features has been reportable since August 2026, covering every website globally. Then, on 24 September 2026, Google went a step further and added a multimodal search filter that tracks traffic driven by image-led search behaviours, including Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads, and the right click image search function built into Chrome.

For most brands, this is the first time AI search visibility has been measurable at all. Previously there was no way to confirm whether your content appeared in an AI Overview, let alone track it over time. That has now changed. The data is inside your existing Search Console account, and it is available today.

Brands that start reading these reports now and adjusting their AI search optimisation strategy will hold a measurable advantage. The window where this data is new and most competitors have not yet noticed it will not stay open long.

What Google Added to Search Console

Google's generative AI performance reports were first rolled out on 31 August 2026 and made available to all properties globally by late September 2026 according to Search Engine Journal. The reports sit inside the existing Performance tab in Search Console and add a new search type filter labelled Generative AI alongside the familiar Web, Image, Video, and News filters.

🤖
AI Overviews
The AI generated summary boxes at the top of Google Search results. Impressions here mean your content was included in one of these summaries when a user searched.
💬
AI Mode
Google's conversational search experience where users ask follow up questions and receive full AI powered answers. Impressions here signal strong topical authority in your category.
📰
Discover (Generative AI)
AI curated content recommendations inside Google Discover. This filter separates generative AI layer impressions from standard Discover traffic so you can measure each independently.
Google Search Console generative AI performance report breakdown by page, country, date and device
The generative AI performance report uses the same breakdown dimensions you already use for standard Search: page, country, date, and device. The interface is identical. Only the data source is different.

The report breaks your AI search impressions down by page, country, date, and device, using the same dimensions you are used to in the standard Search Performance report. What it does not yet include is click data. As of the August 2026 launch, impressions are the only metric available. Both Google and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority have stated that click data will be added in a future update.

📌 If your property shows no AI search data yet, it is most likely because your site has not reached the minimum impression threshold Google requires before surfacing the report. This does not mean your content is absent from AI results. It means volume is currently too low to display. Work on improving your AI citation signals first, then check back as impressions build.

The Multimodal Search Filter Added in September 2026

On 24 September 2026, Google added a second major update to Search Console: a multimodal search filter. This surfaces impression and click data for searches where a visual input was part of the query, covering four distinct search behaviours that were previously invisible to publishers.

4 image based search types now tracked in Search Console for the first time
Sep 24 2026: the date the multimodal filter went live globally across all Search Console accounts
Search Type How a User Triggers It Most Relevant For
Google Lens User points their camera at an object or scans an image to search for it E-commerce, product pages, retail and home decor brands
Circle to Search Android feature: user circles any image on their screen to trigger a Google search App content, social media linked product pages
Image Upload User uploads a photo directly into the Google Search bar Visually rich content: interiors, fashion, food, property listings
Search This Image (Chrome) User right clicks any image in Chrome and selects Google Search Blog imagery, press coverage, product photography
⚠️ No query data for multimodal searches. When you select the multimodal filter, the Queries tab becomes unavailable. Google has stated this is because multimodal searches are image led and carry no text query string to report. You will see page level impression and click data only.
1 Read the Data First

How to Access and Read Your AI Search Data

Both the generative AI report and the multimodal filter sit inside the Performance section of Google Search Console. Here is the exact sequence to follow when you open it for the first time.

  • ✓ Open Search Console, go to Performance, then select Search results
  • ✓ Click the Search type dropdown and select Generative AI to load the AI impressions report
  • ✓ For multimodal data, select Web as the search type first, then look for the multimodal filter option below it
  • ✓ Set your date range to the last 3 months to get enough data volume to identify trends
  • ✓ Sort by Impressions in descending order to see which pages have the strongest AI search presence
  • ✓ Compare Generative AI impressions against standard Web impressions for the same pages to measure your AI visibility ratio

Understanding Total Impressions

Inside the generative AI report, total impressions are currently the main performance metric available. An impression is recorded when your content appears within an AI-generated search result, so the number tells you how often Google is surfacing your pages across these AI search experiences. The most useful way to read this data is not by focusing on one total, but by watching how the impression trend changes over time.

Illustrative Google Search Console total impressions trend over a three month period
An illustrative Search Console impressions view over three months. Focus on the direction and consistency of the trend rather than the sample total shown in the image.
Visibility Total impressions show how often your page is surfaced in search results. A rising trend means your content is being shown more frequently.
Trend Compare impressions across weeks and months to identify whether visibility is growing, stable or declining instead of judging performance from a single day.

A consistent upward impression trend is the signal to watch. If impressions increase over several weeks, identify which pages are contributing most to that growth and review what those pages have in common. If impressions remain flat or fall, look at content structure, topical coverage and the clarity of the answers your pages provide. Click data is not yet included in the Generative AI report, so impressions should currently be treated as a visibility signal rather than a complete traffic metric.

Wrong Read "The total impression number is all that matters, so one strong day means the strategy is working."
Right Read "The direction of the impression trend matters more than one snapshot. I should compare the strongest pages and look for repeatable patterns behind sustained growth."
2 Act on the Signals

What Every Signal Means and What You Should Do About It

Impression data only becomes actionable after it has been translated into a decision about content. Here is what each signal means and what to do about it.

If Your AI Impressions Are Increasing Month to Month

Determine which are the high performing pages and analyse them for patterns they share in terms of structure. How are they structured? Do they include a direct answer to the query within the first 100 words? Are they using clear H2 titles that correspond to the way people ask questions? Are they filled with specific, factual content as opposed to general discussion?

Missed Opportunity Having good AI impressions on one page and failing to audit how that page is doing things differently than others.
Right Move Using high performing pages as a template. Figure out how they are structured and build that structure site-wide to increase your overall AI impression count.

If You Have Poor or Zero AI Impressions

Your content structure is probably lacking the pieces needed for the AI system to extract an answer and attribute the source of that answer. The most critical element of structure is the Answer Capsule: an explicit answer to the query contained in the first 100 words of the section. Check your full AI SEO performance indicators alongside your GSC data to identify the specific gaps.

If You Have Meaningful Multimodal Impressions

This indicates that the images from your website are being discovered by users through image based searches. Review the alt tags, file names, and surrounding body text for every image on your site that has traffic. The best kind of alt tag describes the image as a user would see it, rather than using only target keywords. For interior images and product images, image optimisation is tied directly to multimodal impressions.

💡 The opt-out setting inside Search Console lets you remove your site from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features entirely. For most brands this is the wrong move. You lose all AI search visibility and all the data that comes with it. The opt-out is separate from Google Extended, which controls AI model training use. If training data is your concern, adjust Google Extended, not the AI search setting.

What Is Coming Next for These Reports

The current generative AI reports are a starting point. The UK CMA has given Google a set of publisher transparency requirements to meet, and the timeline attached to those requirements gives us a clear view of what is coming to Search Console over the next 12 months.

Feature Current Status When to Expect It
AI search impressions (Generative AI filter) Live globally since August 2026 Available now in all accounts
Multimodal search filter (Lens, Circle to Search, uploads) Live globally since September 2026 Available now in all accounts
Click data for AI search results Not yet available Required by CMA; expected in 2027
Page level opt-out control Not yet available (property level only) Required by CMA by March 2027
Multimodal data inside the generative AI report Partial rollout Confirmed by Google; timeline not stated

When click data arrives, AI search becomes a fully measurable performance channel rather than an impressions indicator. Brands that build their AI search presence now will have months of optimised content and established citation signals when that measurement capability lands. Brands that wait will be starting from zero with competitors already ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to Search Console, open the Performance section, and select Search results. In the Search type dropdown at the top of the report, look for a Generative AI option. If your property has reached the minimum impression threshold, the report will be available there. For multimodal data, select Web as the search type first, then look for the multimodal sub-filter that appears below. Both filters were available globally by the end of September 2026, though some accounts with very low traffic may still be waiting for the threshold to trigger.
The most likely reason is that your site has not yet reached the minimum impression threshold Google requires before surfacing the report. Your content may already be appearing inside AI Overviews or AI Mode but not frequently enough to generate data that Search Console will display. The fix is to strengthen your content's AI citation signals: direct answer structures in the first 100 words of each section, clear topical authority signals, and accurate structured data markup. Then check back as impressions accumulate over the following weeks.
Not yet. As of the August 2026 launch, the Generative AI performance report shows impressions only. There is no click, CTR, or average position data included. Both Google and the UK's CMA have committed to adding click data in a future update. Until then, use impressions as your directional signal and track the month on month trend rather than drawing conclusions from a single snapshot.
The multimodal filter shows performance data for searches that used a visual input: Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android devices, image uploads into Google Search, and Chrome's right click search function. It is most relevant for e-commerce brands, product pages, interior design and property listings, food and hospitality businesses, and any site where imagery is a primary discovery path. If you have strong product photography or location photography, your multimodal impression data is likely the most interesting part of the new Search Console reporting.
For most businesses, no. Opting out removes your site from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI surfaces entirely. Google has confirmed this does not affect standard Search rankings, but you lose all presence on the channel that is growing fastest in terms of user adoption. The opt-out setting exists because the UK CMA required Google to give publishers a genuine choice. Treat it as a last resort rather than a strategy. The more productive move is to stay visible, track your AI impressions through Search Console, and use that data to improve how your content performs inside these features.

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Jiayi G.

Jiayi Gan is the CMO at Marvant Evolutions, with experience spanning startups & leading 4A MNC advertising agencies. She has managed multi-million-ringgit advertising investments across Google, Meta, and TikTok for businesses across multiple industries. Today, she leads AI-powered marketing initiatives across SEO, AIGC, marketing automation, and performance media, enabling brands to improve search visibility, scale content production, and accelerate business growth.

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