Google Search Console now includes AI Mode and AI Overview
Google has updated their Search Console documentation, now confirming that traffic from AI Mode and AI Overview is included in the Performance report.
For SEO specialists and marketing managers, this is an important update, as it provides a more complete picture of how content performs in search results that include Google's AI-generated elements.
What are AI Mode and AI Overview?
- AI Mode extends AI Overviews with a more interactive experience, where the user's query is broken down into subtopics and links to relevant resources are displayed.
- AI Overview is a brief summary with links to external sources that support the information shown.
How data is counted in Search Console
- Clicks: A click on a link in AI Mode or AI Overview is counted as a click in Search Console.
- Impressions: Standard rules for impressions apply.
- Position: AI Mode and AI Overview are assigned a position in the search results using the same methodology as other elements.
An important limitation
Although AI Mode and AI Overview are now included in the Performance report, data is not shown in a separate tab — as we know from, for example, product snippets or image results.
This means it remains challenging to isolate and analyse exactly how content performs in AI-generated results.
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this changes going forward!"
For now, SEO specialists must work with aggregated data and be aware that AI traffic is mixed in with other organic results.
