Google finished rolling out its new AI performance report in Search Console to every site worldwide on August 31, 2026. It shows impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI Overviews in Discover, with no clicks and no queries, and it only covers Google's own AI surfaces, not ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity.
It shows how many times a page from your site was used as a source for one of Google's own generative AI features, broken down by page, country, device and date. Google first announced the generative AI performance report on its Search Central blog in June 2026, then completed the worldwide rollout to every Search Console property on August 31, 2026, after testing it with a UK group of sites first. The report groups together impressions from three Google surfaces: AI Overviews (the AI-generated summary above regular results), AI Mode (Google's full conversational search experience), and the generative AI features inside Discover.
Proof: Google Search Central blog, "Introducing Search generative AI performance reports in Search Console" (June 2026); Search Engine Land, "Google Search Console AI performance reports and Search generative AI control rolling out globally" (August 2026).
Do this: open the report and check which of your pages are generating AI impressions before assuming anything about whether AI recommends your business: impressions and recommendations are two different questions, covered in the wider AI search statistics roundup on this site.
The two things most site owners actually want, which query triggered the impression and whether anyone clicked, are both absent. Search Engine Land and Google's own help documentation confirm the report includes impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates, but no click data and no query breakdown, unlike the regular Search performance report most people already use.
| Data point | Regular Performance report | New AI performance report |
|---|---|---|
| Query-level data | Yes | No |
| Click counts | Yes | No |
| Impressions by page, country, device | Yes | Yes |
| Engines covered | Google Search | Google's AI Overviews, AI Mode, Discover AI only |
| Tells you if AI recommended you | No | No |
Rule of thumb: treat the AI performance report as a volume signal, not a diagnostic: it can tell you a page is being pulled into an AI surface, never why, and never what the AI actually said about you there.
An impression means Google's system pulled a snippet from your page into an AI answer; it does not mean that answer named your business as the recommendation. Reflexa tracks three separate outcomes for exactly this reason: a Mention (your brand is named somewhere in the answer), a Recommendation (your brand is the one AI actually suggests the buyer choose), and a Citation (your page is listed as a source). An AI Overview can cite your page as one of several sources while still recommending a competitor by name. The new Search Console report cannot distinguish between those outcomes at all, because it only counts impressions, not what the generated text said.
Bottom line: a rising impression count in Search Console can sit next to zero recommendations in the actual AI answer. The two numbers answer different questions.
No. It only measures Google's own AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover, so it has nothing to say about the other engines your buyers actually use. When someone asks ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity which company to choose, Search Console never sees that conversation, because none of those engines report back to Google. That gap matters because buyers increasingly start their research in those engines directly, not only in Google Search, a shift covered in more detail on the AI search statistics pillar and in AI search vs traditional search.
Shortcut: the free Reflexa check runs your real buyer questions across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity and shows whether you're mentioned, recommended or cited in each one, the measurement Search Console was never built to give you.
None of the steps below need a purchase, and most take a few minutes each:
Do this: read the two reports together, never one alone: Search Console tells you Google's own AI pulled from your site, the free check tells you what AI actually said once it did.
Sources: Google Search Central blog, generative AI performance reports (June 2026) · Search Engine Land, AI performance reports and generative AI control rolling out globally (August 2026) · Reflexa: AI Search Statistics 2026
Google announced the report in June 2026, tested it first with a UK group of sites, then rolled it out to every Search Console property worldwide on August 31, 2026.
No. It breaks AI impressions down by page, country, device and date, but there is no query-level breakdown, unlike the regular Search performance report.
Yes. It combines impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover into one view, without separating them out.
No. The report only covers Google's own AI Overviews and AI Mode. It has no data on ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity, so AI impressions in Search Console tell you nothing about whether those engines ever name you.
Yes. Google added a content control toggle alongside the report that lets a site opt its content out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI Overviews in Discover.
The free check runs real buyer questions across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity — 3 minutes, evidence included.