A step-by-step process for accessing, interpreting, and acting on Google Search Console's Generative AI performance report. Built for ecommerce operators and agencies. Process before prompts.

What this report actually is (read this first)

On June 3, 2026, Google added a dedicated Generative AI view to Search Console that isolates impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode — the times a link to your content was surfaced inside one of Google's AI answers. Generative features in Discover are covered in a separate report.

Before you build anything on top of this, internalise one thing: this is an impressions report, not a scoreboard. It tells you where Google is willing to surface your content inside AI answers, and how often. It does not tell you:

• What query triggered the answer
• Whether anyone clicked
• Whether anyone even noticed the citation
• Whether the appearance drove a sale

Treat it as a diagnostic lens, not a performance metric. Its value comes almost entirely from comparison — AI visibility against conventional organic visibility — not from the raw impression count. That comparison is the engine of this whole SOP; everything else is setup around it.

Current-state caveats (verify before you rely on this):

• Still rolling out to a subset of properties — you may not have it yet.
• Impressions-only. No clicks, CTR, position, or query data as of this writing. Google has said more metrics may come, with no timeline. Re-check before assuming a section is out of date.
• Recent data is preliminary and may revise. Don't react to single days.
• The data table is capped at 1,000 rows — relevant for large catalogues (see Part 1).
• AI impressions are also counted inside your overall Performance totals — this view is a separated lens on the same data, not a new, additive number.

Part 0 — Before you start

You'll need:

• [ ] Search Console access to the property (verify you actually have the Generative AI view — not all properties do yet)