You can finally see your AI Overview impressions, but not the clicks
Generative AI performance data and an opt-out switch are now live for every Search Console property. The reports count impressions rather than clicks, and the rollout may not have reached everyone it claims to.
- What changed. Generative AI performance reports and an opt-out control are now available on every Search Console property.
- Why it matters. You can see impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover's AI features, broken down by page, country and date. You cannot see clicks.
- Who should care. Anyone reporting organic performance, and anyone who has been told AI search is costing them traffic without being able to show it.
- What to do this week. Open Search Console, check the report exists on your properties, and decide before you are asked whether you want the opt-out on.
Google says its generative AI performance reports have rolled out to every website in Search Console worldwide, according to a note added to its Search Central blog on August 31, 2026, as reported by Search Engine Journal.
That's the headline claim, anyway. And headlines, like brochures for cars, don't always match what actually turns up on the driveway.
What's in the reports
The blog note itself, as quoted by Search Engine Journal, reads: "As of August 31, 2026, we've rolled out these insights to all websites worldwide."
The reports track impressions — not clicks — from three AI surfaces: AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features. Data is broken down by page, country, and date, with the Search report adding a device breakdown, per Search Engine Journal's paraphrase of Google's help documentation.
One catch: sites without enough AI impressions won't see a report at all, according to Google via Search Engine Journal. A bigger catch — Google's own help pages reportedly state the rollout is still in progress and that not all properties currently have access, sitting awkwardly next to the 'all websites worldwide' line above. This inconsistency is presented as reported, not resolved.
The opt-out control
Alongside the reports comes a new switch: a property-level opt-out setting in Search Console's Settings menu, according to Search Engine Journal. Toggle it, and a site is excluded from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover's generative AI features.
Google says, via Search Engine Journal, that opting out is not used as a ranking signal elsewhere in Search and has no effect on AI training, which remains governed separately through Google-Extended.
The regulatory backstory
This didn't appear out of goodwill. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority issued a conduct requirement on June 3, 2026, requiring Google to let sites opt out of AI search features without a ranking penalty, according to Search Engine Journal's reporting.
Testing began with a select group of UK website owners from June 2026, before the opt-out control started appearing outside the UK sometime in July 2026 — no exact date was supplied.
What's still pending
The CMA isn't done yet. It has set a March 2027 deadline for Google to introduce page-level opt-out controls, rather than the current property-wide setting, according to Search Engine Journal.
The regulator also expects click-through data to eventually appear in these reports; Google's August 31 update didn't address that. Google is separately required to report compliance with the CMA order every six months during the first year, per Search Engine Journal.
So: worldwide, except where it isn't yet. Fully featured, except for the clicks. A regulatory tidy-up, except for the parts still due in March 2027. Search Console has rarely sounded so simultaneously finished and unfinished.
Editor's note
- If impressions are up and clicks are flat, what will we tell the board that we can actually evidence?
- Do we want to appear in AI surfaces at all, and who decides?
- Which of our reporting lines silently assume a click we can no longer see?
Watch whether the rollout genuinely reaches every property, and whether click data ever follows the impression data.
Sources
- Search Engine Journal (single source; Google's Search Central note and help documentation as reported there, not independently verified)
- Google Search Central blog
