Google’s New AI Search Report: How to See Whether AI Overviews Are Showing Your Website

Manually googling yourself to “see if you are in an AI Overview” was never a measurement method. Overviews do not fire on every query, and supporting links change.

Google announced dedicated Search Generative AI performance reports on 3 June 2026. The Search Console help article states that as of 31 August 2026 the insights were rolled out to websites worldwide. The Search report currently covers AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The central metric is impressions: how often links to your site were shown in those features. You can group by page, country, device and date. There is no query dimension, and no dedicated AI click-through rate. AI traffic remains mixed into ordinary Web search performance.

Think of it as a visibility diagnostic. It can confirm Google is showing you as a supporting source. It cannot reconstruct every answer a customer saw, and it is not a lead report.

Use the property that matches the live hostname and protocol, not an abandoned HTTP prefix.

1. Open Search Console and confirm the domain.
2. Open the Generative AI performance report (Search). Google also launched a Discover variant; this article is about Search.
3. Start with the longest date range that has data, then narrow it.
4. Read the trend. The newest dotted segment may still change.
5. Open Pages — data is generally assigned to the canonical URL.
6. Check Countries and Devices. A Johannesburg business should see whether South Africa and mobile dominate.
7. Export monthly if you need a record beyond the UI.

If the report is missing, do not assume a penalty. Google lists insufficient generative-AI impressions as a reason. Also check Settings → Search generative AI. Inclusion is the default; a parent property can exclude a child.

A rising impression line means links were shown more often. Match it to enquiries, calls and sales before you celebrate. Start at page level: a service guide or FAQ with steady impressions should have a current fact, a next step, and an honest limit.

Mobile-heavy exposure means you read the page on a real phone. Country data helps you ignore markets you do not serve. A short dip is not proof of a penalty — demand, seasonality, indexing and feature availability all move. Compare a meaningful period and inspect ordinary Performance, Page indexing and URL Inspection first.

Chart totals and table totals can differ because Google aggregates them differently, and the report inherits Search Console’s row limits. Those are reporting traits, not always site faults.

Generative Engine Optimisation is often sold as new files and fragment formulas. Google’s AI optimisation guide says ordinary SEO still applies because AI features use the Search index and quality systems. A page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. The AI features documentation says there are no extra technical requirements to appear as a supporting link.

Google says you do not need an llms.txt file, special AI markup, Markdown clones or a chunking formula. There is no dedicated schema type for AI Overviews. Structured data still helps ordinary rich results when it matches the visible page.

A Johannesburg accountant or store is more likely to be cited by explaining real process, prices, limits and South African context than by spinning thin prompt pages. Scaled unhelpful content remains a spam problem.

1. Verify the live domain in Search Console.
2. Confirm inclusion under Settings → Search generative AI.
3. Inspect priority URLs for accidental noindex, robots, canonical or server errors.
4. Record AI impressions, trend, top pages, countries and devices.
5. Compare with ordinary Web clicks, queries and position.
6. Prioritise pages tied to services you actually sell.
7. Add first-hand process, limits and local facts where they help a buyer.
8. Update prices, staff, legislation and dates that drifted.
9. Use descriptive headings without forcing every sentence into a fragment.
10. Link educational pieces to the matching SEO service page.
11. Read the page on a mid-range Android on 4G.
12. Judge qualified enquiries, not impressions alone.

Change one cluster at a time so you can learn. Visibility is not the product — the destination is.

On this site we already publish dated articles, FAQ blocks that match visible questions, organisation details on About, and an llms.txt for other crawlers. Google has said it does not use llms.txt for AI Overviews — we keep it as a courtesy file, not a ranking lever.

Client SEO retainers start with Search Console you can see, not a GEO package. We look at the new report next to ordinary queries and the converting URL. If impressions exist, we improve those pages. If they do not, we fix inclusion, indexing and whether the page says anything a summary cannot. Book a call if you want that pass rather than a prompt template.