If you've logged into Google Search Console over the last couple of weeks and spotted a new "Generative AI" option, you're not imagining things. Google has started quietly rolling out a dedicated report that shows how your site shows up in its AI-powered search experiences (think AI Overviews and AI Mode). We caught wind of it internally and had our team dig through client accounts to see who has access, where it lives, and what it actually shows. Here's the rundown.
What's New
The new report lives inside the existing Performance section of Search Console and gives you visibility into impressions your site is generating specifically from Google's generative AI search surfaces — separate from traditional Search results and Discover.
For an industry that's spent the last year and a half asking "how do we even measure AI visibility?", this is a meaningful first step. It's the clearest signal yet that Google intends to treat generative surfaces as their own reportable channel, not just a footnote inside classic search results.
Where to Actually Find It
Here's where it gets a little messy: the report isn't showing up in the same place for every property. Our team found it living in two different spots depending on the account:
Some accounts have it as its own top-level report directly under Performance, sitting alongside Search results and Discover:
Other accounts have it nested a level deeper, tucked under Performance > Search results as a sub-report:
If you go looking and don't see it right away, check both locations before assuming your property hasn't gotten it yet.
The Rollout Is a Mixed Bag
True to form for a Google beta rollout, access is inconsistent right now. Across our client portfolio, some team members are seeing it on roughly half their accounts, others on fewer than half, and a few of us have it on almost none. There's no obvious pattern yet by industry, site size, or traffic volume. It genuinely looks like a staggered rollout rather than an eligibility-based one. If you or your clients don't have it, don't worry just yet. It's likely just a matter of time.
One Big Caveat: It's Impressions Only (For Now)
Before you get too excited about a new dashboard to obsess over, temper expectations on what it actually reports. Right now, the metric available is impressions only. This lines up with Google's own announcement of the report on the Search Central blog, and our team confirmed directly with Google that impressions are the only metric available for now — so it's not a bug or a data delay on our end.
That's a frustrating limitation. Impressions alone tell you that you're being surfaced, but not whether that visibility is translating into anything a client can act on or attribute value to. We'd expect (or at least hope) that Google expands this over time, but for now, treat it as a directional signal rather than a full performance metric.
What This Means for You
- Go check your properties, and check both locations before ruling a client out.
- Don't panic if it's not there yet. The rollout looks staggered, not selective.
- Set expectations with clients that this is early-stage reporting: useful for tracking AI visibility trends over time, not yet a substitute for the performance data they're used to.
- Keep an eye on this space. Given how fast the generative search landscape is moving, we'd bet this report gets more metrics, more granularity, or more prominence in Search Console sooner rather than later.
We'll keep monitoring the rollout and report back as Google adds more to this feature. In the meantime, go check your Search Consoles, you might have new data waiting for you.
