How to Track AI Overviews and AI Mode: Search Console, Tools and a Method That Holds Up

Google's Generative AI performance report was announced on June 3, 2026 and reached all sites by August 31, 2026. It shows impressions for AI Overviews and AI Mode, broken down by page, country, device and date. Several links from your site in the same Overview count as one impression at property level.

What it does not show: clicks (those are still counted inside the regular Performance report under the Web search type), the queries of sites other than yours, or who was linked instead of you. Google also explains how positions are counted: every link in an AI Overview gets the same position, the position of the Overview itself.

Search Console also gained a setting in August 2026 that lets a site opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting regular rankings. Check it is set the way you intend before you start measuring.

• Fix the question list. 50 to 100 searches your buyers actually make, grouped by intent. Do not keep changing it, or trends become meaningless.
• Record three things per search: whether an Overview appeared, whether you were linked, and which domains were linked.
• Wait for late-loading Overviews. Some Overviews load after the rest of the results. In our four-industry snapshot, 37 of the 94 Overviews loaded late and would have been recorded as empty by a tool that did not wait for them.
• Record the organic top ten too. It is your control. It shows whether you are losing the Overview while ranking, or losing both.
• Repeat monthly, same settings. Location, device and language change what appears.

AI Overviews are common on buyer questions. They appeared on 647 of 700 software questions in our software study and on 94 of 100 questions across fintech, healthcare, legal and ecommerce.

They also do not simply mirror the rankings. Only about half of their links came from domains in the organic top ten, and YouTube was the single most-linked site in the software study. If your tracking only watches your own rankings, it will miss most of what shapes the Overview. To act on what you find, see how to rank in AI Overviews.

Google's AI features and ChatGPT cite different sources: in our industry study, only 20 percent of the sites ChatGPT cited also appeared in Google's Overview for the same question. A single blended "AI visibility" number hides that. Track each surface separately, as described in AI visibility, or have it done as part of an AI SEO program.

Can I see AI Overview impressions in Search Console?

Yes, since 2026. Google announced a Generative AI performance report in June 2026 and rolled it out to all sites by August 31, 2026. It shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country, device and date. It does not show clicks.

How does Search Console count a position in an AI Overview?

Google gives every link in an AI Overview the same position: the position of the Overview itself on the page. In AI Mode, standard position rules apply and a follow-up question counts as a new query.

What do AI Overview tracking tools add?

Competitors. Search Console only shows your own site. A tracking tool, or your own fixed question set, shows which other sites the Overview linked instead of you, and how often an Overview appears at all.

Why do trackers disagree about whether an AI Overview appeared?

Overviews vary by time, location and device, and some load after the rest of the page. A tracker that does not wait for them will record the Overview as present but empty, or miss it. In our industry snapshot, 37 of the 94 Overviews loaded late.

• Google Search Central: Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (June 3, 2026)
• Google Search Console Help: Performance report metrics and positions
• Google Search Central: AI features and your website
• High Salience: AI answers in four industries (dataset)

Every High Salience engagement starts with the Category Salience Brief: your commercial questions run across Google and the AI surfaces, competitors side by side, and a ranked list of what to fix first.