How to Use Google Search Console’s AI Performance Report

Use Google Search Console’s AI performance report to find which pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Then check those same pages in the regular Web report and your lead records before deciding what to change. A page can gain exposure while attracting few visits, and a page with modest exposure can still help bring in qualified enquiries.

What the AI performance report measures

The Search report shows impressions for links in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It breaks them down by page, country, device and date. The report does not give you a list of triggering queries or a separate click count. Google includes this visibility in the broader Web performance data, so adding AI impressions to Web impressions would double-count part of your visibility. The Discover AI report is separate. Google’s guide to the Search report explains its scope and counting rules.

If the report is missing, Google says your site may have too few impressions in the supported features or may be excluded through the site’s Search generative AI settings. Treat the missing report as unavailable data. Use the Web report to keep reviewing search traffic while you check access and eligibility. Our AI Overviews eligibility checklist covers the technical checks.

Build a page review around three measures

1. AI exposure. Open the Generative AI performance report for your site. Pick the country you sell to and compare two complete periods of the same length. Leave out dates shown as preliminary. Export the Pages table and start with pages that answer a question your prospective customers ask.
2. Google search visits. In the regular Search results report, choose Web and check those pages for the same country and dates. Compare clicks, impressions and the queries bringing exposure. A page can lose overall click-through rate because it started showing for more low-ranking queries. Check a stable set of important queries before rewriting its title. Google’s Web performance report guide explains how to read these metrics.
3. Business enquiries. If your tracking has been tested, open the GA4 Landing page report and add Session source / medium to examine Google organic sessions and the relevant key event. Compare submitted forms with the enquiries your team accepted as qualified. Match the same canonical page where possible and account for URL variations and reporting time zones. A page-level comparison can guide a decision, but it cannot tie an enquiry to a specific AI answer. Google’s GA4 Landing page guide shows how to add the session dimension.

Keep one row per page per period. Include the date range, country, AI impressions, Web impressions, Web clicks, relevant form submissions and qualified enquiries. Keep missing values blank and note why. Calculate Web click-through rate from Web clicks divided by Web impressions. The AI report has no separate click numerator for an AI-specific rate.

Decide what to change first

• AI impressions rise while Web clicks fall. Inspect which queries gained impressions and where the page typically appears for them. If most of the added exposure is for broad questions at weak positions, strengthen the answer and its connection to the buyer’s next question. If the same relevant queries still appear at useful positions but earn fewer clicks, compare the title and snippet against the current results for those queries.
• Web clicks rise while qualified enquiries stay flat. Check the page on a phone and submit a test enquiry. If the form works, review whether the page makes the next step clear and sets expectations on service area, scope and what happens after submission. Read the reasons your team disqualifies enquiries before adding more traffic.
• AI exposure is modest and the page brings in qualified enquiries. Protect the sections that help buyers decide. Add supporting detail where prospects repeatedly ask for it. Review the page again after a full reporting period.

Example: Choose one change you can evaluate

Imagine a commercial cleaning company whose office cleaning cost guide gains AI impressions but loses Web clicks. Its detailed guide now appears for more general questions about cleaning, while clicks from quote-related searches are steady. The sales team says prospects often omit the site size and required frequency. The next change could be a short quote-preparation checklist on the existing guide. It answers an observed buyer question and gives the sales team a concrete outcome to review: how often enquiries arrive with enough detail to prepare a quote.

Log the change and its date. At the next complete comparison, look at the same priority queries and count enquiries with the details you asked for. If the numbers are small, read the enquiries and collect more data before judging the change.

Review the pages that matter to your business

Start with a service page and the guide that most often supports it. If you want help connecting search visibility to the enquiries your team can act on, explore 8 Core Marketing’s SEO services or request a strategy call. For more background, see our guide to generative engine optimization.