Google’s New Search Console AI Reports and Opt-Out Control, Explained

For the first time, Google Search Console shows how often your pages appear in Google’s AI features, and lets you decide whether your site takes part in them at all. Google announced both on June 3, 2026, tested them with a small group of sites, and says that as of August 31, 2026 they have rolled out to all websites worldwide. Here is what the new reports show, what they leave out, and why most businesses should think carefully before touching the new opt-out control.

What Google added#

Two things arrived together:

• Reports that show impressions for your pages in generative AI features: AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search, and AI features in Discover.
• A control that lets you choose whether your site appears in, and helps ground, the responses in those features.

What the new reports show#

The generative AI reports sit alongside the familiar Performance report. They break your AI feature impressions down by:

• Pages: which of your URLs appeared in AI responses.
• Countries: where those impressions happened.
• Devices: desktop or mobile, for Search (not Discover).
• Dates: hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.

Two details matter when you read them:

• These impressions are not new traffic. Google says AI feature impressions are already included in your overall Performance report totals. The new reports separate them out so you can see them on their own.
• Clicks are not included. At launch the reports show impressions, not clicks or click-through rate, and Google has not said click data is coming. Google has said it plans to add more metrics over time.

What the reports are useful for#

Even without clicks, the reports answer questions that were guesswork before:

• Which pages Google draws on for AI answers. If a page you consider important never appears and a minor one appears often, that is worth knowing when you decide which pages to improve next.
• Whether your important pages are visible where your buyers are. A US-focused business can check that its impressions come mainly from the US.
• How AI features relate to your normal search traffic. Compare a page’s AI feature impressions with its clicks in the main Performance report over the same period.

How to read them without fooling yourself#

• Impressions are not customers. An impression means your page appeared, not that anyone read it or acted on it.
• Look at trends, not single days. AI features change often, so weekly or monthly views give a steadier picture.
• Tie it back to enquiries. The numbers that matter to a business are still calls, forms and bookings. Track those in your analytics and CRM, by landing page, so you can see which pages actually bring work.

The new opt-out control#

Google now lets site owners choose, in Search Console, whether their site appears in generative AI features and helps ground their responses. Google is clear about two consequences:

• Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from Google’s generative AI features.
• The control will not be used as a ranking signal for normal search results outside those features.

Should you opt out?

For most businesses that want customers, probably not. Opting out removes your pages from a growing part of Google’s results without changing anything about your regular rankings in your favor.

There are cases where opting out is worth considering:

• Your content is your product. Publishers, course creators and paid research providers may decide that AI summaries of their work cost them more than they bring.
• Accuracy is critical. If summaries of your content are regularly wrong in ways that could mislead people, for example on regulated or safety-related topics, you may prefer people read your pages directly.

If you are unsure, do not switch it on by reflex. Watch the new reports for a few months first, so any decision is based on your own data.

What Google says helps#

Alongside the new reports, Google published updated guidance for site owners on its generative AI features. Its themes are unique, helpful content, clearly organized pages, a good page experience, and high-quality images and video. It is worth reading in full on Google’s Search Central site.

A simple monthly routine#

1. Open the generative AI report and note your AI feature impressions for the month.
2. List the top pages and check they are the pages you want people to find.
3. Compare those pages’ clicks in the main Performance report with last month.
4. Check enquiries and bookings by landing page in your analytics.
5. Write down anything that changed on the site that month, so you can explain movements later.

It takes 20 minutes and gives you a record that is far more useful than a single snapshot. If rankings moved recently, read our guide to the November 2026 core update before drawing conclusions.

Where we come in#

We help businesses be easy to find and easy to trust on Google, on Maps and in AI answers, and we report results in enquiries and bookings rather than impressions alone. If you want a second pair of eyes on your Search Console data, see our AI search and SEO page, or start a project.