Search Console now has an AI performance report.

Google just gave us our first real look at AI search traffic. On June 3, 2026, Google launched Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console. Search Console is Google's free tool that shows how your site does in search. The new Search Console AI performance report shows how your site does inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. They also cover the generative AI features in Discover.

I've been waiting for this one. For the past year, almost every business owner I talk to asks me the same thing: "Are AI Overviews stealing my traffic?" The honest answer has been that nobody knows for sure. Google wasn't showing us the data. That changes now, at least in part. Let's walk through it.

What Google actually launched

An impression is one time your site is shown to someone. Until now, your site might show up in an AI Overview or an AI Mode answer. That impression got mixed into your regular Search Console performance report. It was counted. But you couldn't tell it apart from a normal blue-link impression. You had no way to know how much came from AI features and how much came from regular results.

The new reports fix that. Search Console now has a dedicated view for generative AI visibility. It's split into Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode) and Discover. Your main performance report works just like before. This is a new way to look at the same data. It doesn't change how anything is counted.

What the AI performance report shows

The reports show your AI visibility in five ways:

• Impressions — how often pages from your site showed up in AI features in Search and Discover.
• Pages — which pages show up in AI answers. This is the one I'd watch most.
• Countries — where in the world those impressions are happening.
• Devices — what people are using when they see you (Search results only).
• Dates — changes over time. You can view them by hour, day, week, or month.

The hourly view is a nice touch. Say you post something new or get mentioned somewhere. You can watch your AI visibility change almost right away.

The catch: impressions, but no clicks

Notice anything missing from that list? Clicks.

The new reports tell you how often Google's AI features show your pages. They don't tell you if anyone clicked. And clicks are the whole question. An AI Overview answers the question right on the results page. So people may not need to click. That's why site owners have been worried about them from the start.

Google says it's "continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights and data would be most helpful." It also mentions "adding additional metrics over time." Here's what I think that means. Clicks are probably coming, but nobody will say when. Until then, treat these reports as visibility data, not traffic data. They tell you if people see you. They don't tell you if people visit.

Why this matters for local businesses

Say a homeowner asks Google "who's the best water damage restoration company near me." AI Mode doesn't give them ten blue links anymore. It writes an answer. And it names the businesses it trusts. If you're in that answer, people see you. If you're not, nobody sees you. And you'd never know why.

These reports are the first tool that lets a local service business really measure that. You'll see if your service pages show up in AI answers. You'll see which ones. And you'll see if that number is going up or down.

Here's the part I want to be clear about. Getting into those answers is not some new secret trick. AI features use the same basics I've talked about for years. You need an accurate Google Business Profile. You need a steady stream of real reviews. You need proper schema markup. And you need service pages that answer the questions people ask. The work is the same. Google just finally gave us a scoreboard.

It's also not the only big change in local search this summer. Google is merging Local Services Ads into Google Ads starting in August. It's a busy time.

What to do now

None of this is urgent. But here's a short list worth doing:

• Check Search Console. Look for the new generative AI view under Performance. If it's not there yet, you're not in the first group. Check back each month.
• Write down your starting point. Note your AI impressions in week one. Later, you can tell if the changes you make really move the number.
• Check the basics. Put schema on every page. Keep your Google Business Profile complete and accurate. Get reviews every week. AI answers are built from these things. (The full guide: what AEO is and how it works.)
• Compare AI vs. regular results. Watch how much of your impressions come from AI features over time. That shows where local search is going.
• Tell Google you want clicks data. There's a feedback form just for these reports. The more site owners ask, the sooner it comes.

Where we come in

Every website we build comes with the things AI answers pull from. It has full schema markup and fast pages. It has a clear page for every service and city you cover. And it has a review funnel that keeps new 5-star reviews coming. We didn't do that to bet on AI. It's just what good local SEO looks like. But it's why our clients often show up when AI names businesses.

As these reports come out, we'll record a starting point for every client. Then we'll add AI visibility to how we measure what's working. Want to know if your business shows up in AI answers? Or why it doesn't? That's a 20-minute conversation.

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