How to Use Google Search Console’s New Generative AI Data to Improve Your SEO

Google Search Console, Generative AI, Performance Search Results page, comparing 24-hour-period from today and yesterday, with AI impressions increasing

If you run a website, you’ve probably noticed a massive shift in how people find information online. Between AI Overviews at the top of search results and interactive search interfaces like AI Mode, traditional organic search traffic patterns are changing fast.

For a long time, site owners had no clear way to measure this visibility. Google addressed this gap by introducing dedicated Generative AI performance reporting inside Google Search Console (GSC). If the update has rolled out to your Search Console account, you can now track, isolate, and evaluate how often your site’s content is being cited in Google’s generative AI features.

Here is a breakdown of what this data actually shows, how to find it, and how to use it to strengthen your content strategy.

What Data Does the GSC Generative AI Report Show?

Previously, impressions from AI Overviews were mixed directly into your standard “Web” search performance report. If Google cited one of your pages inside an AI overview card, it registered alongside standard organic listings, making it difficult to separate traditional search rankings from generative AI citations.

The update introduces a dedicated view built specifically for generative AI visibility:

Dedicated Generative AI Reports: Separate performance views for generative AI features across both Google Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode) and Google Discover.
Page-Level Citation Breakdown: Clear visibility into which specific pages on your site are appearing as source links in generative AI responses.
Granular Filters: Options to break down your AI visibility by country, device type, and date.

Note on Feature Availability: Google rolled out this report in phases (initially starting with UK properties before expanding globally). If you don’t see the “Generative AI” section in your Search Console sidebar yet, it may not be enabled for your specific property yet.

Understanding the Core Metric: AI Impressions

The most important detail to understand about the dedicated Generative AI performance report is its metric focus: it tracks impressions.

An impression is recorded when a link to your web page appears inside a generative AI response (such as an AI Overview snippet or source citation card) and is scrolled into the user’s view.

Clicks and CTR from AI features continue to be tracked in the broader main Search Performance report, while this dedicated view isolates raw AI visibility.

Is AI Impression Data Useful Without Clicks?

Yes. While clicks are ultimately what most site owners care about, impression data answers a different question: Is Google using my content as a source in its generative AI responses?

If a page consistently receives AI impressions, you know that Google is surfacing it for relevant queries. You can then compare that visibility with the page’s traditional Search performance, identify topics where your content is being recognized, and look for opportunities to improve the page’s ability to attract visitors.

Clicks and CTR remain available in the broader Search Performance report, so the dedicated Generative AI report isn’t replacing traffic data. It gives you an additional layer of information about where your content is appearing in Google’s evolving search experience.

How Aggregation Works (Property vs. Page Level)

When reading your impression numbers, keep in mind how Google aggregates the data:

At the Property Level: If Google cites two or three different pages from your website within a single AI Overview response, GSC counts this as one single impression in your total property chart. This prevents your total impression count from being artificially inflated by a single query.
At the Page Level: When you switch to the Pages tab to see individual URLs, each page receives credit for appearing in that response. Because of this, adding up the individual page impressions in the table will naturally produce a higher number than the chart’s total property count – this is expected behavior.

How to Access the AI Performance Data

If the feature is enabled on your property, follow these steps to check your site’s AI visibility:

Log in to your verified Google Search Console property.
Look at the left navigation sidebar under the Performance header.
Click on the dedicated Generative AI report (or filter by Search Appearance under your standard Performance menu).
Toggle between dimensions – Pages, Countries, Devices, and Dates – to see where your content is making its way into AI responses.

Practical Ways to Use Your AI Impression Data

Tracking impressions gives you a direct look at which pages Google is currently selecting as sources for generative AI responses. Here is how to apply those insights:

1. Identify Your “Anchor Pages”

Open the Pages tab within your Generative AI report. The URLs at the top of this list are your high-performing “anchor pages” – pages that Google is currently citing in generative AI responses.

Study what those pages actually cover.

Ask yourself: “What do my pages that Google is already citing have in common?”

That could reveal things like:

They answer specific questions particularly well.
They cover a topic more comprehensively.
They contain original information or examples.
They address a specific search intent.
They explain something clearly that competing pages don’t.
They have stronger topical relevance.

Look for broader patterns across these pages. These patterns can give you useful insight into what makes your content valuable to searchers and what types of content Google is choosing to surface in AI responses.

2. Compare AI Impressions Against Main Search Impressions

Cross-reference your top AI-cited pages with their performance in the main Search Performance report:

High AI Impressions + High Organic Search:

Your content is strong across both traditional search and AI generation. Look at what is working and continue building on that success.

High AI Impressions + Lower Organic Search:

Your page is being surfaced in generative responses even though its traditional search visibility may be more limited. This can be a useful signal that the page answers questions Google considers relevant to the query.

Use the Queries and Pages data in the main Search Performance report to see which search terms are already generating impressions for the page and where it is ranking.

From there, look at whether the page fully addresses the search intent behind those queries. If important queries are generating impressions but the page ranks poorly, you may be able to improve its traditional search visibility by making the content more directly relevant to those searches, strengthening the page’s title and headings, adding useful supporting information, improving internal links, or filling genuine content gaps.

Important: Don’t simply add keywords for the sake of adding them. No keyword stuffing! Use the queries as clues about what people are searching for, then determine whether the existing page genuinely provides the information those searchers are looking for.

3. Clear, Readable Page Structure Matters

Clear, well-structured content makes it easier for search systems to understand the topics and answers covered on your pages. Use descriptive subheadings (H2s and H3s) that match real questions your target audience asks. Immediately follow those headings with direct, concise summary answers before diving into deeper explanations.

4. Technical Foundations

Standard schema markup (like Article or Product) can help search engines understand the context of your content, but you don’t need special “AI schema” or hidden code to appear in AI search. Make sure your pages have accessible HTML, solid internal linking, and aren’t blocked from crawling or indexing.

Good site performance also improves the user experience and helps your pages perform better overall. Building your site on a clean, light framework – like UltimateWB – can help keep your pages lean and serve search-friendly code out of the box without getting bogged down by unnecessary script bloat or multi-plugin overhead.

👉 How clean code boosts SEO, accessibility, and trust

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I block my site from appearing in AI Overviews without losing regular search rankings?

Yes. Google introduced a dedicated Search Generative AI control setting under Settings in Search Console. This allows site owners to turn off visibility in generative AI features (such as AI Overviews and AI Mode) without removing their pages from Google’s regular organic search results or its index.

(Note: Unless you have a specific business reason to restrict your reach, keeping this enabled generally helps maintain maximum search visibility.)

Does adding Schema markup guarantee my pages will be cited in AI search?

No. Structured data helps search engines understand the context of your data, but there is no specific schema tag that forces an AI citation. Citations are determined by topic relevance, source clarity, and overall content authority.

Why do Search Console’s AI metrics differ from third-party SEO tools?

Third-party SEO tools rely on automated scrapers sampling search results from set locations, offering rough estimates. Google Search Console logs actual, first-party impression data from real user search sessions. GSC is always the accurate baseline for your actual search visibility from Google.

Looking Ahead

Google Search Console’s new Generative AI data gives you a better way to see how your content is showing up in AI search. Instead of guessing how your pages are performing in these new search features, you can see which pages are getting visibility, compare that with your regular search performance, and use the data to decide where to focus your SEO efforts.

AI SEO Related Topics:

Google Search Console Topics

If you have a question regarding Google Search Console, chances are we’ve covered it! You can find your answer in one of the articles linked below, if we didn’t already cover it in this article.

Helpful Google Search Console Advanced Topics:

Helpful Google Search Console Beginner Topics:

Compare Google Search Console with Other Tools:

About the UltimateWB Team

This article was written and reviewed by the UltimateWB Development Team. With over 20 years of hands-on experience in full-stack web development, database optimization, and secure server administration (WHM/cPanel), we engineer UltimateWB with clean, built-in apps so you never have to deal with the performance-draining software bloat, security risks, or compatibility issues of third-party plugins. We build software designed from day one for maximum developer autonomy and lightning-fast performance.