Google is releasing productive AI performance reports in the search console and is testing a change that allows sites to block their content from appearing in AI Overview and AI Mode.
Both features are launching with a subset of UK website owners, with a global rollout to follow.
AI performance reports give site owners their first dedicated look at how pages are performing within Google’s AI productivity features directly within the Search Console. Preventive controls provide a definitive answer to the question that publishers have asked since the introduction of these features: “Can I opt out without hurting my general search ranking?”
What’s in the new AI performance report
Productive new AI performance reports show how many impressions your pages are getting from Google’s AI features, broken down by page, country, device, and date.
There is one search results report that shows results within AI overview and AI mode. And a separate companion report for AI features in Google Discover. Note that this is a dedicated view, not separate datasets from the main performance reports.
The SEO community was quick to discuss the performance reports on X, including Aleyda Solís, International SEO Consultant and Speaker:
Here’s what each dimension tells you:
- What appears: How often your URLs appear in AI features across Search and Discover
- Pages: What specific URLs appear
- Countries: What countries are your appearances from
- Devices: Classification across desktop, tablet, and mobile (only available in search)
- Days: Working over time, up to an hour
One thing the reports don’t include is click data. Google’s help documentation lists impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates — but no click metric. And Google said they plan to introduce more metrics over time.
New content blocking controls for AI features
Using the Search Console toggle that allows you to keep your content outside of Google’s artificial intelligence features will not affect your general search rankings.
Google said the outgoing sites will not receive traffic or impressions from AI features. But it also won’t push itself down to standard green links.
This change builds on previous tools like snippet controls and Google’s Extended Search, which already allow sites to limit how their content is used. The release also follows Google’s engagement with UK regulators over how publisher content is used in AI, which explains why the UK is the first.
Whether to use the toggle is a question of strategy. AI Overview now reaches over 2.5 billion active users, and AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users. Therefore, exit means to stop exposure to the scale.
How to track your full AI visibility picture
Google’s new AI performance reports show your impressions within Google’s AI features, but your audience uses ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI search engines.
Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit tracks mentions, pages cited, and voice shares across platforms in a single dashboard.
The Visibility Review Report shows which of your pages are being cited and which platforms, and “Quick Tracking” shows specific instructions driving that visibility, which is closer to objective than Google’s statistics of impressions.
Business teams that track multiple products or markets can use Semrush Enterprise AIO instead. It includes multi-market tracking, competitive benchmarking, and connects AI visibility to real conversions in GA4 or Adobe Analytics.
What you have to do now
Here are three things to do now, while the rollout continues:
- Check the report in the search console. Open the “Performance” section and check the “Generative AI” view. If you don’t see it, you’ll have to wait. In any case, familiarize yourself now with the relevant data and impressions.
- Determine your AI position before the transformation reaches you. Weigh the output control against the potential exposure. For many brands looking to grow visibility, leaving conversion off makes sense, but the choice is now yours to do it intentionally.
- Test your browser access today. Use Site Audit to ensure that AI crawlers can access your site, so you don’t accidentally lose AI visibility while everyone else debates whether they’re out on purpose.
The main takeaway is that AI search reporting is becoming mainstream. Bing got there first, and Google is next. But both only report on their own areas, so neither gives you the full picture of your AI exposure.