Signal · Google Search Console
Google now counts when your site shows up in AI answers. A count is not a customer.
On 3 June 2026 Google began rolling out reports in Search Console, starting with a subset of sites, that count impressions (the times your link was shown) in AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus a setting that decides whether your site is eligible for them. On 22 July 2026 Google said both AI features were launching in France and that the setting is available there too. The reports show that your site took part, not whether anyone clicked, whether the answer got your facts right, or whether a customer followed.
Published Updated
What changed
Two reports, one setting, one new market
3 June 2026
A report for AI answers in Search
Impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, device and date. Search Labs experiments (Google’s opt-in trial features) aren’t included.
3 June 2026
A companion report for Discover
AI impressions in Google Discover, by page, country and date.
First sites from 17 June 2026
A setting for eligibility
- Google says
- The setting is not used as a ranking or inclusion signal for other parts of Search, and it doesn’t govern model training.
Include, exclude or inherit (copy the choice made for a broader property, Search Console’s word for a website, that contains yours). Include keeps your site eligible; it doesn’t guarantee appearance, citation, ranking or recommendation.
22 July 2026
France joins
AI Overviews and AI Mode launched in France on desktop, mobile and the Google apps, and Google said the setting is available there.
What it means for you
Available is not the same as visible, and visible isn’t a customer
Between Google launching AI answers in a market and a customer walking in are five separate steps. Each needs its own proof, and none proves the next.
Eligible
Your site is allowed to take part. Proof: the setting in your own Search Console account, and the date you looked.
What the setting controls
Appeared
An AI answer showed your link for a real question. An impression means a link was shown under Google’s own counting rules; it is not a click. Proof: the report’s impression count, or a dated capture of the answer.
What the report counts
Cited
Your business or page was named as a source. Proof: a dated capture of the answer and its source link.
Recommended
The answer put you forward as a good choice, not only mentioned you. Proof: the wording of that answer.
Acted on
Someone clicked, called, visited, booked or bought. Proof: your own systems, with the counting method written down.
Not in the report
Most confusion about AI visibility comes from quietly sliding one step up this list.
Four ways an impressions chart misleads
Rising AI impressions are reported as demand, when an impression is a recorded appearance, not a customer who acted.
Flat impressions in one market are read as a loss, when the market or the report may simply not be fully rolled out there yet.
The eligibility setting is treated as a ranking lever, when Google says it doesn’t change ordinary Search rankings.
Strong impressions are celebrated while the answer repeats hours a location changed last quarter. The report still counts it as an impression.
Who has the reports
Google’s help pages say two things at once
When we checked again on 2 September 2026, both statements were on both report pages.
Rolled out to everyone
A dated note says that, as of 31 August 2026, Google has rolled these insights out to all websites worldwide.
Still rolling out
An older line still says not all properties have access while the rollout continues.
Having it isn’t having data
Google lists too few impressions in AI features as a reason a site sees no data at all.
Only a signed-in look at your own account settles which applies to you. We didn’t make one.
What we didn’t check
Everything here is what Google says about its own product. A fresh check confirms only that Google still publishes these descriptions, not how they behaved for any site.
We didn’t run a French query from France, sign in to a French Search Console property or see the setting in use. We don’t know which questions trigger an AI answer, which sources it uses, or whether a local business is cited, recommended or described correctly.
What to do
Make a dated record instead of a guess
Look in your own Search Console
For each site, note whether the AI reports and the setting are there, and the date you looked.
Choose include, exclude or inherit on purpose
Decide per site before the setting takes effect, knowing include keeps you eligible but promises nothing more.
Keep one line per market and language
The site, the setting, the account, whether the reports are available, and the date you checked.
Check the live answer separately
Record the question, language, device, place, time and what came back, and whether your hours and services were right.
Count customers where they happen
Clicks, calls and bookings live in your own analytics and booking systems, not in an impressions chart.
Keep your words as precise as your proof
Don’t write “visible” when the proof is “include”, “recommended” when it is an impression, or “converted” without an outcome you can show.
A newer Briefing
AI Search is available in France. Visibility is not automatic.
Google announced AI Search in France. Eligibility, appearance, citation, recommendation and customer action are separate states. Check each; do not assume.
Read the full BriefingKeep reading
Counting AI visibility is the start, not the fix
A report tells you where you stand. What the answer says about you is a separate job.
- You can now measure how AI sees you. The number won’t fix the answerWhat the new AI visibility tools show, and what a Google Search experiment found about clicks.Read the Signal
- AI search visibilityWhat it takes for AI search to find, read and trust your business facts well enough to describe you correctly.Learn more
Reporting AI visibility inside your company?
Write to Obenan Research about what Search Console counts, and what it still leaves you to check.
Sources
Where this comes from
Built from Google’s announcements and Search Console help pages, and one independent report. Pages without a publication date show only the date we checked them. Obenan is not part of Google, Search Console or any Google AI feature, doesn’t control whether a business appears in them, and has no partnership, integration, certification, endorsement or special access with Google.
- AI Overviews and AI Mode launch in France
Google France Published Checked
The France launch on desktop, mobile and the Google apps, and the setting’s availability there. First checked 30 August 2026.
- Introducing generative AI performance reports in Search Console
Google Search Central Published Checked
The announcement of the Search and Discover reports and their gradual rollout. First checked 5 June 2026.
- Generative AI performance report (Search)
Search Console Help Checked
What the Search report counts, its dimensions, the Search Labs exclusion and both availability statements. Also checked 5 June 2026 and 30 August 2026.
- Generative AI performance report (Discover)
Search Console Help Checked
The Discover report and its dimensions. Also checked 5 June 2026 and 30 August 2026.
- Search generative AI control
Search Console Help Checked
The include, exclude and inherit setting, its 17 June 2026 first-cohort date, and what it doesn’t govern. Also checked 5 June 2026 and 30 August 2026.
- Google Search Console AI Performance Report and AI Blocking Controls (Limited)
Search Engine Roundtable Published Checked
Independent report of the limited rollout, the absence of click data and the 17 June timing.