Use Google Search Console’s Generative AI performance report to track impressions for AI Overviews and AI Mode, then compare the same dates and pages with Web clicks in Search Console’s standard Performance report. Check Google organic sessions and outcomes in Analytics as well. This can reveal a pattern consistent with an impact, but the AI report does not provide AI Overview-specific clicks or click-through rate, so it cannot prove that Overviews caused a traffic decline.
1. Find the Generative AI performance report
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Open your website property in Google Search Console and look for the Generative AI performance report.
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If the report is unavailable, Google says the property may have too few impressions from AI features or may not be included in those features. An absent report is not evidence that AI Overviews caused a decline.
Google said the report had rolled out to websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026. It reports impressions for both AI Overviews and AI Mode, with grouping by page, date, country, and device; it also supports text and multimodal Web search filters. Google’s report documentation describes its availability and dimensions.
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2. Choose dates that make the comparison meaningful
Set a window that includes the suspected decline, then compare it with the immediately preceding period and, where appropriate, the same dates a year earlier. Review the longer trend too: Google recommends using up to 16 months of Search Console history for context. This helps distinguish a new change from recurring seasonality.
Keep dates consistent across reports. If you are investigating particular pages, countries, or devices, use the same segments in each report where possible. Google’s guide to debugging Search traffic drops recommends comparing similar periods and investigating by query, URL, country, device, and search appearance. It also recommends Google Trends for checking changes in interest and seasonality.
3. Inspect AI-feature impressions by page and date
In the Generative AI performance report, start with the total impression trend. Then group or filter the data by page, date, country, and device to see whether the pages that lost clicks gained or lost AI-feature visibility around the same time. The report combines AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions, so it cannot show which of those features accounts for a change.
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Use the report as a visibility signal, not a record of traffic sent or withheld. It does not document AI Overview-specific clicks, CTR, or query lists. Google says Search traffic from AI features is included in overall Search Console Web performance data, so the AI report can be compared with Web clicks but does not attribute any click change to an Overview. See Google’s documentation on AI features and websites.
4. Compare the same pages with ordinary Search clicks
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Open Search Console’s standard Search results Performance report.
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Select the Web search type and set the same date range as in the Generative AI report.
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Compare clicks, impressions, and CTR. Review the page dimension first, then use queries and other dimensions to locate where the change is concentrated.
Search Console defines CTR as clicks divided by impressions. An impression may be counted when a result appears on the current results page even if the person did not scroll it into view, depending on the result type. Therefore, an impression is not proof that a result was seen. Google’s definitions of impressions, position, and clicks explain these measures.
Average position is also limited for this investigation: Google counts an AI Overview as one search-result position, and links within that Overview share that position. Position cannot isolate the ranking or traffic effect of a particular cited link. Google’s AI features documentation covers this reporting behavior.
5. Check whether site visits and outcomes moved too
Use Google Analytics to inspect Google organic sessions, engagement, and conversions over the same periods. Search Console measures activity before a visitor reaches the site; Analytics measures behavior on the site. Clicks and sessions are different measurements, so do not expect their totals to match exactly. Look instead for whether the direction and timing of the changes are consistent.
Google describes Search Console as the source of truth for Search performance and Analytics as the source of truth for on-site behavior. Its guide to using Search Console and Google Analytics data for SEO explains how to use the tools together.
6. Check other explanations before drawing a conclusion
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Search demand: If impressions and clicks both fell, investigate whether interest in the topic changed. Use Google Trends and compare with similar dates from previous years.
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Page or query concentration: Check whether the decline affects the whole site or only particular pages, queries, countries, or devices.
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CTR changes: If impressions are stable but clicks fall, investigate snippets and other competing result features. Google lists these as possible explanations in its traffic-drop troubleshooting guidance.
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Site and Search changes: Check whether the timing coincides with a technical change to the site or a Google Search update. A coincident change is a lead to investigate, not proof of the cause.
These checks follow Google’s Search traffic drop troubleshooting guidance.
7. State what the data can support
If AI-feature impressions rise on the same pages and dates that Web clicks fall, and the pattern persists after checking demand, seasonality, and other changes, it is reasonable to say the data is consistent with a possible effect. It is not reasonable to claim that AI Overviews caused the loss based on these reports alone: the dedicated report does not expose AI Overview-specific click-through data, and its impression totals also include AI Mode.
Google says special AI markup or separate AI-specific SEO is not required. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a Search snippet to be eligible as a supporting link, but eligibility does not guarantee Google will show it. Google also says its Search Console opt-out control for generative AI Search features prevents the site from receiving traffic or impressions from those features, without affecting ranking outside them. These details are in Google’s AI features guidance and its announcement of controls and insights for website owners.
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