According to Gary Illyes of Google, the squad is “super curious in giving additional data,” but the hunt business has nothing to province yet concerning additional Search Console data. In reply to a LinkedIn post referencing anonymous comments by Google personnel concerning the possible arrival of click and query data for AI Mode and AI Overviews, Illyes stated that he didn’t think Google had phrased it akin that.
The Search Console Generative AI Performance Report counts impressions for the two AI Mode and AI Overviews collectively. The clicks from all of these features are included inside the norm Performance study as part of all web results.
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) lists clicks and click-through charge among the AI hunt metrics Google must provide, in a summary of its publishing company rules. The CMA gives Google until Dec. 3 to comply.
What Illyes Said
In his LinkedIn post, SEO expert Rajeev Lekhwar attributes a citation concerning Search Console click and query data to unnamed Google staff. He tags multiple Googlers, including Illyes and John Mueller, but doesn’t acknowledge the speaker. The citation reads:
“The clicks and queries data is the most requested data set by website owners and SEOs. We are additionally anticipating this data to be accessible in Google Search Console but, equal we don’t cognize by whenever this data volition be added”.
Illyes replied in the comments first Monday:
“I don’t think we’ve phrased it akin this. The squad is excellent curious in giving additional data, data that makes sense, but we don’t have item to province yet.”
Lekhwar’s article includes the hashtags #searchcentrallive2026 and #sclblr2026, which item to Google’s Search Central Live event in Bengaluru on Oct. 30. According to Google’s announcement, the event was in individual only, alongside no live stream or record available.
In a distinct Bluesky thread concerning Illyes’ comment, Mueller wrote that there’s “lots of helpful data which isn’t currently in Search Console” and that what counts as helpful data changes complete time.
What Search Console Reports Now
The Generative AI Report provided in Search Console counts impressions (each period AI Overviews or AI Mode shows links to your site) and provides a breakdown of those impressions by page, country, device, and date according to its help page. However, the leaf doesn’t catalog clicks, CTR, or queries. As I previously reported, Google announced the roll-out of this study to all sites globally on Aug. 31.
AI clicks are included in the norm Performance report. According to Google’s help leaf concerning how clicks are counted, whenever you click on a nexus inside an AI Overview or AI Mode it volition be considered one click; additionally if you ask another inquiry using AI Mode it is considered a new query. The norm achievement study lists Search Appearance Types, and none of them covers AI Overviews or AI Mode.
What The CMA Expects By December
Google volition have to provision publishers alongside “clear and detailed metrics on person engagement” (the CMA’s summary lists “impressions, clicks, and click-through rate, aggregated throughout features specified as AI Overviews and AI Mode”) alongside their satisfied whenever using the company’s AI hunt functions; this is according to the CMA’s rules.
According to the CMA’s interpretive notes, these metrics should additionally contain a breakdown of all data by all idiosyncratic publisher, as fine as being capable to differentiate whether or not a publisher’s satisfied was shown in an AI characteristic versus in an integrated hunt result. This data have to be provided via “a commonly accessible platform, specified as Google Search Console.” Google can encounter the rules another way if it shows the CMA it complies, and they shield AI features shown to UK users.
Why This Matters
You can see how frequently your pages display up in AI Overviews and AI Mode combined, nevertheless the click-throughs from these volition be muddled inside your web hunt totals and there is no way through the achievement study to segregate this out using the dimensions as defined by Google. Illyes does not provision an estimated period example for whenever this data would commencement being reported, so for now AI hunt reporting volition need to be built about impressions.
Looking Ahead
Under the CMA’s rules, page-level controls for AI hunt features are due three months following the Dec. 3 compliance date. Google’s first compliance report to the CMA covers June 3 through Dec. 3 and is due Jan. 3, 2027. The CMA says it expects to matter a distinct notice requiring Google to publish a summary or non-confidential type of all report.
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