Google brings AI Mode metrics to Search Console

17th November 2025

Advertising / Marketing

Marketing

Google has recently introduced a major shift in how it tracks search activity: data from AI Mode is now reflected in Google Search Console. This update means content shown within Google’s generative AI search experience is starting to factor into traditional performance metrics like clicks, impressions, and average position.

This change goes beyond a simple reporting tweak – it reflects a deeper evolution in how search visibility is defined, tracked, and ultimately, optimised.

AI Mode activity is now counted in your Search Console data

Websites whose content features in AI Mode generated results will now see that exposure show up in their Search Console performance reports. This includes:

Impressions: Your content appearing in an AI Mode response now contributes to your impression count.
Clicks: When a user interacts with an external link from within AI Mode, it registers as a click.
Position: Rather than assigning AI results a single unified ranking, each element – whether it’s a link snippet, image, or content block – is measured based on Google’s regular ranking logic.

And when someone asks a follow-up within AI Mode? That counts as a brand new search, with fresh metrics tied to the new query.

However, there’s a catch: while this data is included in Search Console, you can’t yet filter or isolate AI Mode performance separately. For site owners trying to understand exactly where their traffic is coming from, that presents a real challenge.

AI in search isn’t just visual, it’s also going vocal

The addition of AI Mode tracking is one example of how AI is becoming foundational to how search operates. Google is also currently piloting a feature that delivers audio summaries of search results, generated by its Gemini AI model.

These brief clips are accessible for users who have Search Labs enabled. are displayed as prompts directly within the results page, with users choosing to play the audio-generated summary if they wish. Beneath each clip, Google displays related web content, offering users a path to explore more deeply – if they want to. It’s a fresh take on how search results are consumed, and another signal that Google is layering AI more heavily into the search journey.

Recipe creators already seeing the impact

In some content niches, the effects of AI-powered search are already being felt. In the recipe space, certain keyword searches with recipe-intent are now triggering AI-generated overviews instead of traditional rich snippets. However, keywords using the word ‘recipe’ are triggering the traditional recipe rich results. The twist? These AI results often show up on desktop but not on mobile, making the experience – and traffic patterns – highly inconsistent.

As a result, some food bloggers are beginning to notice a dip in desktop traffic, likely due to users getting quick answers from AI instead of clicking through to full recipe pages. Compounding the issue is the fact that AI-related clicks and impressions aren’t yet broken out in reporting tools – leaving creators to guess what’s driving the change. Given that AI Overviews are not being triggered in mobile for recipe-intent keywords, this may be a call to leverage the display of traditional SERP features such as recipe rich results, ensuring proper structured data is implemented and optimising the user experience for mobile.

What this all means for SEOs and content creators

Adding AI Mode data into Search Console is a clear step toward greater transparency, but it also highlights how traditional performance metrics are becoming less straightforward. As AI continues to shape how users interact with search results, understanding where your content appears – and how it’s framed – is more important than ever.

The rise of audio answers, AI summaries, and layered search experiences shows that Google is reimagining what it means to “rank.” Success in this new environment means optimising not just for blue links, but for AI exposure, context relevance, and new interaction models.

AI search isn’t experimental anymore, it’s operational

With AI Mode data now feeding into your core metrics, it’s clear that generative AI is no longer a side experiment – it’s baked into the architecture of search. Whether it’s spoken responses, visual summaries, or carousel-style results, AI is changing how users engage – and how you measure success.

Make sure you’re paying attention, because this isn’t a test phase. It’s the next phase of search.

If you want to get ahead in AI Search, get in touch with our innovation team.