You can now see whether you show up in Google's AI answers

Until recently, nobody could tell you for certain whether your website appeared in Google's AI Overviews. Now Google will, for free. Since 31 August 2026, every website in Search Console has a report showing how often its pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Where to find it

In Google Search Console, it sits with the other performance reports. It shows impressions, meaning how many times a link to your site was shown in an AI answer, and you can break them down by page, country, device and date.

If you can't see it, Google says that usually means your site hasn't had enough impressions in AI features yet. Same with a new site.

What it can't tell you

It's a start, and it has limits:

• It counts impressions only. No clicks, no position and no searches. You can see which of your pages Google used, but not which questions led there.
• It covers Google only. It tells you nothing about ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity.
• The numbers are in your main report too. Google includes AI impressions in the overall performance figures, so this report is a closer look, not extra traffic.

What I'd do with it

Open it once a month and look at which pages appear. They're the pages Google trusts enough to quote. Make sure each one is accurate, current and says clearly what you do and where.

Then look at the pages that don't appear but should, like your main service pages. Usually they're thin, vague or say the same as everyone else's.

And keep it in proportion. Being shown in an AI answer is good for being known, but the people ready to talk to a supplier still search for things like "plate heat exchanger supplier Brisbane" and click through. I've written about what AI has changed about SEO, and what it hasn't.

What Google says you can ignore

Plenty of people are selling "AEO" or "GEO" as something new. Google published a guide in May on doing well in its AI search, and it's blunt: in Google's words, it's "still SEO". Among the things it says you don't need:

• Special files or markup. No llms.txt or "AI text files". Google says it doesn't use them.
• Breaking content into tiny pieces. There's "no requirement" to chunk your writing.
• Writing differently for AI. "You don't need to write in a specific way just for generative AI search."
• Buying mentions. Inauthentic mentions aren't "as helpful as it might seem".

It also says no third-party tool has access to its ranking or AI systems, which is worth remembering when one claims to know how to get you in. The FAQ markup that used to win extra space in results stopped working on 7 May 2026.

What Google does ask for is "unique, expert-led content that provides value beyond common knowledge". For a business that knows its field, that's good news. What you already know about your products, your customers' problems and how the job really gets done is exactly what it's looking for.

A small change worth knowing

On 15 October, Google said it's showing more links inside AI Overviews and AI Mode, higher up in the answers. So being one of the sources is now a little more likely to send someone to your site.

If you'd like help making your pages the ones Google draws on, that's what our SEO work is for.

How we help with this: SEO →