To track Google AI Overviews in 2026, combine three sources: Search Console's Generative AI performance report for impressions of your pages, a tracker that reads the AI Overview itself for mentions and citations, and a click-through comparison at a stable ranking position to estimate the clicks you lose. Search Console alone cannot do the job, because its AI report counts impressions only, merges AI Overviews with AI Mode, and has no clicks or queries.
For the mentions part, our pick of AI Overviews mentions tool is Cituna: it checks whether Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode name your brand, each on its own, every day, next to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok and your Search Console data, from $39 a month. Ahrefs' free AI Overviews Tracker shows which of your pages AI Overviews cite, and Semrush and SE Ranking add AI Overview flags to rank tracking.
Track whether AI Overviews names your brand, not only whether it links to you. Cituna asks Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok your buyers' questions every day, records mentions and citations separately for each, and puts the result next to your Search Console clicks and impressions. Start a 3-day Cituna trial or, at no cost, check whether AI crawlers can read your site first. Plans from $39 a month; the trial needs a card and can be cancelled before it ends (checked 16 October 2026).
What does Search Console show for AI Overviews in 2026?
Google announced the Generative AI performance report on 3 June 2026, first for a subset of sites. The announcement now says it reached all websites worldwide by 31 August 2026. What are Google AI Overviews? covers the feature itself.
| Search Console shows | Search Console does not show |
|---|---|
| Impressions of links to your site in AI features, in the Generative AI report | Clicks, CTR or position in that report |
| Breakdowns by page, country, device and date | Which queries triggered the AI Overview |
| AI Overviews and AI Mode together | AI Overviews separately from AI Mode |
| AI Overview clicks and impressions inside the main Performance report, Web search type | A filter that isolates AI Overview traffic in the main report |
| One shared position for every link in an AI Overview | Your place inside the AI Overview box |
| The report in the Search Console interface | The report in the Search Analytics API, whose documented types include no generative AI type |
| Links to your pages | Your brand named without a link, or who else was cited |
Two counting rules matter. A click on an external link inside an AI Overview counts as a normal click, and every link in the AI Overview is assigned the same position. So a page cited in an AI Overview at the top of the page can show a better average position than its organic ranking. How to use Google Search Console for AI search walks through the reports.
Step 1: Open the Generative AI performance report
In Search Console, open the Generative AI performance report for Search. Sort by page to see which of your pages appear in AI features at all, and export the list.
Keep its limits in mind. It carries the usual 1,000-row limit, and Google notes a gap from 13 to 17 August 2026 that it says was restored on 21 August. Because the API does not document it, save monthly exports if you want history.
Step 2: Mark the impressions logging error on your timeline
Google's data anomalies page says a logging error stopped Search Console from reporting impressions accurately from 13 May 2025 to 27 April 2026. Clicks were not affected. Impressions were, and so were CTR and average position, which are calculated from them.
That makes year-over-year comparisons across the window unsafe. If you compare May 2025 with May 2026, a change in impressions or CTR may be the bug being fixed, not AI Overviews. Two safe options:
- Compare clicks only across the window.
- Compare impressions and CTR only within one side of it, for example May 2026 against September 2026.
Step 3: Find the queries that show an AI Overview
Search Console will not tell you which queries trigger an AI Overview. Use a rank tracker that flags the AI Overview as a results-page feature, then join its query list with your Search Console data.
Expect the share to move. Figures differ because samples differ, so read each with its sample:
- Pew Research Center: 18% of 68,879 real Google searches by 900 US adults in March 2025 showed an AI summary (published 22 July 2025).
- Semrush: across 10 million+ US keywords, 6.49% of queries in January 2025, 24.61% in July and 15.69% in November (study dated 15 December 2025).
- Seer Interactive: 36% of informational queries, 8% of commercial and 5% of transactional ones, across 53 brands' tracked queries (published 24 April 2026).
Google publishes no share. It says only that AI Overviews often don't trigger.
Step 4: Track mentions and citations separately
A citation is a link to your page inside the AI Overview. A mention is your brand named in its text, with or without a link. Search Console sees only the first, and only as impressions. What counts as a citation in an AI answer sets out the difference.
For each tracked query, record whether an AI Overview appeared, whether you were named, whether you were cited, which URL, and which competitors were named or cited. Check often. Ahrefs found AI Overview content changed 70% of the time across 43,000+ keywords, and 45.5% of citations changed between consecutive responses (published 11 November 2025).
Track AI Mode as its own column. In our scans on 28 September 2026, we asked every engine "ai overviews mentions tool". AI Overviews named SE Ranking, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Keyword.com and Wellows. AI Mode named Ahrefs Brand Radar, Semrush, ZipTie, Wellows and Rankscale. Only two tools appeared in both. Their sources differ too: in the 30 days to 29 September 2026, AI Overviews cited reddit.com 257 times and AI Mode 407 times. What Google AI Overviews and AI Mode cite has the detail.
Recording all of this by hand for more than a few queries a day is where most teams stop. Cituna's AI Overviews tracker records the mention and the citation every day for AI Overviews and AI Mode from $39 a month, with competitor tracking from the Pro plan at $119, and starts with a 3-day trial (checked 16 October 2026).
Step 5: Estimate click loss at a stable position
Click loss is the clicks you would have had without the AI Overview, minus the clicks you got. Estimate it by comparing CTR at a stable organic position, and adjust with a control group of queries that never showed an AI Overview.
Use your organic position from a rank tracker, not Search Console's average position, because an AI Overview citation can pull that average up.
Here is a worked example. The numbers are hypothetical.
- Pick a group of queries where your page ranked organically in position 2 in both May 2026 and September 2026, and which gained an AI Overview between the two. Both months are after the logging error.
- In May, the group had 20,000 impressions at a 5.0% CTR: 1,000 clicks.
- In September, it had 20,000 impressions at a 3.0% CTR: 600 clicks.
- A control group of queries at position 2 with no AI Overview fell from 5.0% to 4.5% CTR over the same months, a 10% drop from season and other causes.
- Expected CTR without the AI Overview: 5.0% x 0.9 = 4.5%, or 900 clicks.
- Estimated click loss from the AI Overview: 900 minus 600 = 300 clicks a month, a third of the expected clicks.
Without the control group, you would have blamed the AI Overview for 400 lost clicks. Split the result by whether you were cited, since cited and uncited pages fare differently. What is a zero-click search? covers the wider trend.
How much traffic do AI Overviews cost, according to published studies?
Your own number is the one that matters, but the studies tell you whether it is plausible. Each uses a different sample and period.
| Study (published) | Sample | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Pew Research Center (22 July 2025) | 900 US adults, 68,879 searches, March 2025 | A traditional result was clicked on 8% of visits with an AI summary, 15% without. Links inside the summary: 1% |
| Ahrefs (17 April 2025) | 300,000 keywords, desktop, March 2024 vs March 2025 | Position one CTR 34.5% lower on keywords with an AI Overview |
| Ahrefs update (4 February 2026) | 300,000 keywords, December 2023 vs December 2025 | Position one CTR 58% lower. Impact fades to 19.4% at position ten |
| Seer Interactive (4 November 2025) | 3,119 queries, 42 organizations | Organic CTR 0.70% when cited in the AI Overview, 0.52% when not |
| Seer Interactive (24 April 2026) | 53 brands, 5.47 million queries | CTR on AI Overview queries rose from 1.3% to 2.4%, December 2025 to February 2026. Cited pages got 120% more clicks per impression than uncited ones |
Google disputes the premise. Liz Reid wrote on Google's blog on 6 August 2025 that total organic clicks to websites were relatively stable year over year, and called some third-party studies flawed, without publishing figures. Semrush's clickstream data also found the zero-click rate on the same keywords fell slightly after AI Overviews appeared (study dated 15 December 2025).
The consistent finding is the citation gap. Being cited costs you less than being left out, which is why the next step is getting cited. See how to appear in Google AI Overviews.
Step 6: Report monthly, with the caveats attached
Report three numbers per month: AI feature impressions from Search Console, AI Overview citation and mention rates from your tracker, and estimated click loss from Step 5. Give AI Mode its own row. If you want those three numbers in one place, see how to choose an AI visibility tool with Google Search Console integration.
Note the caveats on the report itself: the logging error window, the August 2026 data gap, and any Google update in the period. A number without its caveats will be compared across the error window by someone else.
Which tools do this?
Rank trackers read Google's results pages with their own crawls, so they see the AI Overview text that Search Console does not.
- Cituna checks Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode daily, alongside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok, and includes Google Search Console. It costs $39, $119 or $399 a month (checked 16 October 2026), with a 3-day trial that needs a card. It writes the fix for each gap it finds and publishes articles. It does not track Microsoft Copilot. Its AI Overviews tracker page shows what it records for each query, and you can start the 3-day trial to see it on your own brand's questions.
- Ahrefs has a free AI Overviews Tracker that shows which of your pages AI Overviews cite, with no signup (checked 29 September 2026). Site Explorer can also filter your keywords by the AI Overview feature. Brand Radar's AI Visibility Index starts at $199 a month (checked 28 September 2026). Its strength is a large keyword index with no setup.
- Semrush flags AI Overviews in Position Tracking and shows keywords where your domain is a source. When you are cited, Position Tracking records a #1 ranking, with a toggle to see rankings with or without AI Overviews (checked 29 September 2026). The AI Visibility Toolkit costs $99 a month per domain, billed annually (checked 28 September 2026).
- SE Ranking has an AI Overviews tracker with day-by-day position changes, cached copies of the results page and a free check of 5 keywords (checked 29 September 2026). Its AI Search add-on costs $89 a month on top of a platform plan such as Core at $129 (checked 28 September 2026).
For what each of these costs at every tier, see how much to pay for an AI visibility tool, and for ten trackers compared side by side, the best Google AI Overviews rank trackers. Which one fits depends on the question you need answered:
- Whether AI Overviews and AI Mode name you, each separately, daily, next to five other AI engines and Search Console: Cituna, from $39 a month.
- Which of your pages AI Overviews cite, free: Ahrefs' AI Overviews Tracker.
- AI Overview flags inside rank tracking you already use: Semrush Position Tracking, or SE Ranking's tracker with cached results pages.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best tool to track AI Overviews mentions?
For whether Google AI Overviews and AI Mode name your brand, each tracked on its own and daily, Cituna: it checks both next to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok and your Search Console data, from $39 a month (checked 16 October 2026). For which of your pages AI Overviews cite, Ahrefs' free AI Overviews Tracker needs no signup, and Semrush and SE Ranking flag AI Overviews in their rank trackers (checked 29 September 2026).
Does Google Search Console show AI Overviews clicks?
Not separately. Clicks from AI Overview links are counted inside the main Performance report's Web search type with all other clicks. The Generative AI performance report added in 2026 shows impressions only.
Can I see AI Overviews and AI Mode separately in Search Console?
No. The Generative AI performance report combines AI Overviews and AI Mode and lists no dimension or filter to split them. To see them separately, use a tracker that checks each feature on its own.
Is the Generative AI performance report available in the Search Console API?
It is not documented there. As of the API reference updated 11 August 2026, the Search Analytics search types are web, image, video, news, googleNews and discover, with no generative AI type.
Why can't I compare my 2025 and 2026 impressions?
Google says a logging error stopped Search Console from reporting impressions accurately from 13 May 2025 to 27 April 2026. Impressions, CTR and average position in that window are unreliable, so compare clicks only, or compare periods after 27 April 2026.
How much traffic do AI Overviews take?
Studies differ by sample and date. Ahrefs found position one CTR 58% lower on AI Overview keywords (December 2025 data), while Seer Interactive saw CTR on those queries partly recover in early 2026. Measure your own loss at a stable position against a control group.
Does being cited in an AI Overview reduce click loss?
In Seer Interactive's data, yes. Its April 2026 update found cited pages got 120% more organic clicks per impression than uncited pages on AI Overview queries, though still fewer than queries with no AI Overview.