Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
Google has confirmed that performance data from its new AI Mode will appear in Search Console soon. However, you won’t be able to isolate that data to understand how AI Mode is performing on its own.
What is AI Mode?
AI Mode is part of Google’s growing use of generative AI in search results. Instead of showing traditional blue links right away, AI Mode generates a full answer using AI -pulling together information from various websites.
This can appear as a block of text with links, products, or suggestions before standard search results. It’s designed to give users a fast, direct summary or response and it’s a major shift from how search has worked in the past.
AI Mode was initially tested in Google Labs and has now been rolled out more widely in the US.
What’s happening?
When AI Mode first launched in Google Labs earlier this year, it wasn’t included in Search Console reports. Now that it’s out of Labs, Google plans to include it – but you won’t be able to separate AI Mode traffic from standard search traffic.
Just like with AI Overviews, all data will be lumped into the “Web” search type in your Search Console Performance reports.
What Google has said
Google’s John Mueller confirmed that:
- AI Mode reporting is planned for Search Console
- It will appear as part of the existing “Web” search traffic
- There are no plans for a separate reporting view or API changes
The updated Google help document also confirms that sites appearing in AI Mode and AI Overviews are included in general search performance, not as separate categories.
What about bugs?
There was a bug that initially made AI Mode untrackable, but Google has confirmed this issue was fixed on May 28th. That said, you still won’t be able to isolate or analyse that data separately in your reports.
What about ads?
Google is now testing ads inside AI Mode and AI Overviews. However, advertisers won’t be able to see ad performance data broken out by these AI features. This limits the ability to understand how ads are performing in these new environments.
Despite the emphasis on transparency during Google Marketing Live, this is a clear gap.
Why is AI Mode important for marketers?
AI Mode is expected to reshape how users interact with search results. Instead of browsing multiple websites, users may get what they need from the AI-generated summary – potentially reducing clicks to individual sites.
This matters for both SEO and paid media:
- Organic traffic might drop if AI summaries reduce the need to click
- Featured brands in AI Mode could see a rise in visibility
- Without clear data, it’s hard to optimise for AI-driven search
- Paid media performance is difficult to attribute or assess in this format
In short, AI Mode may change how users engage with your content — but you won’t have the data to adapt your strategy effectively.
Why this matters
AI Mode could significantly shape how people search and how your brand appears in results. But for now, you can’t track AI Mode traffic separately, whether it’s for organic results or paid ads. This makes it harder for digital marketers to:
- Understand where traffic is coming from
- Optimise for AI-generated answers
- Track ad performance in new search formats
What can marketers do?
Unfortunately, not much – yet. While Google may add more reporting in the future, there’s no timeline. For now, all you can do is:
- Keep an eye on general traffic changes in Search Console
- Combine Search Console with Google Analytics to spot shifts
- Continue to give feedback to Google
Many in the industry are pushing for better visibility, but we’re unlikely to see big changes soon.
