Google GenAI Performance Reports: What the New GSC Data Offers

A few weeks ago I wrote here that Microsoft had sent a clear signal to Google with the AI Performance Report in the Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing showed dedicated AI citation data, while Google still bundled its AI Overviews numbers into the regular web report. The gap was clearly visible.

Google is now adding that. On June 3, 2026, the Search Console team announced the “Search Generative AI performance reports” – a dedicated view of how visible your pages are inside Google’s AI answers.

For me, the first question with announcements like this is always the same: what does the blog post actually say, and what did the trade media add around it? That’s exactly what I separate cleanly here. I’ll show you which data you really get, which crucial metric is still missing – and what the rollout status looks like.

According to the official blog post by Hillel Maoz (Search Ecosystem Engineering Manager) and Moshe Samet (Product Manager Lead, Search Console), the new reports launch with “dedicated reports for Search and Discover, to help you understand your site’s visibility within generative AI features on Search”.

In plain terms: you get a dedicated view showing your pages’ visibility in generative AI features. One point that’s easy to miss: Google announces that it will additionally make this data available in the existing Performance report, so you retain the overall picture of your visibility. What’s new is the separate view on top.

Google is deliberately rolling this out slowly. In its own words: “We are rolling these reports out to a subset of websites, allowing us to thoroughly test them and receive feedback before making them widely available.” So it is explicitly a test phase with a limited group, not a broad launch.

This official screenshot already shows the key catch I’ll come back to in a moment: the header reads only „Total impressions” – there is no clicks column. The view also carries a „Beta” label, and the sidebar lists „Generative AI” under both Search results and Discover.

Google lists exactly which dimensions the reports show. I’ve summarized them here with what each one means:

The clicks not yet shown are the crux. Visibility is nice, but for a profitability calculation you need the click. Google phrases it cautiously: “We’re continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights and data would be most helpful to inform their strategies, such as adding additional metrics over time.” Translated: clicks may come, nothing is promised.

What Google says: The rollout goes to “a subset of websites” for testing and gathering feedback. The blog post names no country at all – neither a launch market nor an order. That’s an important point, because some trade reports mention a UK reference. That belongs to a separate topic (more on that in the infobox below), not to the performance reports.

Live status: As things currently stand (June 2026), distribution is tied to a limited, non-geographically defined group of participants. Google has not communicated a concrete date for broad availability in any specific market. Here’s how to tell whether you’re already in: check your Search Console’s Performance area for a new, separate view or an additional filter for generative AI features. If it isn’t there, you’re not (yet) part of the test group – that’s normal and not a mistake on your end.

My assessment: With earlier Search Console features, Google has typically rolled out more broadly fairly quickly after an initial limited test phase. I tend to expect a similar dynamic, but that’s an experience-based prognosis, not a confirmed roadmap. Don’t plan on the data being there tomorrow.

That was exactly the point from my Bing article: according to the official Bing Webmaster blog, Microsoft delivers citations and grounding queries – metrics for which there is simply no equivalent on Google’s side. The new reports change little about that for now. Google shows that you appear in AI answers (impressions). Bing additionally shows how your content is cited and drawn on to generate answers.

From my point of view this isn’t an either-or. Anyone serious about their AI visibility uses both data sources – Google for reach in the larger search ecosystem, Bing for the deeper citation mechanics. Until your GSC report arrives, Bing is currently a helpful additional first-party data source.

Here’s my concrete plan you can act on right away:

1. Check the GSC: See whether the new generative AI view already appears in your Performance area. If it does, set a baseline annotation for today.
2. Set up Bing AI Performance: While Google is still rolling out to a limited group, the Bing report is your most reliable AI data source. Setting it up takes ten minutes.
3. Surface AI-relevant questions: With the GSC regex for AIO user questions, you can find which question queries your audience asks – exactly the ones that trigger AI answers.
4. Increase citability: Clean entities help AI systems capture your content unambiguously. How much structured data really helps for AI Overviews I’ve broken down separately – the short version: no guarantee, but a sensible signal.
5. Read impressions without clicks correctly: When the report arrives, interpret AI impressions as a visibility and brand signal, not a traffic promise. The missing click reference changes how you measure success.

For me, the announcement shows above all one thing: AI visibility is gaining importance as its own reporting topic and needs its own numbers. That Google would follow Bing with a comparable report was foreseeable. That it stays with pure impressions for now and the rollout starts slowly also shows how early we still are in this development.

My advice stays sober: enjoy the new transparency, but don’t build your strategy on it alone. Right now the most reliable AI data comes from combining both worlds – and from content good enough to be cited in the first place.