Google Has No Date for AI Click Data in Search Console

Google’s Gary Illyes says the Search Console team has nothing to announce yet on more AI search data.

Waiting for clicks and queries from AI Overviews and AI Mode? Keep waiting.

He said it in a LinkedIn comment on November 2, Search Engine Journal reports.

The timing matters. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority wants clicks and click-through rate by December 3.

What Illyes actually said

It started with a LinkedIn post by SEO Rajeev Lekhwar. He quoted an unnamed Googler, tagging Search Central Live in Bengaluru: click and query data was expected.

Illyes replied that he didn’t think Google had phrased it like that. The team is “super interested in giving more data,” he wrote, but only data that makes sense.

Then two more voices joined in:

• John Mueller (Google), on Bluesky: lots of helpful data isn’t in Search Console yet, and what counts as helpful changes over time.
• Barry Schwartz, at Search Engine Roundtable: he doubts clicks are coming at all.

Does that mean clicks are off the table? Illyes didn’t rule them out. He gave you no yes, no no and no date.

What you can see today

Search Console gives you three things for AI search right now:

• Generative AI report: impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode together, by page, country, device and date.
• Performance report: clicks from both features, mixed into your normal web results.
• Search appearance filter: no option for AI Overviews or AI Mode.

So you can count how often your pages show up in AI answers. You can’t tell which clicks came from them.

One click on a link inside an AI Overview counts as one click, per Google’s help page. A follow-up question in AI Mode counts as a new query.

What the UK wants by December 3

The CMA’s rules say Google must give publishers impressions, clicks and click-through rate for features like AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Its notes also ask for a split between AI features and organic results, for each publisher.

It suggests a common platform such as Search Console. Still, Google can comply another way if it shows the CMA it does. The rules cover AI features shown to UK users.

Then there are two more dates to watch:

• Page-level controls for AI features, due three months after December 3.
• Google’s first compliance report, covering June 3 to December 3, due January 3, 2027.

Why it matters

Seen your traffic slide while impressions climb? This is the gap you’re stuck in.

One opt-out test put AI Overview click-through at about 0.9%. You still can’t check yours.

What you can do: track AI impressions by page, and compare them with clicks for the same pages in the Performance report.

It’s rough.

Pages with rising AI impressions and flat clicks are your best guess at where AI answers take the visit, and a simple spreadsheet with both columns side by side is enough to start your list.

My read: the CMA deadline is the only thing here with a date on it.

I’d expect some UK data to show up somewhere by December 3. Whether it reaches your Search Console outside the UK is another question.

For now, build your reporting around impressions, and keep working on what still gets you cited in AI answers.

Common Questions

Does Google Search Console show clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode in November 2026?

No separate figure exists. Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted inside the standard Performance report with other web results, and the Generative AI report shows impressions only.

Will Google add AI click data to Search Console before the CMA deadline?

Google hasn’t said. Gary Illyes wrote on November 2, 2026 that the team wants to give more data but has nothing to announce, while the UK CMA expects clicks and click-through rate by December 3, 2026.

What does the Search Console Generative AI report measure?

It counts impressions when AI Overviews or AI Mode show links to your site, combined across both features. You can break them down by page, country, device and date.