Google has given website owners a new set of tools to measure and control their presence in AI-generated search results. Google confirmed in its June 3 Google Search Central Blog post that it is launching dedicated generative AI performance reports within Search Console and simultaneously testing a toggle that lets sites opt out of appearing in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI Overviews in Discover.
Both features are being rolled out first to a subset of website owners in the United Kingdom. Google is rolling the reports out to a subset of websites, allowing it to thoroughly test them and receive feedback before making them widely available. No date has been confirmed for a global expansion.
Dedicated Reporting for AI Search Visibility
The new reports provide a standalone view of how often pages from a given site appear within Google's generative AI features. They are designed to give site owners dedicated views of impressions within generative AI features on Search, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, as well as generative AI features in Discover. This data is already included in the overall performance report, where it continues to be tracked. The new addition is a separate view dedicated specifically to visibility from generative AI features.
The metrics available in the new Generative AI performance reports include the following, as detailed in Google's June 3 Search Central Blog post: impressions, showing how often URLs from a site appeared in generative AI features in Search and Discover; pages, showing which URLs appeared within AI features; countries, showing visibility on a country-by-country basis; devices, identifying which devices people were using when a site appeared (available for Search results only); and dates, allowing performance to be monitored over time with hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly granularity.
Click data is not included. A Google spokesperson confirmed:
"We're continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we'll introduce additional metrics over time."
Google's June 3 post echoed this position, stating that it is "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."
New Toggle to Exclude Sites from AI Search Features
Alongside the reporting update, Google confirmed it is testing a site-level control that allows website owners to decide whether their content appears in generative AI search features. In its blog post published early Wednesday morning, the company said it would begin testing a new toggle inside Search Console designed to allow website owners to decide if their webpages appear in and help ground the company's latest AI search features, including AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The scope of the opt-out is specific. Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from AI Overviews, AI Mode, or AI Overviews in Google Discover, but will otherwise continue to appear in regular Google Search results and the Discover feed. This setting only applies to those Google Search products, with the Gemini app excluded.
Google has addressed concerns that opting out might affect a site's standing in conventional search. Google stated that "sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features" and that "this control will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside of these generative AI Search features."
The opt-out control is currently limited to a subset of website owners in the UK. Google will expand access to more site owners in the future, after sufficient testing is completed.
Regulatory Context Behind the UK Rollout
The decision to begin testing in the UK is directly connected to regulatory pressure from British competition authorities. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority stated on June 3 that requirements imposed on Google under the digital markets competition regime gave "publishers more control and stronger bargaining power over the use of their content."
Google had signalled this direction earlier in the year. On March 18, 2026, Google published a blog post responding to the CMA's consultation on proposed conduct requirements for Google Search, stating it is "developing further updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of generative AI features in Search." Google said it is "actively listening to feedback from publishers and creators" and engaging with regulators such as the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.
Where Google's Reporting Stands Relative to Competitors
Microsoft launched AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools in beta on February 10, 2026. The feature lets site owners see where, and how often, their content is cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft Copilot, Bing's AI summaries, and select partner integrations. Bing Webmaster Tools shows which URLs are cited, which queries trigger those citations, and how citation activity changes over time.
Google's new reports do not include query-level data or click data. Neither Google's nor Bing's AI reports include click data. Bing's AI Performance dashboard, however, is available globally, while Google's is currently limited to a subset of UK site owners.
What This Means for Site Owners and SEOs
Marketers and SEO professionals operating in the UK who gain early access will be able to, for the first time, view their AI-specific impression data separately from conventional organic traffic within Google Search Console. The opt-out toggle introduces a binary choice: remain visible in AI features and receive any associated traffic, or exclude the site from AI features entirely without affecting conventional search rankings. Because click data is absent from the new reports, site owners will not be able to assess whether AI Search impressions are driving meaningful referral traffic. Planning around AI visibility will therefore rely on impression trends and page-level data alone until Google introduces additional metrics.
Google's June 3 Search Central Blog post noted the company's commitment to expanding both the reports and the opt-out controls to more website owners globally after testing is complete. Google said it is engaging with regulators to ensure it is providing website owners "the right tools as user preferences evolve."
