Google’s John Mueller has acknowledged a limitation in Search Console’s AI reporting: it cannot tell publishers where their links sit within an AI Overview. Google records the answer’s position as a whole, leaving the prominence of individual sources unresolved.
In a Reddit discussion, Mueller said:
“Position for these is hard to do in a way that makes it useful, so we’re currently tracking it like we do for many search features (as a block), & it’s not separated out in the Gen-AI performance report.”
The exchange was reported by Search Engine Journal on September 13. Mueller acknowledged a specific measurement problem and invited suggestions. He did not announce a replacement metric or a release date.
The answer gets a position. Every source inherits it.
Google’s measurement documentation says an AI Overview occupies one position in search results. Every link inside it receives that same position.
Consider an AI Overview containing several sources. A link near the beginning and another farther into the answer can receive the same recorded position. That number cannot tell a publisher which placement it received, or whether its citation became easier to find.
This rule applies specifically to AI Overviews. Google describes AI Mode separately, using search-result positioning rules that also account for elements such as image and carousel blocks.
An impression does not prove someone noticed your link
Google applies its standard impression rules to AI Overviews. Depending on the result format, an impression can count without the user scrolling the link into view. Links that require an expansion to appear are counted when that section is expanded.
That distinction matters when interpreting visibility. A recorded impression is not evidence that someone read a citation. Equally, a source hidden behind an unopened expansion has not necessarily received exposure simply because Google included it in the answer.
A separate AI report still leaves gaps
Google introduced its generative AI performance reports on June 3 and says the worldwide rollout was completed on August 31. The Search report covers impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Its documented breakdowns include pages, countries, devices and dates. Those can help publishers see which URLs appear in AI features and how those appearances change over time. The dedicated report does not provide the corresponding click, click-through-rate or position metrics.
That limits what a publisher can conclude from a rising impressions chart. It can show more recorded appearances, but cannot establish that citations became more prominent or generated more visits.
There is also a reporting trap: Google says the AI report’s data is already included in the main Web performance report. Adding the two totals together would count overlapping data twice. Dividing all Web clicks by AI impressions would also mix different sets of activity, producing something other than an AI-specific click-through rate.
Mueller said modern results give users several ways to interact, making the familiar ranking scale difficult to translate into useful reporting. He offered to take suggestions to the team. For publishers, the missing detail remains concrete: which placements actually put their links in front of readers and persuade them to visit.
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