What changed
Google introduced dedicated generative AI performance reports in Search Console on 3 June 2026. An update to the announcement says the worldwide rollout was completed on 31 August. Retailers now have a separate view of visibility in features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, alongside the wider Search reporting.
That makes this a useful time to establish a baseline. Our recommendation is to look at which pages appear and whether they serve your customers before setting a target for more visibility.
Read the data carefully
The Search report centres on impressions, with views by page, country, device and date. Google documents different aggregation rules for chart totals and page-level tables, so their totals may differ. The report excludes Search Labs experiments.
An impression records exposure to a link. It does not tell you that someone visited your store or bought a product. Treat the report as one part of your reporting, with website sessions and purchases reviewed separately. Avoid labelling all organic revenue as AI revenue because visibility increased in the same period.
If the report is missing, Google’s help page lists insufficient impressions as one possible reason. The page also retains rollout wording despite its newer worldwide availability note. Check your property before assuming that missing data means your site is ineligible.
Start with your commercial pages
For an Australian store, our suggested first review is to select Australia and a consistent date range, then group the pages by purpose: products, categories and buying advice. Keep those groups separate in your notes.
A buying guide appearing often may be useful even when it is not a direct sales page. Open it and check the next step. Can a reader find the relevant products? Are the recommendations suitable for the range you currently stock? Does the page answer the question fully?
For example, a linen bedding guide should explain the practical differences a shopper needs to understand and lead to the appropriate range. Adding a paragraph that repeats the word linen provides little help with that decision. This is an editorial example, not a result from a client.
Make one change you can review
Choose a small group of relevant pages rather than rewriting the whole catalogue. Record the issue, the change and its release date. That might be correcting a material specification, improving a comparison or making the product links easier to find.
At the next review, compare equivalent periods and account for promotions, stock availability and seasonal demand. A change in impressions alone cannot establish that your edit caused a commercial improvement.
Our priority would be a useful page and a traceable change log. Ask your SEO partner to bring the page examples behind the chart to your next meeting, alongside the commercial measures your business already uses.