How Clicks from AI Overviews Tracked in Google Search Console?

Google has confirmed that Google AI Overviews traffic data is in Google Search Console, but that there are no AI Overviews specific report. All the data get merged in the same performance report. In this post, I will look into how the clicks are tracked, what gets counted as a position, what gets impressions, or not.

To summarize this entire post: AI Overviews clicks show up with search clicks in Google Search Console performance report, but queries are always anonymized, with every click sharing the same position as the AI Overviews block itself, regardless of the position within the AIO response.

Are Clicks From AI Overviews Tracked in Google Search Console?

Yes, clicks from AI Overviews are tracked in Search Console. The position is counted as the position where the AIO is showing. So, if AIO is in position 0, all clicks from AIO will be in position 0. If it is in position 2, all clicks will be counted in position 2.

How are Queries From AI Overviews Clicks Showing up in GSC?

From the sample experiment made on 50 queries, all queries from clicks inside AI Overviews are anonymized in Google Search Console. The experiment was made by multiple users clicks for both long tail and broad queries, using logged-in, non logged-in states, with and without VPN, and tracking Clicks in Google Bulk Data Export for two different websites.

• AI Overviews queries are always anonymized
• Position of the click is always the position of the AI Overviews.
• The position inside the AI Overview is not tracked like it is in AI Mode, every clicks are tracked in the position of the AIO.
• Inline Links Clicks are tracked
• Sidebar Citations Clicks are tracked
• Cards at the bottom of AI Overviews are tracked

How Are Positions Calculated in Clicks from AI Overviews?

Clicks and Positions from AI Overviews are calculated in a much simpler way than click tracking in AI Mode. In fact, it is quite simple, the clicks will all have the position where the AI Overview is showing up, regardless of the position within the AI Overview.

Tracking AI Overviews Clicks and Impressions in Google Search Console Data

For this experiment, I used Google Bulk Data Export, a Google data source that contains upsampled data from the Google Search Console performance report (yet still containing anonymized queries). Here is what I have tried out.

• Ran ‘zgbk’ queries, clicked links
• Searched for rarely visited pages
• Recorded screen to correlate searches
• Ran queries in multiple browsers
• Tested logged-in versus logged-out states
• Asked colleagues to run similar queries
• Analyzed results on different websites