Google Admits Search Console AI Reporting Falls Short

Google's Search Console AI search reporting has come under scrutiny for its inadequacies in providing accurate data to website owners and SEOs. According to John Mueller, Google's expert on search, the current reporting system is based on outdated concepts from the 'ten blue link' era of web searching.

The new Search Console report, which was released in June 2023 and fully rolled out globally on August 31, focuses primarily on impressions, showing how many times a URL appears in AI search surfaces. However, this data is filtered, meaning it's already included in the regular search performance report.

A Reddit post highlighted several issues with Search Console's AI Overviews metrics, including that they don't necessarily mean users actually saw the link, and links hidden behind 'Show More' are treated differently. The position metric measures the display of the AI Overview, not the individual link's position.