How are AI overview impressions counted in Google Search Console?

Google Search is changing. It is no longer just about ten blue links.

With the availability of features like AI Overviews, featured snippets, generative AI search features, shopping results, videos, and interactive search elements, conventional SEO rankings and visibility are changing for good.

And this is where it gets extremely important to ask:

How are AI Overview impressions actually counted in Google Search Console?

What happens when your website gets cited inside an AI Overview? Does Google actually consider it an impression when an AI Overview appears on the page? Is it necessary that the user gets to see your specific link? What if the link is hidden behind “Show more”?

Recently, these questions came up in a Reddit discussion. And Google’s John Mueller has offered some amazing insights into how Google actually approaches AI search measurement.

Google considers AI search results as a “block”

According to John Mueller, Google tracks generative AI search features as a block, just like it does with other search features. 

Earlier, SEO experts were focused on search visibility in terms of numerical positions. The goal was to rank a page at the top of the SERP. However, AI Overviews are different. An AI Overview often appears at the top of a search results page. The most interesting thing about AI Overviews is that they consist of information collected from different sources. It might include references or links with which users can easily interact. Once you expand the feature, you may also see some additional resources.

Because of the complicated nature of this system, Google is not analysing the Generative AI performance data in the traditional 1-10 rankings.

Why isn’t Google reporting an AI Overview position?

John Mueller believes that the biggest challenge in this situation is that Google in 2026 is highly interactive. A user gets to see multiple features on the search results page. Each feature is somehow competing to get the attention of the user.

A simple query like “best continental restaurant near me” can generate:

• An AI overview
• A featured snippet
• Traditional organic results
• Images and videos
• Local results
• People Also Ask
• Shopping results

It is simply not feasible or necessary to assign all these features a numerical position.

Jonmu explains that the conventional “position 1 to 10” model is getting exceptionally harder to track.

What happens when your link hides under “Show More”?

Another key aspect is that not all citations appear prominently in AI Overview. While a few will appear clearly in the initial AI Overview, it is highly likely that others get hidden because of the “Show More” option.

Google is currently considering the entire AI-generated search experience as a wider search-feature block. Marketers, therefore, shouldn’t assume an AI Overview impression as proof of clear link/citation visibility.

AI Overview impressions not equal to traditional rankings

With AI search around, it is possible that your website might receive greater visibility even if it is not ranking high in the traditional way. But at the same time, it is possible that your website can appear in an Overview and yet not receive even a single click.

AI Overview is, therefore, considered a visibility signal and not a direct traditional ranking.

What to track now?

It is required that SEO experts now move beyond traditional rankings and monitor other important aspects alongside:

• Clicks
• AI search visibility
• Search queries
• Click-through rates
• Landing pages
• Organic performance

The ideal way is to blend AI visibility and organic visibility and find out how they work together as a team.

Google is STILL figuring out the best way to measure AI search

John Mueller explained that Google is still working on finding out the most effective way to measure AI search. 

The highly dynamic nature of Google Search requires SEO performance measurement metrics to evolve accordingly. The question “what position does my page rank in” should now be eventually replaced by broader questions like “Did my content appear in AI search?” “Did my target audience interact with it?, or “Did that interaction result in some real business?”

Takeaway

Treating your Google Search Console AI Overview impressions like conventional organic data is not useful. As of now, the smartest strategy would be to consider AI Overview impressions as a significant search visibility metric, backed by queries, clicks, organic traffic, and other signals.

In simpler words, your goal should be to make your content become a part of the answer to the questions your target audience has been asking.