How Hong Kong SMEs can use Search Console's Generative AI report

After you prepare a website so Google can understand it in AI search experiences, the next practical question is how to tell whether your pages appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google Search Console now includes a Generative AI performance report. As of 31 August 2026, these insights are available to websites worldwide. This guide summarises official Google documentation for Hong Kong SMEs: what the report measures, what to check first, and how to act on the numbers.

What the report measures

According to Search Console Help, the Generative AI performance report for Search shows impressions for your site in generative AI features on Google Search. The report currently covers AI Overviews and AI Mode. An impression counts when links to your site were shown to a user in those features. You can break the data down by page, country, device and date, and export the chart and table.

• Pages: see which final URLs (usually the canonical URL after redirects) were linked from generative AI features.
• Countries: see where those searches originated; Hong Kong businesses often start with Hong Kong and other markets they serve.
• Devices: desktop, tablet or mobile (available in the Search report).
• Dates: track change by hour, day, week or month; dates use Pacific Time (PT).

Google also notes that generative AI impressions are included in the overall Search performance report under the Web search type, while this dedicated report makes AI visibility easier to monitor on its own. Data from Search Labs experiments is not included.

Before you start: three checks

• Verify your website property in Google Search Console. Without verification you will not see performance data.
• Under Settings, confirm the Search generative AI control is set to include your site's links and content. That is the default. If someone excluded the site, it will not appear in those AI features and the report may stay empty.
• Do not expect large numbers immediately. Google notes that properties without enough generative AI impressions may not show the report or data yet.

Find the control at Search Console -> Settings -> Search generative AI. Exclusion affects visibility and grounding in Search generative AI features; it is not used as a ranking signal for the rest of Search, and it does not replace controls such as noindex or Google-Extended.

How to open and read the report

In a verified property, open the Generative AI performance report for Search under Performance. The default chart shows total impressions for the selected period. Chart totals are aggregated by property: if two results from your site appear in the same generative AI feature, they count as one impression in the chart total; with a URL filter, aggregation follows the URL. The newest points can be preliminary and may change within a few hours.

Use the table tabs for pages, countries, devices and dates. The same limits that apply to the ordinary Search performance report, including the 1,000-row limit, also apply here. Chart totals and table totals can differ because of aggregation differences; Google documents this as a known discrepancy pattern.

Separate text search from image-based search

From 24 September 2026, Google added a Web: multimodal search-type filter to both the Search performance report and the Generative AI report. It covers image-based searches such as Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, uploaded images, and Chrome's "Search this image". If your site relies on product photos, shopfront photos or a portfolio, compare text-based and multimodal impressions before deciding whether image captions, filenames and surrounding page text need work. If you have no such traffic yet, the filter may simply be empty.

Practical follow-ups for Hong Kong SMEs

The report is a monitoring tool, not a ranking promise. Combined with Google's AI optimisation guidance, useful next steps include:

• Pages with impressions: confirm the service, area and enquiry steps are still accurate, and that the mobile journey is easy.
• No data at all: confirm you have not excluded generative AI features, that pages can be indexed with a snippet, and keep doing core SEO: clear service copy, crawlable text, and an up-to-date Google Business Profile. Zero impressions does not automatically mean the site is broken; exposure may simply be limited so far.
• A few pages dominate: maintain those pages carefully instead of mass-producing near-duplicate variants. Google warns against creating large volumes of pages mainly to manipulate generative AI responses.
• Country mix differs from your customers: use the country dimension to check whether language versions and local details match the audiences you actually serve.

Myths worth skipping

• You do not need an llms.txt file or other special AI-only markup to appear in the report; Google states Search, including generative AI features, does not use those files.
• Impressions are not the same as stable clicks or enquiries. Rely on the metrics the official report actually provides, then use your own analytics or enquiry logs to study visits.
• Be cautious with third-party tools that claim access to Google's internal AI ranking metrics. Google recommends evaluating advice against official Search Console data and public guidance.

Bottom line

For Hong Kong SMEs that already have a website, the Generative AI performance report is an official way to check whether pages are being linked from AI Overviews and AI Mode. Verify the property, keep inclusion turned on unless you have a reason to exclude, read impressions by page and country, and put effort back into accurate service content and enquiry paths. For website preparation steps that sit upstream of this report, see our guide on preparing a site for Google AI search.