Google flipped two site-wide switches on August 31, 2026. The AI report inside Search Console is now live for every property worldwide, and the toggle that pulls your pages out of AI Overviews and AI Mode went global on the same day. Small business owners who have spent a year guessing whether AI answers were quietly eating their traffic finally have a number to look at and a lever to pull.
The catch is what the AI report leaves out, and it is the part that matters most to anyone paying for a website. Microsoft shipped its own August advertising update the same morning, including an account linking change that agencies and freelancers need to catch before it locks them out of a client account. Here is what actually landed, and what to do about it this week.
The AI Report Is Now Live in Search Console for Every Site
Google confirmed the global rollout on its own Search Console help pages rather than in a blog announcement. The generative AI report finished rolling out worldwide, and the separate control that lets a site opt out of generative AI features reached all websites on the same date. Google’s help documentation states plainly that “as of August 31, 2026, we’ve rolled out this control to all websites worldwide.”
Access is still staged in practice. Google notes that “not all properties have access to the report, as we’re rolling out over time,” so if the AI report has not appeared in your Search Console yet, it is coming rather than broken. The feature first surfaced for a small group of UK site owners after Google introduced it in June 2026, then widened through the summer before today’s worldwide switch.
What the AI report actually shows
The AI report counts how many times links to your site were shown inside a generative AI feature on Google Search. That covers AI Overviews and AI Mode. It does not cover Search Labs experiments, which Google excludes because they are still in active development.
You can break the data down four ways: by page, by country, by device, and by date. That last one is the useful axis for a small business, because it lets you line the AI report up against your normal Search performance report and see whether the two curves moved together or in opposite directions.
What the AI report does not show
There is no click data. The AI report gives you impressions only, which means it tells you that Google showed your link inside an AI answer and stops there. Whether anyone clicked it is still a blank.
That gap is the whole argument in miniature. AI Overviews answer the question on the results page, so the impression is often the entire transaction and the visit never happens. An impressions-only AI report can show a healthy, rising line while your actual sessions fall, and both numbers can be true at once. Treat the AI report as a visibility signal, not a traffic report, and keep judging traffic in the analytics you already trust.
The standard Search Console limits apply too. The AI report caps at 1,000 rows, the newest days are preliminary and get revised, and a site with very few AI impressions may see nothing at all.
The opt-out toggle that shipped with the AI report
The second switch lives under Settings, then Search generative AI, in Search Console. Flip it off and your pages stop appearing in and stop grounding AI Overviews, AI Mode, and the AI answers in Discover. Your site keeps showing in ordinary search results and in the Discover feed as before.
Three details are worth reading twice before anyone gets excited. Google says the control “isn’t used as a ranking or inclusion signal affecting other parts of Search,” so opting out is not supposed to cost you rankings. It does not touch AI training, which is governed separately by the Google-Extended crawler token. And it does not override choices you made elsewhere, so Merchant Center and Google Ads participation stay exactly as they were.
For most small businesses the honest recommendation is to leave the toggle alone. Opting out removes impressions and any traffic those AI features were sending, and the AI report is the tool that shows you what you would be giving up. Publishers with a subscription or licensing argument are a different case. A plumber, a dental office, or a boutique is usually better off being cited in the answer than invisible in it.
What to do with the AI report this week
Open Search Console and check whether the AI report has reached your property. If it has, export the last three months by page and note which URLs Google keeps pulling into AI answers. Those pages are your quotable assets, and they are almost never your home page.
Then compare that list against the pages that convert. Where a page earns AI impressions but never a lead, the fix is usually structural: a direct answer near the top, a clear next step, and a title and description that earn the click when the link does appear. Where a page converts but never surfaces in the AI report, you have a coverage gap worth writing into.
Microsoft Advertising Shipped Its August Update the Same Morning
Microsoft published its monthly product roundup on August 31 as well, and two items in it have real operational consequences for small advertisers.
AI Max for Search is generally available
Microsoft describes AI Max as “an optional suite of Search campaign features” built to “understand intent, adapt to emerging queries, and help you show up in the moments decisions are being made.” Optional is the operative word. It expands which queries your ads can match, so if you have spent months building a tight keyword list, turn it on in a test campaign first and watch the search terms rather than switching your whole account. The same logic applies here that applies to broad match on the Google side.
The account linking change that can lock you out
This is the item most likely to bite. Microsoft is moving new account linking requests to dual-ID verification, requiring two identifiers instead of one. API users had to implement the change by August 26, with enforcement rolling through September 22.
If an agency or contractor manages your Microsoft ads, ask them today whether their linking requests are updated. A failed link does not announce itself. It shows up as a request that silently never completes, and you find out when someone needs access during a campaign.
Everything else in the drop
A read-only Microsoft Advertising MCP server is now in open flight, which lets assistants such as Copilot, ChatGPT, and Claude pull campaign data directly. Performance Max gains uplift experiments, wider search term reporting, and age and gender exclusions generally available by September 8. Asset policy status is now visible in the Assets tab with bulk editing. LinkedIn job seniority targeting is generally available. And starting October 1, manual Max CPC will no longer be offered when creating new non-portfolio campaigns on certain automated bidding strategies.
Separately, Microsoft is previewing a redesigned advertiser console with reworked navigation and new data tables. It is a preview, it can change, and you can switch back to the classic view while it settles.
Frequently Asked Questions About the AI Report
Where do I find the AI report in Search Console?
Open Search Console and look under the Performance section, where the generative AI report sits alongside your Search results report. Google is still enabling properties in waves, so if it is missing today it should appear shortly. The opt-out control is separate, under Settings.
Does the AI report include clicks?
No. Impressions only. Google’s documentation confirms the report counts how often links to your site were shown in a generative AI feature and does not currently report clicks. You can see that Google surfaced you inside an AI answer, but not whether that surfacing sent a single visitor.
Which search features does the AI report cover?
AI Overviews and AI Mode on Google Search. Google explicitly excludes Search Labs experiments because those are still in development. Data can be sliced by page, country, device, and date, with the usual 1,000 row cap that applies across Search Console reports.
Should my small business opt out of AI Overviews?
Usually no. Opting out removes your impressions and any clicks those features produce, and Google says the setting is not a ranking signal either way. For a local service business, being cited in the answer beats being absent from it. Watch your own numbers first, then decide.
Does opting out stop Google from training on my content?
No. Google states the control does not affect AI training, and points site owners to the Google-Extended crawler token for that. The two settings do different jobs, so turning off generative AI appearance leaves training permissions exactly where you left them.
Stay Ahead of AI Search Reporting
Impressions without clicks is a hard number to plan around, and most owners are reading it alone for the first time this week. Our SEO and analytics work exists to turn readings like this into a plan instead of a worry. If your traffic has slid while your rankings held steady, tell us what you are seeing and we will look at it with you. For updates like this as they land, subscribe to the Demur Design newsletter in the footer below at demurdesign.com.
This recap is researched and drafted with AI, then reviewed, fact-checked, and published by Demur Design.
Sources
- Google Search Console Help, “Generative AI performance report (Search)”, updated August 31, 2026
- Google Search Console Help, “Search generative AI control”, updated August 31, 2026
- Google Search Central Blog, “Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console”, June 2026
- Search Engine Land, “Google Search Console AI performance reports and Search generative AI control rolling out globally”, August 31, 2026
- Microsoft Advertising Blog, “AI Max for Search and other product news for August 2026”, August 31, 2026
- Search Engine Land, “Microsoft Advertising rolling out new design for advertiser console”, August 31, 2026
