Background: Google Search and AI Answers
Google’s AI Overviews summarize information within search results. AI Mode supports more conversational exploration, including follow-up questions. Both can introduce people to websites through supporting links. Google also offers generative AI experiences in Discover.
For a business, this creates another opportunity to reach potential customers while they research a problem or compare services. A useful answer about a service, its costs, or the decision process can become part of that research journey. Our guide to real AI search results for Miami businesses explores the broader visibility opportunity.
What Google’s Generative AI Performance Reports Show
Google announced the reports on June 3, 2026, and updated the announcement to confirm worldwide availability as of August 31, 2026. There are dedicated views for generative AI visibility in Search and Discover. This visibility is also included in overall performance reporting, so avoid adding the dedicated view to the overall total.
| Report detail | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Impressions | How often your URLs appeared in the covered AI features. |
| Pages | Which URLs received visibility. |
| Countries | Where that visibility occurred. |
| Devices | Device breakdowns for the Search report. |
| Dates | Trends across hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly intervals. |
An impression is evidence of visibility, not a lead. The announcement describes impression reporting; it does not establish dedicated AI click, conversion, query, or ranking-position metrics. Evaluate business results separately through analytics, call tracking, forms, and your CRM.
Understanding the Search Generative AI Settings
In Search Console, open Settings > Search generative AI. The screenshot from Sky SEO Digital’s property shows inclusion selected and marked as the default. This confirms the participation setting shown at that moment; it does not prove that any particular page has appeared in an AI answer.
- Include: Allows your site’s links and content to participate in the covered AI experiences, including supporting generated answers.
- Exclude: Prevents participation in those experiences, removing that source of impressions and traffic.
- Inherit: Child properties can follow a parent’s choice or have an owner configure an override.
Google’s documentation for this control explains that it covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI features in Discover. It does not control ChatGPT or Perplexity, and it is separate from AI training controls. Exclusion is not a ranking or inclusion signal for other parts of Google Search.
How to Set Up Your Website for Generative AI Inclusion
- Verify your website in Search Console. Select the property covering the website you want to manage.
- Review the participation control. Open Settings, then Search generative AI. Choose inclusion if your goal is visibility in these experiences, and save if you changed the selection.
- Check related properties. Review inheritance and overrides so a more specific property does not have an unexpected choice.
- Check your important URLs. Use URL Inspection to investigate indexing and access problems. Review accidental Googlebot blocks, noindex directives, and snippet restrictions.
- Establish a measurement baseline. Review available generative AI performance data and record which pages receive impressions before assessing subsequent changes.
Google’s generative AI optimization guide says pages must be indexed and eligible for a search snippet, and the site must permit inclusion through Search Console. Eligibility does not guarantee an appearance. Google also says special AI files or markup, including llms.txt, are unnecessary for visibility in Google Search.
Think of inclusion as opening your business’s front door. People still need a reason to enter. Our recommended next step is to improve the pages that answer your customers’ most important questions, supported by clear service information, relevant examples, and an easy way to contact you.
Benefits for Businesses Investing in AI Search
The practical benefit is better decision-making. Instead of relying entirely on occasional searches or screenshots, you can investigate which pages Google reports showing in AI experiences and use that evidence to guide your content priorities.
- Find useful content patterns: Compare visible service pages and guides to identify topics worth developing.
- Review market relevance: Assess whether visibility aligns with the countries your business serves.
- Monitor progress: Compare consistent periods and record major website changes alongside the trend.
- Improve the customer journey: Make pages receiving attention more helpful, persuasive, and easy to navigate.
These are opportunities, not promised outcomes. More impressions do not automatically produce more visitors or revenue. A useful reporting process asks whether increased visibility coincides with qualified inquiries and sales, while acknowledging that attribution may be incomplete.
How Sky SEO Digital Helps With AEO
Sky SEO Digital helps businesses build a stronger presence across traditional search and AI answers. Our answer engine optimization services focus on how potential customers ask questions, what information they need, and how clearly your website demonstrates your expertise.
AEO and SEO have different objectives, with substantial overlap in execution. SEO supports discoverability and organic search performance. AEO adds focused work on answer visibility, customer questions, and monitoring across AI experiences. Google’s inclusion setting is one checkpoint within that broader work.
- Visibility and settings review: Assess available reporting, participation controls, and technical barriers.
- Service-page development: Explain your offerings, service areas, process, and relevant decision factors.
- Content planning: Develop useful FAQs, comparisons, and detailed guides through our content marketing services.
- Technical and credibility improvements: Strengthen internal links, review appropriate structured data, and make business information easier to verify.
- Ongoing measurement: Review Google’s reported visibility alongside separately measured AI citations, website engagement, and qualified inquiries.
Our approach combines website evidence with business goals. As we explain in our guide to the limitations of AI-generated marketing strategies, useful recommendations require more than a surface-level website review. No agency can guarantee selection in an AI answer.
Want to understand your website’s AI visibility? Schedule a 30-minute conversation with Sky SEO Digital to discuss your settings, content opportunities, and AEO priorities.
Google Generative AI FAQs
Is generative AI inclusion enabled by default?
Yes. Inclusion is the default for properties without an inherited parent choice. Check the effective setting and any child-property overrides.
Does enabling inclusion guarantee AI visibility?
No. It permits participation. Google still decides whether an eligible page is relevant enough to show for a particular search.
Does this setting control AI training?
No. Google distinguishes participation in Search AI experiences from training controls. Consult its Google-Extended documentation when evaluating training preferences.
Will excluding my site remove it from all Google results?
No. This control applies to the specified generative AI experiences. It is separate from removing pages from the wider search index.
Does Search Console measure ChatGPT and Perplexity visibility?
No. Those platforms require separate monitoring. Google’s reports concern its own covered experiences.
Do I need special AI schema or an llms.txt file?
Google says neither is required for its search visibility. Use structured data where appropriate for supported purposes, without treating it as a guarantee of AI selection.
What if I cannot find the setting?
Confirm that you selected the intended property and check with its owner about your access. Google notes that available settings vary by property and permissions.
What should I do after confirming inclusion?
Review your important service pages, identify unanswered customer questions, and establish a reporting baseline. Prioritize changes that help people evaluate and contact your business.
Bryan Wisotsky is Miami's leading AI SEO strategist with 17+ years in digital marketing. He founded Sky SEO Digital to help businesses dominate the new era of AI-driven search. Bryan personally leads every client engagement — no juniors, no handoffs.