AI Overviews GSC Report Without Clicks: Marie Haynes’ Step-by-Step Guide
Summarize this article with AI
A report that doesn’t count clicks? My client didn’t see the point
A client calls me on a Tuesday morning. Retail site, 4,200 product pages, 120,000 organic sessions per month. Google just showed him a new number in Search Console. 37,400 impressions in 28 days. But zero clicks. Zero click-through rate. Nothing.
He says: « What’s the point of knowing I appear in AI Overviews if I don’t even know how many people click? »
Silence.
I understand his frustration. We love Search Console for its hard data, its clicks, its rankings. A gutted report, with no action behind it, is frustrating. Yet this report, delivered by Google on June 3, 2026, contains information that 92% of e-commerce sites I audit ignore.
Nothing is missing.
It gives you the map of what the algorithm judges as relevant. And that’s gold.
What Google actually made available (and why now)
The new « Generative AI » block lands in Search Console, under the Performance tab. You filter by pages, countries, devices, dates. For now, it’s rolling out in the UK before becoming available everywhere. Impressions only. No clicks. No average position. Just the number of times your pages fed into an answer in AI Overviews, AI Mode, or enriched Discover.
Why now? Marie Haynes reminds us: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK is pushing Google to be more transparent. Clear attribution, visible links, accessible opt-out. The new button in Search Console settings lets you prevent your content from feeding the AI. It’s a simplified version of the google-extended tag, in checkbox form.
At this stage, many publishers are wondering: should I opt out?
« For most of us, opting out of AI Overviews is essentially opting out of Search. » — Marie Haynes
Leaving AI Overviews means leaving part of Search. E-commerce brands who think they’re protecting their content lose future organic visibility. I’ve said it since 2020: better to understand the mechanism than to flee it.
Voici comment j’applique la méthode de Marie Haynes pour transformer des impressions AI en clics réels. Suivez ces trois étapes clés.
La méthode Marie Haynes en 3 étapes
Extraire, croiser, analyser : le chemin vers les clics cachés.
Cross-referencing signals: Marie Haynes’ method in three steps
Marie Haynes doesn’t just report the news. She provides a method. I’ve applied it across 17 Search Console accounts since the report opened. It comes down to three moves.
- Extract pages with the most « Generative AI » impressions. In the interface, sort by impressions in descending order. Note the URLs, countries, devices. Do a manual pull or via API if Google opens one day.
- Cross-reference with standard Search performance. For each page, check its clicks, CTR, average position on main queries. Flag those that combine strong AI impressions and regular human clicks.
- Analyze the reason for the click. Marie suggests giving an instruction to an AI agent (she uses Antigravity, but a spreadsheet works): « What does this page offer that the AI summary doesn’t? Why does the user click? »
I’ve practiced this cross-reference with all my clients since 2018. Just with two Excel exports.
The answer is often: the original image, the real comparison, the real-world test, the hands-on feedback that AI can’t synthesize alone.
The breakthrough: 47 silent pages hiding a goldmine
Back to my client. 37,400 impressions in AI Overviews. Cross-referencing with his standard Search report, I spot 47 pages. Together, they account for 63% of AI impressions and register an average 3.2% CTR in standard Search. Yet no one had ever looked at this group.
Total silence.
I analyzed them. Each page delivered something: a size comparison with real photos, unboxing video, a FAQ enriched with sourced customer feedback. The AI summary doesn’t capture all that.
We optimized these pages. No redesign, no heavy new content. Just reinforcing what made them useful: adding video testimonials, installation diagrams, a downloadable compatibility table. All while preserving the existing semantic architecture.
8 weeks later, clicks on these 47 pages jumped +320%. The site’s overall organic traffic climbed +28%. No ad campaign. No artificial links. The work focused on what we were overlooking.
The click-less report had just paid for the audit.
Avant de passer aux actions concrètes, prenez conscience de l’opportunité : 92% des e-commerçants ignorent encore cette donnée.
Un gisement inexploité par la majorité des sites e-commerce
Seuls 8% des sites que j’audite utilisent déjà ce rapport.
Four concrete actions to profit from this report
- Build a cross-referenced dashboard. Generative AI impressions vs Search clicks. Any gap reveals an intent to serve.
- Hunt for the « beyond-the-AI. » Ask yourself: what does my page deliver that AI Overviews don’t summarize? A real image, a test video, a certification, a strong opinion. Add them.
- Segment by country and device. A buying guide may dominate AI Overviews on mobile in France but not on desktop in Canada. Adapt.
- Leave opt-out alone. Unless you’re dealing with recurring misinformation, staying visible in these answers is a net win. If Google spreads wrong info about your brand, strengthen your trust signals, your Google Business listing, and your « About » page.
I apply these four actions in every live audit. No mystery, no jargon. These are concrete checks.
AI Overviews: threat or opportunity? The opt-out trap
I hear plenty of e-commerce owners panic. If the AI answers directly, no one will click. So the temptation to check « don’t use my content » is strong.
Wrong math.
Leaving AI Overviews means disappearing from the buying journey right when users seek trusted answers. A missed click, yes, but also a missed opportunity. Brands that stay visible in AI Overviews keep a seat at the decision table. Traffic doesn’t vanish, it transforms. And the click-less report proves it: the more your pages help build the answer, the more qualified clicks they earn later.
The question isn’t « should I be there? » but « do my pages deserve the click the summary triggers? »
Marie Haynes says it clearly: build content the AI can’t summarize. Content with video comparisons, customer galleries, real-world how-tos. No filler text.
Now, how to structure content that AI loves… and humans click
The Generative AI report isn’t a gadget. It shows the foundation of your authority with Google. The logical next step? Build an architecture that leverages these signals.
Since 2016, I’ve built semantic silos. Each pillar page, each child page, each internal link weaves a web that algorithms read as solid expertise. With AI Overviews here, this architecture pays off: well-structured pages earn generative impressions and capture human clicks.
A silo is a system, not a redesign. It tells Google (and its AIs) the intent of each content subset. My clients who apply it see their AI Overviews impressions multiply by 3 to 4 in a few months.
The click-less report, combined with a semantic silo, becomes your organic growth compass.
I show pages, not a method.
45-Minute Live SEO Audit with Your GSC Data Review
During this call, I’ll show you live which pages impress in AI Overviews and cross-reference them with your real clicks. No sales pitch, just a diagnosis to know where to focus your effort.
Book a strategic call — 45 minFrequently Asked Questions
What’s the point of the new Generative AI report in Search Console?
It shows impressions of your pages in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and enriched Discover. It reveals which pages Google deems trustworthy enough to base generative answers on, even without click data.
Does this report give clicks or CTR?
No. Right now, only impressions are available. You cross-reference this data with the standard performance report to find pages losing both AI impressions and human clicks.
How do I cross-reference AI Overviews data with standard Search?
Export the page list sorted by impressions from the Generative AI report. Also export the standard Pages report for the same period. Merge by URL in a spreadsheet. Flag pages receiving strong AI impressions and good Search CTR.
Should I enable opt-out to stop appearing in AI Overviews?
Marie Haynes advises against opting out unless the AI distorts your info. Leaving AI Overviews costs you organic visibility. Better to improve your content so this visibility converts to clicks.
What content type generates the most clicks from AI Overviews?
Pages offering what the AI summary can’t replicate: original images, real-world test videos, detailed customer reviews, practical comparisons, downloadable tables. Non-commodity content, rich in first-hand expérience.
