Google Admits It Can't Show You AI Search Rankings
Google has confirmed that Search Console's reporting for AI search doesn't adequately reflect how a site actually appears in AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to Search Engine Journal. That's Google talking about Google's own tool.
Here's why that matters for you specifically. A chunk of your SEO reporting this year has probably included some flavor of "we're showing up in AI search" as a win, backed by Search Console data. That data was never a clean signal to begin with, and now the company that built the dashboard is telling you not to trust it too far. If your agency or your in-house SEO person has been building a narrative around AI visibility using Search Console numbers, that narrative just lost its foundation.
The move here isn't to panic about AI search. It's to stop treating Search Console's AI numbers as ground truth in board decks and budget conversations. Ask whoever runs your SEO reporting how they're currently representing AI Overview visibility, and be ready to hear "we don't really know yet." That's the honest answer right now, and it's a better answer than a confident number built on a tool its own maker just called inadequate.
There's no fix to point you toward. Google hasn't said when better reporting is coming, or what it will look like. For now, treat any AI-search-attributed lead or ranking claim in your reports the way you'd treat a leasing agent's self-reported close rate: interesting, unverified, worth a follow-up question.
Source: Search Engine Journal, September 13, 2026
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