While the Google Search Console generative AI performance reports do not share query data, you can still try to figure out which queries are from AI Mode versus normal searches. The SEO community has been doing this for years now by looking for more conversational-style queries in your Search Console performance reports. I mean, Google has told us it lumps the data into the main report.
Recently John Mueller from Google replied to a post about spotting these types of queries in the Search Performance reports within Google Search Console. This was on LinkedIn where Anastasia Kourou showed queries such as:
- yes
- yes go on
- yes, pricing
In the search performance report queries data, not the generative AI reports because that report does not have query data. Here is that screenshot of picture of the screen:
When Anastasia Kourou found these queries weird, John Mueller from Google replies with a link referencing AI Mode. He wrote, “Search Console includes information on AI Overviews and AI Mode in the general performance report. There’s a bit more on this at this URL.”
It reads, “If a user asks a follow-up question within AI Mode, they are essentially performing a new query. All impression, position, and click data in the new response are counted as coming from this new user query.”
Now, the generative AI performance reports do not have queries, but the main search performance reports do have query data. We have to assume these “yes” queries came from AI Mode, just like we assume super long, conversational style queries come from AI Mode or AI Overviews. But yes, these are follow-up questions to the initial query using AI Mode.
Here is another example share of this:
Search console is recording people’s responses to AI mode….now how do we reverse engineer? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/7VZMNqiX94
— Ross Tavendale (@rtavs) August 4, 2026
