Google has added AI-related reporting to Search Console, breaking out how your site shows up in AI Overviews and AI Mode. For years the answer to "are we in the AI answers?" was a guess. Now there is a first-party place to look.
Google changes report names and layouts often, so check your own property for the current wording. The approach below works either way.
Step 1: Confirm you have the right access
Open Search Console, pick your domain property, and look for the AI-related section in the left menu or under Performance. If you manage a Minneapolis business and see nothing, make sure you are on the domain property, not a narrow URL-prefix property, and that your account has full or owner access.
Step 2: Set a baseline before you change anything
Export the numbers for the last three months. Record, for AI features:
- Impressions and clicks
- Which pages appear
- Which queries trigger them
Without a baseline you cannot tell whether your work is moving anything.
Step 3: Read it as a question list
The most useful output is the list of queries where AI answers included you. Sort it into three buckets:
- Questions you meant to win. Good. Strengthen those pages.
- Questions you did not expect. These show how customers phrase things. Write pages for them.
- Questions where you appear but get no clicks. Expected with AI answers. A mention still builds familiarity, so judge it by calls and branded searches, not clicks alone.
Step 4: Compare against what you want to win
Write down the 10 to 20 questions a customer would ask before hiring you, such as "best commercial roofing contractor in Minneapolis" or "who does AI search optimization in the Twin Cities". Check each against the report and against ChatGPT and Perplexity using our free self-audit. Gaps are your content plan.
Step 5: Act on what you find
- Page appears but loses the click: put the direct answer in the first lines, add a short table or list, and add a clear next step.
- Page does not appear: check that it is indexed with the URL Inspection tool, then improve internal links to it. See SEO, AEO and GEO compared.
- Questions with no page: publish one, as a FAQ-style article.
- Not showing for city terms: add the city, service area and local proof, such as reviews and projects, to the page.
Step 6: Pair it with Analytics
Search Console tells you about impressions. Analytics and your lead form tell you about people. Watch for rising branded searches and direct visits after AI impressions grow. That is how AI exposure turns into revenue.
What the report will not tell you
It covers Google. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot are not in it. For those you still need prompt checks, which is why the free self-audit and the 7 signals post matter.
Need it set up for you?
We pull Search Console and analytics data for clients and turn it into a monthly list of fixes. See our Minneapolis GEO agency page or the AI SEO service.