Search Console AI Reports Go Global

Google has confirmed that its new Search Console reports for AI search features are now available worldwide, giving website owners more insight into how their pages appear across Google’s AI-powered results.

The update was accompanied by several comments from Google’s John Mueller on SEO issues ranging from recovery after algorithm updates to AI crawler behaviour and sitemap management.

Search Console AI Reports Available Worldwide

Google says its AI reporting features and the option to opt out of Search AI became available globally on 31 August.

The reports provide information about impressions generated through AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. Website owners can break the data down by page, country and date.

However, the reports are not necessarily available for every property. Websites receiving relatively few impressions from Google’s AI features may not appear in the reporting system.

The data provides a clearer picture of which pages are being surfaced by Google’s AI features and where those appearances are happening. It does not, however, show what users do after seeing a page within an AI result.

Google has also said that using the Search AI opt-out option will not affect a site’s rankings across other areas of Google Search.

SEO Recovery Could Take Months

Mueller has also warned website owners against expecting immediate results after making changes following a major Google update.

Responding to a Reddit user whose website had lost a ranking after they submitted a disavow file, Mueller said that changes connected to broad updates can take many months to become visible.

The website owner said they had identified more than 800 referring domains they considered toxic and submitted them for disavowal. Around two weeks later, the site reportedly dropped from third to a lower position for its main keyword.

Mueller explained that while the disavow tool can have an effect, removing a small number of links would not normally cause a site to suddenly disappear from search results.

He advised investigating other possible causes, including whether a broad spam update had affected the site around the same time.

The timing is important because changes involving Google’s processing of link data are not necessarily reflected within days. Website owners should therefore look at technical issues, update dates and other changes before assuming that a recent disavow submission caused a ranking decline.

Mueller Questions Demand for Markdown

Another discussion focused on whether websites should create a markdown version of their content specifically for AI crawlers.

Mueller said that, based on his experience with his own test websites, the crawlers requesting markdown were SEO tools rather than major AI bots.

The discussion began after an SEO professional asked whether anyone had seen major AI crawlers request content using the text/markdown format. The suggestion was that serving markdown could potentially reduce server load.

Mueller’s response was based on the behaviour observed on his own websites, meaning the same pattern may not necessarily apply elsewhere.

For website owners considering a markdown version, the practical approach is to examine server logs and check the Accept headers being sent by crawlers.

If major AI bots are not requesting markdown, creating a dedicated markdown layer may provide little benefit.

Rotating Sitemap URLs Could Cause Problems

Mueller also criticised a technique involving regularly changing sitemap URLs.

The method involved adding a new timestamp parameter to sitemap URLs each day in an attempt to encourage search engines to fetch them again.

Mueller described the approach as a bad idea because it makes the URL itself appear to be constantly changing. He also noted potential problems for search engines and tracking.

Instead, website owners should maintain stable sitemap URLs and use the existing lastmod field to communicate when a sitemap or its contents have been updated.

This means there is generally no need to create a new sitemap URL simply to encourage another crawl.

The Bigger SEO Lesson

The common theme across Mueller’s responses is that website owners should check the information already available to them before creating additional technical solutions.

Crawler request headers can reveal whether bots are actually asking for markdown. Google’s published update information can help establish whether a ranking change coincides with an algorithm update, while the lastmod field already provides a mechanism for communicating sitemap freshness.

Meanwhile, Search Console’s new AI reports offer a way to monitor where pages are appearing within Google’s AI features.

For SEO professionals, the wider lesson is to check the underlying data before building a workaround. Many technical shortcuts may be unnecessary when existing standards, documentation and reporting tools already provide the information needed.