The AI Mode Link Tracking Sheet

01 What Google shows you, and what it doesn't

On October 15, 2026, Google announced five changes to how AI Mode and AI Overviews show links. Google says the goal is to make it easier to click through to the sources. Google has not published the click numbers that would show whether higher links work. Here is what you can see today:

The AI report in Search Console. Google added it on June 3, 2026, and says it reached all websites worldwide as of August 31. It shows impressions: how often your pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, device and date. Not clicks, and not the search queries. Clicks. Google's help page says a click on a link in an AI Overview or AI Mode counts as a click. But those clicks sit inside your normal web search numbers in the Performance report, not in the AI report. Position. An AI Overview takes up one position, and every link inside it gets that same position. So a link moving up inside the answer does not show up as a better position.

So don't wait for the number. This sheet counts what you can see yourself, in four steps.

02 The page and click sheet

Step one. In Search Console, open the AI report and list the pages that get AI impressions. Step two. Next to each page, put its clicks from the normal Performance report, month by month.

Page and click sheet (one row per page)

Page URL: [PAGE]
AI impressions (AI report), month 1: [NUMBER] month 2: [NUMBER] month 3: [NUMBER]
Clicks (Performance report, web search), month 1: [NUMBER] month 2: [NUMBER] month 3: [NUMBER]
Reading: [SHOWN AND CHOSEN / SHOWN, NOT CHOSEN / TOO FEW TO TELL]

How to read a row: impressions up and clicks flat means you are being shown, not chosen. It is a trend check, not proof, and a small site's numbers will be noisy.

03 Count what happens on the page

Step three. A click you cannot see matters less than a booking you can. Count what happens on the page itself.

Count calls. Use call tracking, so each call is tied to the page it came from.

Count bookings and form fills. Write the monthly total next to the page's row in your sheet.

Add a "how did you hear about us" field to the booking form. It is the one place a customer can tell you they found you through Google's AI answer.

04 The monthly AI Mode log

Step four. Once a month, on the same day, ask AI Mode the ten things a customer asks. Same questions, same device, logged out, same city. Write down which links show up, and whether yours is one.

Monthly AI Mode log

Date: [SAME DAY EACH MONTH] Device: [SAME DEVICE] Logged out: yes City: [SAME CITY]
1. [CUSTOMER QUESTION] Links shown: [SITES] Mine shown: [YES / NO]
2. [CUSTOMER QUESTION] Links shown: [SITES] Mine shown: [YES / NO]
... up to 10
Total this month: [N] of 10 show my link

Example, for a small heating company: "book a furnace repair near me", "furnace repair price", "heating company open Saturday". Record presence, not rank. One missing day means nothing. It is a sample, not a statistic.

05 Be the official page, and check one setting

Google is testing a section at the top of the answer for "only one or two official places on the web to complete a specific task." It is only a test, and Google does not say how it picks. Its own guidance: a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, and "specific optimization isn't required." My reading, not a Google rule: one page for each task, with the task done on that page.

Name each task your customers come to do. Book. Pay. Get a quote. Check your hours.

Give each task one page, with the task done on it. The booking button, the phone number, the price range, the hours, all in plain text.

Link it from your home page, matching your Business Profile. If one job is spread over four pages and a PDF, there is no obvious official place.

Run Google's basics. Crawling allowed in robots.txt and by your hosting, important content in text, internal links, structured data that matches the visible text, Business Profile and Merchant Center details up to date.

Check the AI setting in Search Console. A control there excludes your site from AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google says if you switch it off, you get no traffic or impressions from those features. Make it a choice, not an accident.

Sources

Google: AI Mode and AI Overviews updates to explore the web Search Engine Roundtable: Google Updates Links In AI Mode & AI Overviews Again Google Search Central: Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console Search Engine Journal: Search Console AI reports rolled out worldwide Search Console Help: What are impressions, position, and clicks? Google Search Central: AI features and your website

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