Unexpected Google Search Console Glitch Reveals Shocking Insights into Generative AI Performance
Ever wonder what happens when the very tool designed to show us how well Generative AI is performing in Google Search decides to… well, take a nap on the job? If you’ve been scratching your head over a sudden nosedive in impressions on your Search Console’s Generative AI report since August 13th, you’re not alone. It turns out, Google’s dealing with a pesky data logging glitch that’s been throwing off those numbers — a classic case of “it’s not you, it’s the data.” But don’t panic; this isn’t a drop in your site’s visibility or rankings, just a reporting hiccup they’re hustling to fix. Curious to see the nitty-gritty on what went wrong and how Google’s addressing it? LEARN MORE.
Google has confirmed the reports of a bug in the Search Console performance reports, specifically with the Generative AI in Search performance report. There is a data logging issue that has caused a decrease in impressions shown in the report. This is just a reporting issue, not a true issue in Google Search.
What was the issue. If you look at your Generative AI report for Search in Google Search Console’s performance report, you may see a deep dive in impressions reported starting on August 13th.
Here is a screenshot of one example:
What Google said. Google wrote on its data anomalies page:
August 13 (Generative AI in Search)
A logging error caused a decrease in impressions on the Generative AI performance report in Search for data starting on August 13, 2026. This issue affects data logging only and is ongoing.
John Mueller from Google added on Bluesky saying:
We’re aware of this issue and working on resolving it. This is just a logging issue and not representative of visibility changes in Search. We’re adding an annotation in Search Console to let folks know about this in the near future.
Why we care. If you noticed the dip in impressions on this report, you are not alone. This is widespread; Google confirmed the issue and is working on fixing it going forward.
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