Does Search Console show clicks from AI Overviews?

Not separately. Google says AI Overview and AI Mode traffic is included in the Performance report under the Web search type, so clicks on AI links are counted with all other clicks. Impressions from AI features can be seen in the generative AI report Zyppy used.

What click-through rate do AI Overview links get?

There is no general figure. In one test on one site, Zyppy estimated about 0.9% for its AI Overview and AI Mode links, with a range of 0.7% to 1.1%, against a 0.4% average for the site in Google Search.

Should a CPG brand opt its site out of Google's AI features?

Usually not. In Zyppy's test, opting out removed the site's AI citations within an hour and the estimate suggests those citations drew clicks at about twice the site's normal rate. If you want to test it, use a small section, not product pages, and annotate the dates.

What is the AI Overview halo effect?

Cyrus Shepard's name for a small rise in clicks on a site's regular search listings when the same site is also cited in the AI answer. He estimated it at around 2.3% on Zyppy and says the cause is not known.

AI Overviews eligibility for CPG brands: a practical checklist from Google’s own docs

CPG marketers keep asking for a special “AI Overview schema.” Google’s public documentation says something quieter: if a page can appear in Google Search with a snippet, it is already in the eligibility pool for AI features. The work is still fundamentals.

What Google says is required

According to Google Search Central: AI Features and Your Website, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. There are no additional technical requirements unique to AI Overviews or AI Mode. Meeting Search’s ordinary technical requirements covers AI formats as well.

What still helps (and what does not)

Google reiterates SEO fundamentals: allow crawling, make content findable with internal links, keep important information in text, support it with useful media when relevant, and keep structured data consistent with visible text. Google also states you do not need new machine-readable AI files or special schema.org types solely to appear in these features.

A CPG checklist you can run this week

Indexability: key product and education URLs return HTTP 200, are not blocked in robots.txt, and are linked from navigable hub pages.
Snippet eligibility: titles and meta descriptions are unique; important claims appear as on-page text, not only in images.
People-first content: compare-and-choose pages answer shopper questions your category actually receives (ingredients, use occasions, constraints).
Merchant / Business Profile hygiene: keep Merchant Center and Business Profile data current where you use those products — Google lists them among ongoing hygiene items for AI experiences.
Controls: if you need to exclude generative AI features, use Search Console’s generative AI control rather than inventing robots myths (Search generative AI control help).

How to talk about this internally

Frame AI Overviews work as Search eligibility plus helpful category content — not a one-off markup sprint. Google’s May 2025 guidance on succeeding in AI search experiences repeats the same center of gravity: unique, satisfying content for visitors.

Editorial checklist for PickedByRobots readers. Summarizes public Google documentation; not a guarantee of AI Overview placement or traffic.

Sources: AI Features and Your Website; Succeeding in AI search (May 2025); Search generative AI control.

What Google says is required

What still helps (and what does not)

A CPG checklist you can run this week

How to talk about this internally

Get the field notes by email