Google's John Mueller said that he expects the position and impression tracking for AI Mode, AI Overviews and Google Search to "evolve over time" as Google Search, AI Mode and AI Overviews "evolve too," he wrote.
He posted this on LinkedIn in response to how Google tracks positions in AI Mode within Search Console.
John confirmed that "there are edge-cases" when tracking these metrics in Google Search, AI Mode and AI Overviews. "The goal is not a written-in-stone absolute truth for position counting (that's impossible), but rather to make something that's useful for site owners in terms of understanding how their site is shown," John Mueller added.
He also said that Google will "update the documentation when / if there are significant changes." "It's cool to see these evolutions in search, but it also means there will be some work required on your end when it comes to interpreting, understanding, comparing these metrics," he added.
The question came from Kenichi Suzuki who asked:
How are rankings calculated in AI Mode?Specifically, are individual link citations counted sequentially as standard web positions (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd link from top to bottom, as shown in the attached screenshot), or is the entire AI Mode response treated as a single block occupying position #1 (similar to AI Overviews)?
I couldn't find a clear explanation in the Search Console documentation. Could you clarify how impression and position tracking work for this layout?
Here is the official documentation that has not changed in some time:
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
