SEO : a Google bug skews visibility statistics in AI results

Since August 13, 2026, agencies and site publishers that monitor their visibility in responses generated by Google's artificial intelligence have reason to worry: the brand-new Generative AI performance report in Google Search Console is showing plummeting numbers. But the cause is not a real traffic collapse — it's a data-collection bug, confirmed by Google itself.

A report just launched, already disrupted

The report in question allows, for the first time, distinguishing impressions and clicks obtained via the AI Overviews and Google's AI mode from those coming from classic search results. A much-anticipated tool for SEO agencies that now seek to measure their presence in generative answers, and no longer only their position on a results page.

Problem : as early as mid-August, a logging error began to skew the data reported in this report, as well as in the Discover performance report for the affected properties. Google specifies that the problem only affects the collection of the displayed figures, and not the actual visibility of sites in the results — but the outage has been ongoing for several days.

What Google confirmed

• The anomaly affects data from August 13, 2026, with an artificial drop in reported impressions.
• Google says it is working on a fix and plans to add an annotation in Search Console to notify users.
• The Discover report, for sites with AI features, is affected by the same logging defect.

This mishap comes as Google has just opened, on an initial set of sites, an option allowing publishers to opt out of having their content displayed in generative search features — a switch closely watched by web and SEO agencies undergoing reorganization around AI.

An indicator arriving at a pivotal moment

This new indicator arrives at a pivotal moment for the industry. One year after the arrival of the AI Overviews in France, the GEO (optimization to be cited by generative engines) is establishing itself as a discipline in its own right alongside traditional SEO. France now counts more than 500 agencies claiming to do SEO, with an average monthly support budget of €1,500 to €3,500 excluding VAT for an SME — needless to say, the reliability of measurement tools has never mattered more to justify such an investment.

How agencies should react

Practically, this bug does not mean that a site has lost visibility in AI-generated summaries since August 13: it means that Search Console is miscounting. Several consultants still recommend to :

• Take a snapshot of data prior to August 13, to keep a reliable comparison baseline ;
• Avoid drawing conclusions or changing a content strategy based solely on the figures for the affected period ;
• Watch for Google's official announcement before considering the report reliable again.

For teams that have been managing their generative SEO with this new tool for only a few weeks, the episode is a reminder of a classic SEO precaution: never base a decision on a single data source, especially when it is as young as this report.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Search Console bug mean a site has lost AI visibility ?

No. Google confirmed that this is a logging error that skews the displayed figures, not a real change in the site's visibility in search results.

Since when has the Generative AI performance report been disrupted ?

The anomaly affects data from August 13, 2026 ; it was still ongoing several days later, while Google rolled out a fix.

What should SEO agencies do while waiting for the fix ?

Keep a snapshot of data prior to the bug, avoid driving their decisions based on the figures for the affected period, and wait for the official annotation promised by Google before trusting the report again.

Sources

• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Roundtable
• La Réclame

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy