TL;DR
- Google's John Mueller said Search Console position and impression tracking for AI Mode, AI Overviews and Search will evolve over time, and confirmed there are edge cases today, reported by Search Engine Roundtable on 16 September 2026.
- This follows his 14 September confirmation that every AI Overview link gets the position of the AI Overview block; the new point is that the counting itself will change.
- Google has not answered whether AI Mode citations are counted sequentially or as a single block at position 1, and the documentation has not changed in some time.
- For AI-visibility tracking, treat the Search Console AI figures as a dated, directional series that resets when Google changes the rules, not a fixed baseline.
- Mueller gave no timeline, said documentation will be updated on significant changes, and did not say whether past data will be restated.
Google's John Mueller said that position and impression tracking for AI Mode, AI Overviews, and Google Search will evolve over time as those surfaces evolve, and confirmed there are edge cases in how the metrics are counted today. Search Engine Roundtable reported his LinkedIn comments on 16 September 2026. For anyone building a way to track AI visibility, the takeaway is that the number in Search Console is a moving target by design, not a fixed measure to baseline against once.
This follows what we covered on 14 September, when Mueller confirmed that Search Console gives every link in an AI Overview the position of the AI Overview block rather than a rank within it. That is the current documented behaviour. What is new here is Mueller saying the counting will change as the surfaces change, that edge cases already exist, and, notably, that the question of how AI Mode positions are counted has no clear answer in the documentation yet.
What Mueller actually said
Mueller made three statements worth separating, because they say different things about how much you can rely on the metric.
| Statement | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The tracking will "evolve over time" as Search, AI Mode and AI Overviews evolve | The definition of position and impressions is not fixed; it will change under you as the surfaces change. |
| "There are edge-cases" in counting the metrics today | Even the current numbers have exceptions, so a single reading is not a clean measure. |
| Google will "update the documentation when / if there are significant changes" | The documentation, not a changelog in the report, is where you learn the rules changed. You have to watch it. |
Mueller framed the intent plainly: the goal is not a written-in-stone absolute truth for position counting, which he called impossible, but something useful for site owners in understanding how their site is shown. He added that these evolutions are interesting to watch, but they also mean work on your end when it comes to interpreting, understanding, and comparing the metrics.
The question Google has not answered
The exchange started with a precise question from Kenichi Suzuki, and the precision is what makes the non-answer significant. Suzuki asked how rankings are calculated in AI Mode: are individual link citations counted sequentially as standard web positions, so the first link from the top is position 1, the second is position 2, and so on, or is the entire AI Mode response treated as a single block occupying position 1, the way AI Overviews are handled. He noted he could not find a clear explanation in the Search Console documentation.
That distinction is not academic. If AI Mode citations are counted sequentially, a page cited fourth in an AI Mode answer reports position 4, and average position becomes a usable signal of how prominently you are cited. If the whole AI Mode response is one block at position 1, then every cited page reports position 1 regardless of where it sits, and average position tells you almost nothing about prominence. Mueller's reply did not resolve which of these is happening, and he confirmed the official documentation has not changed in some time.
Why this matters for AI-visibility tracking
Anyone measuring visibility in AI surfaces is building on a metric whose definition Google has now said will move. That changes how you should treat the numbers. A baseline you set this month may not be comparable to the same report in three months, not because your visibility changed but because the counting did. A drop or a jump in average position for AI surfaces could be a redefinition rather than a real shift.
The practical response is to stop treating the Search Console AI figures as an absolute and start treating them as a series that resets whenever Google changes the rules. That means recording the date of every reading, watching the documentation for the changes Mueller said would be announced there, and re-baselining when they land. It also means being honest in any report that average position on AI surfaces is a soft metric today, and softer still going forward, rather than presenting it as a precise rank.
The impressions side has the same problem
Mueller named impression tracking alongside position, and it carries the same instability. An impression in an AI surface depends on definitions Google can change: whether a citation shown inside a collapsed answer counts, whether an AI Overview that appears and is scrolled past counts, whether AI Mode and AI Overviews are pooled or separated. If those definitions shift, impression counts move without any change in how often your pages are actually used. Treat impression trends on AI surfaces with the same caution as position trends, and do not read a month-over-month impression change as a clean measure of gained or lost visibility.
What this does not change
None of this makes the Search Console AI data useless. It remains the only first-party count of how often your pages appear in Google's AI surfaces, and that is worth more than third-party estimates. What changes is the confidence you can attach to comparisons over time. The data is a directional signal, strongest when you read a large movement on your own pages within a stable window, and weakest when you compare across a period in which Google may have redefined the metric.
What Mueller did not say
The comments were a statement of direction, not a specification. Mueller did not say what will change, when, or in which order across Search, AI Mode, and AI Overviews. He did not answer whether AI Mode citations are counted sequentially or as a block, which was the actual question. He gave no timeline for documentation updates beyond "when / if there are significant changes", and no way to be notified other than watching the documentation. And he did not say whether past data will be restated when a definition changes, or whether a redefinition simply creates a discontinuity in the series. Those gaps are the reason to date every reading and expect to re-baseline.
What this means for Thai marketers
For Thai businesses tracking whether their pages surface in AI answers, the instability is a reason to keep the measurement simple and honest rather than to abandon it. Thai-language AI answers are already harder to measure with third-party tools, which sample from locations and profiles that may not match Thai users, so the first-party Search Console count is more valuable here than in larger markets. But it should be read with the same caveat: it is a moving definition, so record the date, watch the documentation, and re-baseline when the rules change.
The steadier signals remain the ones that do not depend on Google's position maths at all: branded search volume, direct traffic to pages you know are being cited, and asking enquirers where they heard of you, which in Thailand often happens in a LINE conversation. Use the Search Console AI figures as directional context inside a broader generative engine optimisation programme, and keep the technical foundations in order with a periodic SEO audit rather than leaning on a single metric Google has just told you will change.
Frequently asked questions
Is Search Console's AI position data reliable?
It is a directional signal, not an absolute. Mueller said the counting will evolve over time and confirmed there are edge cases today, so a reading is most useful for large movements within a stable window and least useful for comparisons across a period in which Google may have redefined the metric.
How does Search Console count position in AI Mode?
Google has not clearly answered this. Kenichi Suzuki asked whether AI Mode citations are counted sequentially or whether the whole response is one block at position 1, and Mueller did not resolve it, confirming the documentation has not changed in some time.
How is this different from what Google said before?
On 14 September, Mueller confirmed the current rule that every AI Overview link gets the position of the AI Overview block. The new comments add that this counting will change as the surfaces change, that edge cases already exist, and that the AI Mode counting question remains unanswered.
How will I know when the metric changes?
Google will update the documentation when there are significant changes, so the documentation is what you watch. There is no changelog inside the report itself, which is why you should date every reading and re-baseline when the documentation changes.
Should I stop tracking AI visibility in Search Console?
No. It is the only first-party count of how often your pages appear in Google's AI surfaces. Keep using it, but treat it as a series that resets when Google changes the rules, and pair it with signals that do not depend on position maths, such as branded search and direct traffic.
The takeaway
Google has told you, through Mueller, that the AI position and impression metrics in Search Console are not a fixed ruler and will keep changing shape. The honest way to use them is as a dated, directional series rather than a precise rank: record when each reading was taken, watch the documentation for the changes Google says it will announce there, re-baseline when they arrive, and never present AI-surface average position as a hard number in a report. The one thing not yet decided, how AI Mode positions are counted, is also the one most worth watching, because the answer determines whether that metric means anything at all.
