gsc-ai-performance

What this skill does

# /digital-marketing-pro:gsc-ai-performance

## Purpose

Google rolled out a new **GSC AI Performance Report** on **3 June 2026** ([Search Engine Land announcement](https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-and-controls-to-block-your-content-in-ai-responses-479298)) covering both AI Overviews and AI Mode in a single combined surface. This skill helps you (a) baseline a brand's visibility in the new report, (b) understand the metric trade-offs, and (c) decide whether to use the new in-SC opt-out toggle.

## What is genuinely new (3 June 2026)

| Metric / surface | Status |
|---|---|
| Combined AI Overviews + AI Mode impressions | NEW — one report for both surfaces |
| Pages cited (per query group) | NEW |
| Country breakdown | NEW |
| Device breakdown | NEW |
| Date range filtering | NEW |
| **Click data** | **NOT INCLUDED** (Google explicitly excluded — important caveat for attribution) |
| Opt-out toggle in Search Console | NEW (replaces having to ship robots.txt / meta tags for AI-specific exclusion) |
| API surface | **NOT YET PUBLISHED** — UI only at launch |
| Geographic rollout | UK first, then global ([source](https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-and-controls-to-block-your-content-in-ai-responses-479298)) |

**Critical interpretation guidance:** The report shows when your pages were SHOWN in AI Overviews / AI Mode, not when users clicked through to them. Because click data is absent, all downstream attribution to AI traffic must come from your analytics (GA4's new `AI Assistant` channel — added 13 May 2026 — is the matching analytics-side surface; see `/digital-marketing-pro:analytics-insights`).

## When to use this skill

- Setting baseline AI visibility for a new brand (first 30-day capture of AI Overview + AI Mode impressions)
- Comparing brand AI visibility against `aeo-audit` synthetic results — the GSC report shows ACTUAL impressions vs `aeo-audit`'s probe queries
- Deciding whether to flip the in-SC AI opt-out toggle for a brand (regulated industry, brand-safety concern, or paywall/login content)
- Quarterly business review evidence — "AI search impressions grew X%" using authoritative Google data

## Brand context (auto-applied)

1. Read `~/.claude-marketing/brands/_active-brand.json` for the active slug, then load `~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/profile.json`
2. If no brand exists: ask "Set up a brand first (/digital-marketing-pro:brand-setup)?" — or proceed with defaults
3. Apply industry-specific guidance from `skills/context-engine/industry-profiles.md` (YMYL industries may want opt-out toggled ON until E-E-A-T audit is clean)
4. Reference `skills/context-engine/compliance-rules.md` for jurisdiction-specific rules (EU markets — see `skills/context-engine/eu-code-of-practice.md` for Article 50 transparency context)

## Numbered output convention

All outputs go to `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/{brand}/seo/gsc-ai-performance/{YYYY-MM-DD}/`:

```
00-input.md                  brand domain, GSC access status, UK-cohort flag, date range
01-access-check.md           verification result; if no access, instructions for adding the user
02-export.csv                raw CSV export from GSC (preserved for reproducibility)
03-script-output.json        gsc-ai-performance.py summary (impressions, pages, countries, devices)
04-reconciliation.md         vs aeo-audit synthetic probe results — gap analysis
05-opt-out-decision.md       y/n on the in-SC opt-out toggle, with rationale
06-quality-scorecard.md      the gates below
PLAN.md                      single-page summary with tracking cadence
```

## Quality scorecard

| Gate | What it checks |
|---|---|
| **gsc_access_verified** | User has confirmed Search Console verified ownership for the brand domain |
| **export_completeness** | CSV has ≥ 1 day of data + at minimum the impressions column |
| **cohort_documented** | `00-input.md` notes whether the brand is in the UK rollout (data live) or pending global rollout (no data yet — wait) |
| **reconciliation_done** | `04-reconciliation.md` cross-references against the brand's most recent aeo-audit |

If the brand isn't in the UK rollout yet, the gate framework still applies but `export_completeness` will be `fail` until Google rolls out globally — that's expected, not a regression.

## Chain handoffs

- **Upstream:** `/digital-marketing-pro:brand-setup` for property verification
- **Downstream:**
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:aeo-geo` — optimization based on what's surfacing (or not)
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:seo-drift` — month-over-month tracking using the exported CSVs
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:analytics-insights` — GA4 AI Assistant channel attribution closes the click-side gap

## Process

1. **Access check** — confirm the user has Google Search Console verified access for the brand's domain. If the brand is in the UK rollout cohort, the report is live; otherwise it will appear when global rollout reaches them.
2. **Locate the report** — Search Console → left nav → **Performance** → switch tab to **Search results** → look for the new **AI Overviews & AI Mode** tab (the tab title may vary slightly during rollout; Google's working name during testing was "Search Generative AI"). On rollouts pre-tab, the data may also surface under the existing Performance report with an AI Features filter.
3. **Run baseline export** — set the date range to "last 28 days" (or maximum available since rollout), export to CSV/Sheets via Search Console's export button. Capture: impressions, pages, country mix, device mix, top queries (if available in your cohort).
4. **Reconcile against `aeo-audit`** — synthetic queries from `/digital-marketing-pro:aeo-audit` test what AI engines *might* surface; the GSC report shows what they *actually* surfaced. Significant gaps either way are signals:
   - GSC shows much more than aeo-audit found → your test query set is too narrow; expand it
   - aeo-audit found brand in synthetic results but GSC shows few impressions → low query volume for those topics; redirect AEO effort to higher-volume topics
5. **Opt-out decision** — if any of the following apply, consider the in-SC opt-out toggle:
   - Industry has YMYL / regulatory risk and brand E-E-A-T isn't fully audited yet
   - Brand's content is paywalled or login-gated (AI surfacing of partial content can damage funnel)
   - Brand is the subject of active reputation management — surfacing in AI answers amplifies whatever sentiment AI models have absorbed
   - Editorial team wants to ship corrections via the brand's own properties first, not via AI synthesis
6. **Run optimization recommendations** — for brands NOT opting out, route to `/digital-marketing-pro:aeo-geo` for the optimization playbook (entity consistency, citation-worthy snippets, knowledge graph alignment).
7. **Set up monthly tracking** — schedule a recurring `gsc-ai-performance` baseline (CSV export → dated archive folder) so trend lines emerge over the next 6–12 months as AI search adoption grows.

## Output

A structured GSC AI performance brief containing:

- **Baseline metrics** — current-period impressions, pages, country mix, device mix
- **Trend analysis** — period-over-period change (where prior data exists)
- **Reconciliation table** — GSC actuals vs `aeo-audit` synthetic results, with gap notes
- **Opt-out recommendation** — explicit opt-in / opt-out decision with rationale grounded in industry profile and brand context
- **Optimization handoff** — list of high-impact topics where the brand is under-cited (route to `aeo-geo`)
- **Tracking cadence** — recommended monthly export schedule, archive path

## Caveats and known limitations (June 2026)

1. **No click data.** Google explicitly chose not to include click metrics. AI-to-website attribution must come from GA4 (the new `AI Assistant` channel group, added 13 May 2026, captures `Medium=ai-assistant` referrals from ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude). Note: GA4's channel may or may not specifically attri