How do I measure local AI-search visibility across countries?

Google Search Console defines a generative-AI impression as a link to a site shown in a generative AI feature on Google Search. Its Countries dimension groups the data by the country where the search originated.¹ That measure does not count every unlinked mention of a business.

Use this map to keep unlike evidence from becoming one score:

The AI search hub keeps Google generative features separate from other answer surfaces. The competitive visibility gap is useful when comparing two bounded observations, but it is not a universal rank.

Google's Generative AI performance report includes AI Overviews and AI Mode. It can group data by country, page, date, and device, and its dates use Pacific Time.¹ For a Google-only comparison, export the same report dimensions for every country and keep the selected period, search type, filters, property or page grouping, and export date with the data.

Google says AI Mode and AI Overviews can use different models and techniques, so their responses and links can vary. Google also says AI Overviews often do not trigger because they appear only when its systems determine that they add value beyond classic Search.² Treat a direct check as one observation of one surface at one time.

For each fixed prompt, save these fields in one row:

1. Prompt and intent: keep the exact local question and the service or category it tests.
2. Searcher context: record country, city or other location supplied to the surface, language, device, and timestamp.
3. Surface: name the provider, product surface, model when shown, and whether the response was an AI Overview, AI Mode, or another answer surface.
4. Response evidence: record whether the answer appeared, whether the business was mentioned, whether a URL was linked, which URL was cited, and whether the link was clicked.
5. Repeat context: keep the same prompt set and observation fields for the comparison window.

Keep these outputs separate when you report the result:

1. Direct observations: record the feature-appearance rate separately from presence among the responses that appeared. Keep “not shown” separate from “shown but absent,” then report the business-mention or linked-URL share with the prompt set and conditions stated.
2. Linked Google visibility: Search Console impressions and clicks for the selected country and reporting window.
3. Downstream action: Analytics visits or key events for the same country and period.

Search Console defines average position as a relative average, not a universal order of citations. In an AI Overview, all links in the overview receive the same position, and a click on an external page in AI Mode counts as a click.⁴ Keep position as a Search Console metric and do not use it as citation order.

Google Analytics detail reports can break data down by dimensions such as the country someone is visiting from.⁵ Country is a reporting dimension, not proof of a visitor's exact physical location or of causation from one answer.

Google says the Generative AI report can be absent when a site has not received enough generative-AI impressions, and it excludes Search Labs experiments.¹ Google also says AI Overviews often do not trigger because they appear only when they add value beyond classic Search.² Record those states as limits of the observation, not as a zero result.