AI Mode-Style Queries Rose 7x in Search Console at the Median Site, 155-Site GSC Wizard Study Finds

Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, 20 October 2026.

Conversational, AI Mode-style queries have grown sevenfold as a share of Search Console impressions at the typical site over the past 16 months, according to a study of 155 Search Console properties published on 14 October 2026 by Search Console analytics tool GSC Wizard. The analysis, written by Jan-Willem Bobbink, found that these queries earned a click-through rate of just 2.9%, against 35.6% for all queries pooled.

Google does not label AI Mode traffic separately in the Performance report. The study instead classifies query shapes that look like follow-ups typed inside a conversation, such as a bare "yes" or a pivot like "what about salary", and tracks how often they appear.

Key findings

• The median site's AI-shaped share rose about 7x. It went from 0.032% of impressions to 0.22% between June 2025 and September 2026.
• Reply artefacts grew 21x. Bare replies such as "yes" rose from 5.6 to 116 per million impressions and appeared on 94 of the 155 sites.
• Pivot follow-ups grew 39x. They rose from 0.12 to 4.56 per million impressions, with most of the increase after May 2026.
• They are still a sliver of demand. Across the whole dataset, AI-shaped queries made up 0.13% of impressions.
• Clicks are scarce. AI-shaped queries had a 2.9% CTR overall, 1.5% for pivot follow-ups and 4.7% for reply artefacts.
• The spread is wide. In the week of 21 September 2026, 88 of 118 sites with data had at least some AI-shaped queries.

Metric	Start of period (June 2025)	End of period (September 2026)	Change
Reply artefacts per million impressions	5.6	116	21x
Pivot follow-ups per million impressions	0.12	4.56	39x
Median site's AI-shaped share of impressions	0.032%	0.22%	about 7x
Pooled AI-shaped share of all impressions	0.31%	0.10%	down

Query group	Click-through rate
All queries, pooled	35.6%
Reply artefacts	4.7%
All AI-shaped queries	2.9%
Pivot follow-ups	1.5%

Why the pooled share fell while the median rose

The two headline measures move in opposite directions. The median site's share rose about sevenfold, but the pooled share across every impression in the dataset fell from 0.31% to 0.10%. The study attributes the difference to a few large sites that dominate total volume. For most individual properties, the trend is upward.

Language patterns

The study also found that politeness in reply queries varies by language. Three in four German yes-replies included "bitte" or "gerne", and 67% of Dutch replies included "graag". English reached 40%, while Indonesian replies across 40 sites contained none. English accounted for 49.8% of AI-shaped impressions and Dutch for 6.0%, with about a third not assignable to a language. The queries spanned 27 languages.

How Google counts AI Mode in Search Console

The study's approach rests on how Google records AI Mode activity. Google's Performance report help page says that when a user asks a follow-up question in AI Mode, they are essentially performing a new query, and all impression, position and click data in the new response are credited to that new query. Clicks on external links in AI Mode count as clicks, standard impression rules apply, and position follows the same method as a regular results page.

That means the follow-up text a user types inside AI Mode can surface in the Queries table as if it were a standalone search.

Limitations

The author describes the work as inference rather than measurement, because Search Console does not flag which queries came from AI Mode. The properties come from one tool account and mix client and the author's own sites, so they are not a random sample of the web. Trend figures use only properties with data in at least 90% of weeks. The study also warns that recent weeks may be understated by about 16%, because Search Console keeps adding rows for several days after a date first appears.

What this means for SEO teams

• Look for conversational fragments in your own Queries report. Filter for very short replies ("yes", "no", "ok") and phrases starting with "what about" or "and". Their presence suggests your pages are being cited inside AI Mode conversations.
• Expect low CTR on these rows. At 2.9%, AI-shaped queries click far less often than standard searches. Exclude them when benchmarking CTR for a page, or blended averages will drift down.
• Read the context of the query, not just the words. A pivot follow-up shows the question a user asked after reading an AI answer. These can reveal comparison and objection topics worth covering on the page.
• Allow for reporting lag. Wait several days before judging the latest week, given the study's note on late-arriving rows.
• Track by language. If you run multilingual sites, segment by locale, since phrasing patterns differ sharply between languages.

Conclusion

The GSC Wizard study offers one of the first attempts to size AI Mode follow-up traffic using Search Console data alone. Its numbers suggest the share is still tiny, at 0.13% of impressions, but rising quickly at the typical site, and that these queries rarely produce clicks. Because Google counts each AI Mode follow-up as a new query, SEOs can already find traces of these conversations in their own reports, even without a dedicated AI Mode filter.

Questions and answers

Does Search Console show AI Mode queries separately?

According to the study, Google does not label which queries come from AI Mode. Google's Performance report help page says a follow-up question in AI Mode is essentially a new query, and its impressions, position and clicks are counted under that new query.

How much did AI Mode-style queries grow in the study?

At the median site, their share of impressions rose from 0.032% to 0.22% between June 2025 and September 2026, about 7x. Reply artefacts such as a bare yes grew 21x per million impressions, and pivot follow-ups grew 39x.

What click-through rate do these queries get?

The study found a 2.9% CTR for AI-shaped queries overall, 1.5% for pivot follow-ups and 4.7% for reply artefacts, compared with 35.6% for all queries pooled.

How many sites and what period did the study cover?

155 Search Console properties connected to one GSC Wizard account, from the first full week of June 2025 to the last full week of September 2026. It was published on 14 October 2026.

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