How to Report Google and Bing AI Data Beside Prompt Sampling

Until this year, every AI visibility number a team reported came from sampling it ran itself. Two search engines now publish their own counts. That's genuinely useful, and it opens a new way to mislead: three units on one chart, summed into a headline nobody can define.

What each source counts, as of September 2026

The Google report launched on June 3, 2026 for a subset of sites, and Google's announcement now notes that it reached all websites worldwide on August 31, 2026. Microsoft introduced the Bing report as a public preview in February 2026 and added intents, topics, citation share and period comparison, also in preview, in June. Microsoft calls its report an early step and Google says it may add metrics over time, so date every number you take from either.

The layout: one row per source, unit in the label

Here's the block we'd paste into a monthly report. Every figure below is illustrative; the structure is the point. Each source keeps its own unit, its own window and its own caveat, and the last line says what nobody measured.

AI search evidence, 1-30 September 2026 (illustrative figures)

Google AI features  [Search Console generative AI report]
  Link impressions in AI Overviews + AI Mode: 1,240  (prior 30 days: 980)
  Top pages: /pricing 410, /guides/setup 220

Microsoft AI surfaces  [Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance, preview]
  Citations shown as sources: 86  (prior 30 days: 71)
  Grounding queries: a sample, listed not totalled

Sampled assistants  [prompt set v3: 25 prompts x 4 assistants x 3 runs = 300 answers]
  Brand named: 42 of 300 (14%)   Our URL cited: 18 of 300 (6%)

Not measured: voice modes, signed-in personalised sessions
Do not add these rows together: different units.

Three rules that keep the combined report honest

Never sum across rows. That includes the easy mistake inside Google's own data: the announcement says generative AI impressions stay included in the overall Performance report, so adding the AI figure to your total Search impressions counts the same impressions twice.

Keep each source's caveats attached to its row. Google's help page says the newest data can be preliminary and may change within hours. Microsoft says the grounding-query list represents a sample of overall citation activity, so a query that appears one month and vanishes the next may simply not have been sampled.

Say what neither report covers. Google's report covers Google. Bing's covers Microsoft's surfaces and select partners. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, the Gemini app and Grok are outside both, and for those, repeated sampling is still the only evidence you have. It's a sample, and the report should say so.

Where Bing's citation share fits

Microsoft defines citation share as the percentage of citations attributed to your site out of all citations shown across all sites for the same grounding query. It's the closest first-party figure to a share of voice, with a different denominator from yours: citations per grounding query, not brand mentions per sampled answer. Microsoft also says it is not a ranking system or a competitive scoreboard and does not expose competitor domains. Report it under its own name, next to your sampled share, not as a replacement for it.

Being straight about our own position

We sell measurement that samples answers across assistants, and these reports shrink how much sampling you need for Google and Microsoft. Use them. Paying anyone, us included, to estimate what Google and Bing now count directly is a poor trade. Sampling earns its place for the assistants that publish nothing, and for the one thing none of the counts show: what the answer actually said about you.

FAQ

Does the Search Console AI report show which queries triggered the AI Overview? — Google's documentation lists impressions as the metric and pages, countries, devices and dates as the breakdowns. It does not list queries or clicks. Google has said it may add metrics over time, so check the report on your own property rather than relying on this answer next year.

Can I compare Google impressions with Bing citations? — Only as separate trends. An impression is a link shown; a citation is a page used as a source. A month where one rises and the other falls is two facts about two systems, not a contradiction to resolve.

What if my property doesn't show the Google report? — Write 'not available' in the row, not zero. A missing report and a report showing no impressions are different findings, and a reader will treat a zero as the second.

Is the Bing report still in preview? — Microsoft introduced it as a public preview in February 2026 and described the June 2026 additions as preview too; we haven't found an announcement that it has left preview as of late September 2026. Put the status next to any number you quote, because definitions can change while a report is in preview.