CMA Lists AI Clicks, Not Queries, for Google to Report

You may be waiting for Google to release AI Mode clicks and queries together. The UK rules that could force its hand name only one of the two.

The Competition and Markets Authority says in its summary that Google has until December 3, 2026 to comply with a new Publisher Conduct Requirement. The interpretative notes list user impressions, click-throughs and click-through rate for Google's AI search features. Query data is not on that list.

Coverage since November 2, 2026 treated clicks and queries as one question. My read of the notes is that clicks have a regulator behind them and queries, so far, do not.

The argument started with one reply. The CMA's notes, published on June 3, 2026, answer a narrower question than the one people are asking.

Rajeev Lekhwar posted on LinkedIn a line he attributed to unnamed Google staff at Search Central Live in Bengaluru on October 30. As Search Engine Journal reported, the line said clicks and queries data was anticipated in Search Console, with no date attached.

Gary Illyes of Google answered in the comments on November 2, 2026. He wrote: "I don't think we've phrased it like this. The team is super interested in giving more data, data that makes sense, but we don't have anything to announce yet."

Search Engine Roundtable headlined its report that Illyes implies click data is not coming. Search Engine Journal, in contrast, pointed to the CMA and its December 3 deadline for clicks and click-through rate. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable answered on Bluesky with a question: "That is the comment I have been getting from Google execs for years now - data that makes sense... but we still don't have click data. are you saying click data makes sense now?"

John Mueller of Google took the other side. "That's an odd way of reading Gary's comment. /shrug" he wrote on Bluesky. He added that there is "lots of helpful data which isn't currently in Search Console." He did not say clicks are coming.

The CMA papers are narrower than the debate

Paragraph 7 of the notice sets the duty. Google must give publishers "clear and detailed metrics on user engagement with their Search Content where it is used in its search generative AI features." The notice defines a publisher as "any party that makes content available on the web," so the rules reach beyond news sites.

The interpretative notes say what the CMA expects under that paragraph. They name user impressions, click-throughs from links in AI features with a way to identify those clicks, and click-through rate. In the notes, a user query is what triggers an impression. Nothing asks Google to report the queries themselves.

The data should arrive separate from organic results, publisher by publisher, through "a commonly accessible platform, such as Google Search Console." The notes also say Google may take a different approach if it shows the CMA that it complies.

Paragraph 2 of the notice limits the duty to AI outputs shown to people located in the UK. The notes say a device's reported location is a reasonable basis for that. The CMA's August summary lists impressions, clicks and click-through rate "aggregated across features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode," plus referral data so publishers can judge traffic quality. That wording asks for separation from organic results. It does not say AI Mode and AI Overviews will be reported apart.

Search Console falls short of all this as of November 2, 2026. Its Generative AI report counts impressions for AI Mode and AI Overviews together, with breakdowns by page, country, device and date, according to Search Engine Journal. It lists no clicks, no click-through rate and no queries. AI clicks sit inside the standard Performance report with every other web result.

Google's first compliance report to the CMA covers June 3 through December 3 and is due January 3, 2027, Search Engine Journal says. The CMA's list is a minimum. Google can ship more, and Mueller's point about helpful data changing over time leaves room for queries later. Nothing in the notes asks for them.

The minimum is why I expect a click number first, probably for UK traffic, and no query report alongside it. That is a guess, not a forecast of what Google ships. Until Google says otherwise, I would build AI reporting around impressions and treat any click number as a bonus.