TL;DR: Submit and measure is the phase where you tell Google and Bing the page exists, then watch how it performs in both classic search and AI. Inspect and index the URL in Search Console, then use the new Search Generative AI Performance report, launched June 3, 2026, to see your AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions and decide your opt-out stance. Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools, whose AI Performance report has run since February 2026 and goes further, showing direct citations and grounding queries Google does not yet report.
What does "submit and measure" mean?
It means actively telling search engines a new page exists, then tracking how it performs across both classic results and AI features, instead of waiting to be discovered. This is Phase 4 of the AI SEO checklist, and it is where a finished page becomes a measured one. Everything up to here made the page worth finding: the structure, the trust, and the technical pre-flight that made it reachable. This phase confirms the engines know it exists and gives you the data to see whether it is working.
There are two checks: submit and measure in Google Search Console, and do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools. In 2026 both platforms finally report AI visibility, so measurement now covers search and AI in one place.
How do you submit and index a page in Search Console?
Use the URL Inspection tool to inspect the new URL and request indexing, which prompts Google to crawl it rather than waiting for the next natural pass. Confirm the page is in your XML sitemap with an accurate lastmod timestamp, since the sitemap is how crawlers discover and prioritize pages at scale. For a brand-new or significantly updated high-priority page, requesting indexing directly is the fastest way to shortcut discovery.
One caution: request indexing for genuine new pages and real updates, not repeatedly for the same unchanged URL. Re-submitting a page you have not changed does nothing and is not a ranking lever. Submission gets you discovered; it does not improve quality on its own.
What does the new Search Console AI report show?
On June 3, 2026, Google launched dedicated Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console, giving site owners a separate view of impressions inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI features in Discover. After two years of inferring AI visibility from third-party tools, there is now official data in the place SEOs already work.
Four things to know about what it does and does not do. It shows impressions only, broken down by page, country, device, and date, with no click, CTR, or query data in the current version. It groups all AI features together, so you cannot isolate AI Overviews from AI Mode. It is a breakout of data that was always in your overall Performance report, so your aggregate totals do not change. And it is rolling out in phases, starting with UK properties, with data beginning May 18, 2026 and no historical backfill before that date. Where available, you reach it by appending /ai to the Performance report URL.
Should you opt out of AI Overviews?
Alongside the report, Google introduced a control that lets you block your content from appearing in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover AI, which it began honoring on June 17, 2026. The reassurance that makes the decision cleaner: opting out removes your AI traffic and impressions, but it is not used as a ranking signal outside those AI features, so it does not harm your position in classic search. It is also distinct from Google-Extended, which governs model training, not AI-feature appearance.
For most businesses the answer is to stay in. AI features are a fast-growing discovery channel, and opting out before you even have click data to justify it is a real strategic risk. The narrow cases for opting out are publishers whose entire model depends on click-through traffic, sites with content they do not want summarized out of context, and brands with specific concerns about misrepresentation. One limitation worth knowing: the toggle does not cover the Gemini app, so content can still surface there even after you opt out of Search AI. Decide with your own impression data, not by reflex.
Why submit to Bing Webmaster Tools too?
Because Bing is a bigger deal for AI than its classic search share suggests. Bing results ground a large share of ChatGPT's search answers, so Bing visibility feeds AI engines well beyond Microsoft's own surfaces. Submit your URL and use IndexNow, Bing's instant-submission protocol, to notify it of new and updated pages immediately.
Bing also moved first and further on AI reporting. Microsoft launched AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools in beta on February 10, 2026, four months before Google, and it reports things Google's version still does not: direct citations, meaning how many times your site was explicitly cited in an AI answer, and grounding queries, the queries that triggered your content to be used to ground a response. That is citation-level and query-level data Google's impressions-only report cannot yet give you, which makes Bing Webmaster Tools worth checking even if most of your traffic is from Google.
Google AI report vs Bing AI Performance
| Data | Google Search Console (June 2026) | Bing Webmaster Tools (Feb 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions in AI features | Yes | Yes |
| Direct citations | Not yet | Yes |
| Grounding queries | Not yet | Yes |
| Clicks or CTR | Not yet | More granular |
| Surfaces covered | AI Overviews, AI Mode, Discover | Bing and Copilot AI answers |
| Opt-out control | Yes, from June 17, 2026 | Separate Bing controls |
How we apply this at HBS
When a page goes live we inspect and index it in both Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools rather than waiting for discovery, confirm it is in the sitemap, and then track its visibility across both classic and AI surfaces using the new reports in each. We treat the AI Overviews opt-out as a deliberate, data-led decision per client, not a default, and for almost every business the call is to stay in and improve the quality of those appearances. Measurement across both engines is a standing part of the Advanced SEO Solutions work we deliver, because you cannot improve AI visibility you are not tracking.
You cannot improve what you do not measure
Submitting tells the engines your page exists; measuring tells you whether it is winning. Index in both Search Console and Bing, watch the AI reports each now provides, and make your opt-out choice with data in hand. If you are publishing strong content but flying blind on how it performs in AI search, our Advanced SEO Solutions team can set up your measurement across both engines, interpret the AI visibility data, and turn it into a plan. Get a free audit and find out what your pages are actually doing inside AI answers.
