How to Use Google Search Console AI Reports to Find High-Intent Content Ideas

What the AI Feature Actually Does

Google calls it AI-powered configuration, and it sits inside the Performance report under Search results. Instead of manually stacking filters — query, page, country, device, date range — you describe what you want to see in plain language, and the tool builds the configuration for you.

It then shows you exactly what it applied, so you can verify the logic before the table updates.

This is not a content generator. It does not tell you what to publish. What it does is remove the friction that keeps most people from ever reaching the useful filters inside Search Console.

How to Access It

The feature is still marked as an experiment, so availability may vary. Here is the path to find it:

1. Open Google Search Console and select your property.
2. Navigate to Performance, then Search results.
3. Look for a small button that reads Customise your performance reports using AI — it typically appears near the top of the report.
4. Click it. A panel labelled AI-powered configuration (Experiment) opens on the right.

If the button is not visible, confirm that you are in the correct report view and that your property has accumulated enough data. The feature has been rolling out gradually.

How to Write Prompts That Surface Content Gaps

Google provides starter prompts, but they are oriented toward traffic comparisons rather than content discovery. These alternatives are more useful for finding article ideas:

• Show queries containing how to, best, or cheap over the last 3 months.
• Show queries that contain a question word such as what, why, which, or can.
• Show queries containing 2026 or 2027.
• Compare the last 28 days with the previous 28 days for pages containing guide.
• Queries containing free on mobile in the United Kingdom.

Once the table updates, sort by impressions descending. The queries you are looking for are those with high impressions and low clicks — searches where Google already associates your site with the topic, but your existing page either does not match the intent or does not exist at all.

That gap is your content opportunity.

Reading the Configuration Output

When the tool processes your prompt, it generates filters — often including a regular expression for query matching. For a prompt like queries containing how to or what is, it might produce a regex such as (how to|what is).

You do not need to write regex yourself. But reading what the tool generated is worth the ten seconds it takes. It tells you precisely what is being matched, and occasionally you will want to adjust the scope.

A Case Study: From Query Data to 1.2K Views

The logic becomes concrete with a real example. Running this workflow on one property surfaced a consistent cluster of queries around email verification — phrases like how to verify email addresses and ways to verify emails in 2027. The site was appearing in results for these searches, but had no page that properly addressed them.

A dedicated guide was researched, written, and published. Within two days, it passed 1,200 views with no paid promotion.

One result does not establish a formula, and traffic sources are always mixed. But the underlying logic is sound: the topic was not chosen by instinct. It was chosen because the data showed existing search demand already pointing at the site.

Turning the Data Into a Publishing Workflow

The raw query list is only useful if you act on it systematically. A repeatable process looks like this:

1. Identify queries where you appear but have no dedicated page. These are your clearest gaps.
2. Group by intent. A how-to, a comparison, and a best of each deserve separate treatment — combining them dilutes both.
3. Write for the person searching. Answer the question in the first paragraph. Do not bury the answer.
4. Return to the same report in three to four weeks. Check whether impressions and average position shifted for the new page.

This cycle — observe, write, measure, repeat — is more reliable than editorial intuition alone. If you want support with execution, SEO writing tools can help structure and optimize the publishing side of the workflow.

On AI Assistant Citations

Pages built through this process tend to answer specific questions directly, which is also the structure AI assistants draw on when generating responses. Whether a given page gets cited is not controllable, but writing tight, question-focused content is the right approach regardless. Treat any AI visibility as a secondary benefit, not the primary goal.