Citino teamTo track your brand in Google AI Overviews, search your buyers’ questions on a schedule and record what each AI Overview says. For every question, you want four facts: whether an AI Overview appeared at all, whether it named you, whether it linked to your pages, and where you came in the list.
This is Google’s part of AI search analytics. The method matches tracking ChatGPT or Perplexity, with a few differences specific to Google.
What Search Console shows, and what it misses
Search Console is the first place to look, but it cannot answer the question on its own. Google says sites appearing in AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console, reported in the Performance report under the “Web” search type.
| Search Console shows | Search Console does not show |
|---|---|
| Impressions and clicks for your pages, AI features included | Which of them came from an AI Overview |
| The queries that showed your pages | Whether an AI Overview named your brand |
| Pages that are not indexed or have issues | What the AI Overview said about you or your competitors |
Use Search Console to check that your pages are indexed and eligible. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet to appear as a supporting link. Use answer tracking to see what the AI Overviews themselves say.
Step 1: Choose the questions
Track the questions buyers search while choosing a product like yours, worded the way they search them: category, problem, comparison and fact-check questions. Keep branded questions in their own group. How to choose the prompts to track explains how to build the list.
Not every search shows an AI Overview, so some of your questions will return ordinary results only. That is a finding in itself: record it rather than dropping the question.
Step 2: Search the same way every time
- Fix the location and language. Google’s help page notes that AI Overviews are available in some countries, territories and languages, so results depend on where and in what language you search. Track from the market your buyers are in.
- Fix the wording. A reworded search is a different question.
- Avoid personal history. Use a clean browser profile with no search history, so earlier searches do not shape the results.
- Search at a fixed time, daily if you can. AI Overviews change from one search to the next, so one look proves little.
Step 3: Record each AI Overview
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| AI Overview shown? | Yes or no, for this search |
| Brands named, in order | Every brand the text names |
| Your position | Where you appear in that list, if at all |
| Named in the text? | Whether the AI Overview names your brand |
| Linked? | Whether any supporting link points to your site |
| Supporting links | Every linked page, and who owns it |
| How you were described | The words used about you |
Keep mentions and links apart. An AI Overview can name you without linking to your site, or link to your page while recommending a competitor. Mentions tell you whether you are recommended; links tell you whether your pages are being read.
Step 4: Count it
From those records, four numbers follow, each per question group:
- AI Overview rate: the share of your searches that showed an AI Overview at all.
- Visibility: the share of AI Overviews that named you.
- Link rate: the share of AI Overviews that linked to your site.
- Share of voice: your mentions as a share of all brand mentions in them.
Report each with a margin of error calculated over questions, not over searches. Searches for the same question tend to give similar results day after day, so treating each one as independent overstates precision. How to measure AI visibility works through the method.
Track AI Mode as a separate engine
Google says AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models and techniques, so the responses and links they show will vary. If your buyers use AI Mode, track it as its own engine with its own numbers, rather than blending it with AI Overviews.
When the numbers are low
- No AI Overview for your questions: there is little to win on those questions in AI Overviews; focus on the engines and questions where answers do appear.
- AI Overviews appear but never name you: look at the supporting links. The pages Google reads for your questions do not mention you, which is a source gap. See how to find and fix source gaps.
- Linked but not named: your page is read but does not make the case. Make your key claims plain on that page.
How to appear in Google AI Overviews covers what Google says decides inclusion.
Where Citino helps
Citino is an AI search analytics tool. It asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity your buyers’ questions every day, with Gemini, Google AI Mode and Claude as add-ons, from a clean session with fixed wording, and keeps every answer with the brands it named and the pages it cited. Each number carries a 95% margin of error bootstrapped over prompts, as the methodology sets out. See how Citino measures.