Google AI Overview Citation Tracker — Cited vs Ranking

Ranking on Google and being cited in its AI Overview are now two different games. In our tests, the share of AI Overview sources that also ranked in the organic top 10 swung from 15% to 100% depending on the keyword and the day. This Actor tracks both, for every keyword you care about, and tells you where you're winning, where you're losing clicks, and who gets cited instead.

Per keyword

• AI Overview shown? (and its type)
• Your organic rank and your citation position in the AI Overview (subdomains count)
• Status:
  • cited-and-ranking
  • cited-not-ranking: a win to build on
  • click-loss-risk: you rank top-3, but the AI Overview answers the query without citing you
  • ranking-not-cited
  • absent
  • no-ai-overview
• Cited sources in order, competitors cited, competitor organic ranks
• Whether the overview names your brand even without citing your site
• Organic overlap: what share of the cited sources also rank top 10

Across your keyword set

• AI Overview coverage %, and your citation rate when an overview is shown
• Citation share vs your competitors
• Top cited domains, and domains to target: third parties AI keeps citing for your topics
• Click-loss-risk and cited-without-ranking keyword lists
• Prioritised actions
• With a history store: citations gained / lost and AI Overviews appearing / disappearing since the last run

Example (real data)

{ "keyword": "how to choose a crm", "aiOverviewShown": true, "status": "cited-not-ranking",
  "yourOrganicRank": null, "yourCitationPosition": 1, "brandNamedInOverview": true,
  "competitorsCited": ["salesforce.com"], "sourcesAlsoInOrganicTop10Pct": 30 }

Here HubSpot (via community.hubspot.com) is the first source in the AI Overview while not ranking in the organic top 10. In another run, for "crm software", HubSpot ranked #3 organically, but the AI Overview cited salesforce.com and not HubSpot, so it was flagged click-loss-risk.

Results change between fetches, because Google's results and overviews vary. Schedule it with a history store and read the trend, not a single snapshot. A run takes about 1–3 minutes, since the Google scraper is the slow part.

Input

Field	Type	Description
keywords	array	Searches to track.
yourDomain	string	Your site (subdomains count).
competitorDomains	array	Up to 10 for share and ranks.
brandName	string	Detect brand mentions in the overview text.
countryCode / languageCode	string	Google market (default US).
historyStore	key-value store	Pick one to track changes across runs.
webhookUrl	string	POST the report here.

One API call, JSON back

Run it synchronously: one POST starts the run and returns the results in the same response. No run to poll, which is what an AI agent wants mid-task:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/centorprat~ai-overview-citation-tracker/run-sync-get-dataset-items" -H "Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"keywords": ["how to choose a crm"], "yourDomain": "hubspot.com"}'

The body takes the same fields as the normal input. Same pay-per-event price; failed checks aren't charged.

Cost

One keyword-tracked event per keyword. The underlying Google Search Scraper (results page + AI Overview, about $0.0075 per keyword) is billed to your run. Apify requires a $0.50 run budget for it; that's a cap, not the charge.

Ready-made tasks

• AI Overview Click-Loss Risk Finder
• Google AI Overview Monitor - Citations Gained & Lost

For AI agents / MCP

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,centorprat/ai-overview-citation-tracker

Loads as centorprat--ai-overview-citation-tracker. Claude Code:

claude mcp add apify -- npx -y @apify/actors-mcp-server --actors centorprat/ai-overview-citation-tracker

FAQ

Why do overview citations and rankings differ? AI Overviews pick sources that answer the question directly (forums, guides, videos, comparison pages), often not the pages that rank. Track both.

What does "click-loss risk" mean? You rank in the top 3, but an AI Overview sits above you and doesn't cite you, so searchers may get the answer without clicking.

Does Google always show an AI Overview? No. Coverage varies by query, and aiOverviewCoveragePct tells you how often it appears for your set.

Related actors

• AI Share of Voice: brand mentions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and the real apps.
• AI Crawler Access Test
• On-Page SEO Audit