Google AI Overview Citation & Brand Tracker

What does Google AI Overview Citation & Brand Tracker do?

Google AI Overview Citation & Brand Tracker checks a list of Google search queries and tells you, for each one, whether Google shows an AI Overview, which sources it cites and in what order, whether your brand is named in the answer, and where your domain ranks in the organic results. Every query becomes one flat row you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel, call through the Apify API, or feed into n8n, Make and AI agents through MCP. It is built for SEO and content teams, agencies and brand owners who want to measure visibility inside AI answers (often called AEO or GEO) instead of only in the ten blue links.

Why track AI Overview citations?

• Measure AI visibility. See for which queries your domain is cited, at which citation position, and for which queries a competitor is cited instead.
• Watch your brand in the answer text. Brand names are counted inside the AI Overview text, so you can tell a mention without a link from a citation.
• Compare AI and organic rank. The same row shows your first organic position, so pages that rank but are never cited stand out.
• Report by market. Set the country and language and run the same list for several markets on a schedule to build a trend.
• Feed content planning. The full AI Overview text and the list of cited pages show what Google considers a good source for a topic.

Example output

query	aiOverviewPresent	citationCount	trackedDomainCited	bestCitationPosition	brandMentioned	trackedDomainOrganicRank
what is kubernetes	true	6	true	1	true	1

{
  "query": "what is kubernetes",
  "gl": "us",
  "hl": "en",
  "found": true,
  "aiOverviewPresent": true,
  "aiOverviewText": "Kubernetes (often called K8s) is an open-source platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. ...",
  "citationCount": 6,
  "citedDomains": ["kubernetes.io", "azure.microsoft.com", "youtube.com", "ubuntu.com", "redhat.com", "reddit.com"],
  "citations": [
    { "position": 1, "url": "https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/", "domain": "kubernetes.io", "site": "Kubernetes" }
  ],
  "trackedDomainCited": true,
  "trackedDomainsCited": ["kubernetes.io"],
  "bestCitationPosition": 1,
  "brandMentioned": true,
  "brandsMentioned": ["Kubernetes"],
  "brandMentionCount": 2,
  "organicResultCount": 5,
  "trackedDomainOrganicRank": 1,
  "organicResults": [
    { "position": 1, "title": "Overview", "domain": "kubernetes.io", "displayedUrl": "https://kubernetes.io › docs › concepts › overview" }
  ],
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+kubernetes&hl=en&gl=us",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-08T08:00:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost?

You pay per result row, and the price per row is lower on higher Apify plans. A row is charged when the query returned a readable results page: with or without an AI Overview, the row carries the organic results. Queries with no results at all, or whose page cannot be read, give a free status row. The Apify free plan includes monthly credit to try it, and the maximum spend you set on a run stops the Actor when it is reached.

Input

• Search queries – the Google queries to check, one row each.
• Country (gl) and Interface language (hl) – the Google market; the AI Overview differs by both.
• Domains to track – your domains or competitors; subdomains match. Fills the cited, citation position and organic rank fields.
• Brand names to track – names searched in the AI Overview text, case-insensitive.
• Maximum rows – total cap across all queries.

Output fields

Each row contains the query, market, aiOverviewPresent, aiOverviewText, citationCount, citedDomains, citations, the tracked domain fields (trackedDomainCited, trackedDomainsCited, bestCitationPosition, trackedDomainOrganicRank), the brand fields (brandMentioned, brandsMentioned, brandMentionCount), organicResults, sourceUrl and scrapedAt. Tracking fields are null when you did not set domains or brands. A status row has found: false, a reason (noResults or fetchFailed) and a message; it is not charged.

How reliable is the data?

aiOverviewPresent: false means the results page Google returned for that request had no AI Overview; the row still carries the organic results. Google decides per request whether to show an AI Overview, so a query can flip between checks, which is why the Actor is meant to run on a schedule. An unreadable page is requested up to three times before it becomes a free fetchFailed row. The run message counts how many AI Overviews were found, how many had parsed citations and how many queries had organic results. If Google changes its page layout, the run fails with a message instead of delivering wrong rows: a page that carries citation records or the AI Overview disclaimer ("AI responses may include mistakes") but no AI Overview container is treated as unreadable, and a run that parses no organic results from any page stops with an error. Queries without an AI Overview (local, navigational and result queries often have none) and AI Overviews without source links are normal and never fail a run.

Is it legal to scrape Google results?

The Actor reads publicly visible search result pages without logging in and without bypassing access controls. You are responsible for using the data in line with applicable laws and the terms of the service. If you find an issue, open it in the Issues tab.

FAQ

Does it cover Google AI Mode? No. It reads the AI Overview shown on the regular results page.

Do results match what I see in my browser? Google personalises and varies AI Overviews, so a single check is a sample. Run the same list on a schedule and compare over time.

How many queries per run? Up to 10,000 queries; runs read several queries in parallel.

Can I schedule runs? Yes, use Apify schedules or call the Actor from your own workflow.

Related Actors

See other data Actors from the same publisher on the Store profile.