Google AI Overview Tracker - Brand Visibility & Citations

Track whether your brand appears in Google AI Overviews — and which sources Google cites instead.

Google search visibility is no longer only about ranking in the 10 blue links. For many informational and commercial queries, Google now shows an AI Overview that summarizes answers and cites source domains. This Actor checks your keywords or buyer prompts and reports whether your brand is mentioned, whether your domain is cited, which competitors appear, and where the citation gaps are.

Setup in 60 seconds: get a free SerpApi key, paste it into serpApiKey, add your queries, brand, domain, and competitors, then run.

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What it does

For each query, the Actor uses SerpApi's Google Search and Google AI Overview endpoints to collect:

• Whether an AI Overview appears
• The AI Overview answer text
• Citation URLs and citation domains
• Whether your brand name is mentioned
• Whether your domain is cited
• Which competitors are mentioned or cited
• Optional organic Google result positions
• A 0-100 AI visibility score
• A plain-English recommendation for what to improve

Output is one dataset row per query, ready for GEO / AEO reporting, SEO dashboards, client audits, and content planning.

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Who it's for

• SEO teams tracking Google AI Overview visibility beyond classic rank tracking.
• GEO / AEO consultants building reports for AI search visibility and citation gaps.
• Content teams finding prompts where Google cites competitors instead of them.
• Agencies monitoring brand, competitor, and source-domain presence across query sets.
• SaaS and eCommerce marketers checking whether buying-intent prompts mention their brand.

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Popular use cases

• Google AI Overview tracking - check which target queries trigger an AI Overview.
• Brand visibility monitoring - detect whether your brand appears inside AI-generated answers.
• Citation gap analysis - find AI Overviews where competitors or publishers are cited but your domain is missing.
• GEO / AEO reporting - export visibility scores, citation domains, and recommendations.
• Competitor AI search monitoring - compare competitor mentions across high-intent prompts.
• Content brief planning - identify prompts that need stronger direct-answer pages.

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Ready-to-run saved task templates

Use these templates to start faster, or copy the query sets into your own task and replace the sample brand, domain, competitors, and serpApiKey.

Brand AI Overview Visibility Audit

Best for SEO teams and founders checking if their own brand appears in AI Overviews for buying-intent prompts.

{
  "queries": [
    "best ai seo tools",
    "best seo software for startups",
    "ai search optimization tools",
    "best tools for generative engine optimization",
    "how to track brand visibility in AI search"
  ],
  "brandName": "Example",
  "domain": "example.com",
  "competitors": ["competitor.com", "Competitor"],
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "includeOrganicResults": true,
  "fetchAiOverviewDetails": true,
  "serpApiKey": "@SERPAPI_KEY"
}

Competitor Citation Gap Analysis

Best for agencies and GEO / AEO consultants finding prompts where Google cites competitors, publishers, or review sites instead of the client's domain.

{
  "queries": [
    "best crm for small business",
    "best crm software for startups",
    "crm tools for sales teams",
    "hubspot alternatives for small business",
    "how to choose a crm for a startup"
  ],
  "brandName": "Example CRM",
  "domain": "example-crm.com",
  "competitors": ["hubspot.com", "salesforce.com", "zoho.com", "pipedrive.com"],
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "includeOrganicResults": true,
  "fetchAiOverviewDetails": true,
  "serpApiKey": "@SERPAPI_KEY"
}

SEO / GEO Client Report

Best for recurring client reporting across commercial and informational keywords. Export the dataset plus SUMMARY and CITATION_GAPS from the key-value store.

{
  "queries": [
    "best project management software for agencies",
    "project management tools for marketing teams",
    "asana alternatives for agencies",
    "how to manage client projects in an agency",
    "agency workflow software"
  ],
  "brandName": "Example Projects",
  "domain": "example-projects.com",
  "competitors": ["asana.com", "monday.com", "clickup.com", "notion.so"],
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "includeOrganicResults": true,
  "fetchAiOverviewDetails": true,
  "serpApiKey": "@SERPAPI_KEY"
}

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Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
queries	string[]	—	Search queries or buyer-style prompts
queriesText	string	—	Queries as text, one per line or comma-separated
brandName	string	—	Brand/entity to detect in AI Overview text
domain	string	—	Domain to detect in citations and organic results
competitors	string[]	—	Competitor brands or domains
geo	string	"US"	Google country code
language	string	"en"	Google language code
includeOrganicResults	boolean	true	Include organic Google result positions
fetchAiOverviewDetails	boolean	true	Follow SerpApi page_token when Google returns deferred AI Overview data
noCache	boolean	false	Force fresh SerpApi result instead of cached result
serpApiKey	string	—	Required for live data

At least one of queries / queriesText is required.

Example input

{
  "queries": [
    "best ai seo tools",
    "how to choose a crm for startups",
    "best project management software for agencies"
  ],
  "brandName": "Example",
  "domain": "example.com",
  "competitors": ["competitor.com", "Competitor"],
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "serpApiKey": "@SERPAPI_KEY"
}

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Output

One dataset row per query:

{
  "query": "best ai seo tools",
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "aiOverviewPresent": true,
  "brandName": "Example",
  "brandMentioned": true,
  "domain": "example.com",
  "domainCited": false,
  "domainOrganicPosition": 6,
  "competitorsMentioned": ["Competitor"],
  "competitorDomainsCited": ["competitor.com"],
  "citationCount": 5,
  "citationDomains": ["example.org", "competitor.com"],
  "citationUrls": ["https://example.org/guide"],
  "answerText": "AI Overview text...",
  "visibilityScore": 45,
  "recommendation": "Brand is mentioned, but your domain is not cited. Improve source authority and publish citation-worthy pages for this query.",
  "source": "serpapi-google-ai-overview",
  "error": null
}

Key-value store outputs

• SUMMARY - counts, averages, top citation domains, and missing-brand opportunities
• TOP_VISIBLE_QUERIES - highest scoring queries
• CITATION_GAPS - AI Overview queries where your brand/domain is missing
• ERRORS - failed queries

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How the visibility score works

The score is deterministic and transparent:

• AI Overview present: base signal
• Brand mentioned in answer: positive signal
• Domain cited: strongest positive signal
• Domain appears in organic results: small positive signal
• Competitors mentioned/cited: negative pressure

This is not a ranking guarantee. It is a practical reporting score for comparing queries and spotting opportunities.

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Notes & limitations

• Google does not show AI Overviews for every query, country, or language. English / US queries usually have the broadest coverage.
• SerpApi may return AI Overview data directly or a short-lived page_token; this Actor follows that token immediately when available.
• Live data requires your own SerpApi key. No-key runs use clearly labeled sample data so you can inspect the output shape.
• Results can change between runs as Google updates AI Overview generation and citations.

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Related tools

• TrendPulse Keyword Monitor - find rising keywords before tracking AI Overview visibility.
• Keyword Difficulty Checker - compare classic SERP competition.
• Google Autocomplete Keyword Scraper - discover long-tail prompts to track.
• Google News Scraper - monitor news sources that can influence AI answers.

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.