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AI Mode tracking: get recommended in Google AI Mode

AI Mode is Google's conversational surface, with its own retrieval, and it can name different brands to the AI Overview on the same query. See where it recommends a competitor instead of you, the pages it read, and whether a change moved it.

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  • Live SERP
  • Six days a week
  • Asked from your market

Live SERP

AI Mode is asked the same query as the Overview, on the same day

AI Mode is Google's conversational surface, with retrieval of its own. We read it from the live results page six days a week, from your market, on the same prompts as the AI Overview, so the two answers to one query can be compared row by row.

Its own retrieval.
AI Mode reads its own set of pages, so it can name brands the Overview left out, and the reverse.
Two Google rows.
AI Mode and AI Overviews are listed as separate engines on every screen, never folded into one Google answer.
From your market.
Asked the way a searcher in the country your workspace measures would ask it.

Named is the low bar

AI Mode rank tracking: your place in a long reply

AI Mode answers in conversation, and its replies often run long and name several brands in your category. In a reply like that, being named is the first step. Being recommended near the top is the goal, so your place among the brands named is recorded on every answer.

Example dataAn AI Mode answer naming four of the six tracked brands, with Contoso at #3 of 4.

  • Place among the brands named

    Counted by first mention among the brands that appear at all, so second of eight in a long AI Mode reply compares with second of five in a short answer elsewhere.

  • How often each was named

    A brand that recurs through the list and again in the closing advice carries more weight than one named once. Every mention is counted.

  • Best place, and the usual one

    The Competitors screen keeps each rival's best place and its usual one across every answer, so one lucky reply cannot pass for a trend.

Kept apart

The AI Mode answer, stored apart from the Overview

Each AI Mode answer is kept verbatim under its own engine name, with the brands in the order it named them and the pages it cited. Nothing from the Overview's answer to the same query is mixed in, so when the two disagree you can read exactly where.

Its own answer.
The conversational reply, word for word, as AI Mode gave it.
Its own order.
Who AI Mode named first, which need not match who the Overview named first.
Its own sources.
The pages behind the reply, which often differ from the Overview's citation panel, with yours marked.

What it read

The pages AI Mode reads before it names a rival

AI Mode cites the pages behind its reply, and we store every one. The Sources screen then finds the sites the engines keep reading that name a competitor every time and never name you, and prints which engines read each. When AI Mode is the engine you are losing, those are the pages to get onto first.

Every cited page, per answer.
Stored with the answer, so a site on the list can be traced to the AI Mode replies that read it.
Named a rival, never you.
Only sites that named a competitor in every answer that read them make the list.
Engine by engine.
Each site carries the engines that read it, so you can see which gaps are AI Mode's.

Per-engine visibility

AI Mode tracking as its own engine, never one Google score

AI Mode's card sits beside the AI Overview's, each with its own count. We have measured the two disagreeing about which brands to name for the same query on the same day, so a merged Google number would average away the disagreement worth acting on.

What one AI Mode check records

A rate is only as useful as its definition of a check. Here is ours, line by line, so the number on your screen is about something you can name.

Recorded on every AI Mode check

  • Your prompt, as typedSent to AI Mode whole, the way a buyer types it into Google.
  • AI Mode's own resultsRead from AI Mode itself, not lifted from an ordinary search page.
  • Your market and languageAsked from the country and language your workspace measures.
  • Brands in order, pages citedEvery tracked brand it named, its place and count, and every source.
  • Six days a weekThe same prompts every Monday to Saturday, so a rate has answers behind it.

Outside what we measure

  • Follow-up turnsAI Mode is a conversation. We record its reply to your prompt, not a thread of follow-ups.
  • Clicks and visitsWhether a reply sent anyone to your site is not measured. We record what AI Mode said and read.

The full rules for every engine, including what leaves a rate, are on our methodology page.

Questions to ask an AI Mode tracker

If something here is unclear, ask us before you sign up rather than after.

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How do I get recommended in Google AI Mode?
Start with the AI Mode replies that recommended a competitor, and the pages behind them. The Sources screen flags the sites the engines keep reading that name a rival and never you, and lists which engines read each, so you can see which gaps are AI Mode's. AI Mode replies often name several brands, so watch your place among them as well as whether you were named. The same prompts run six days a week, so its own rate shows whether a change moved it.
Does RankHound track Google AI Mode separately?
Yes. AI Mode is asked the same prompts as the AI Overview, six days a week from the market your workspace measures, and each answer is kept verbatim under its own engine name, with the brands it named and the sources it cited. Collected from the live SERP.
Why does AI Mode need its own tracking?
We have measured AI Mode and AI Overviews disagreeing about which brands to name for the same query on the same day. Merging them into one Google score would average away exactly the disagreement worth acting on, so they are collected and reported as two engines.
Why does AI Mode word its answer differently each time?
AI Mode composes a conversational reply from its own retrieval each time it is asked, so wording, brand order and sources all vary between runs. Its card reports the share of answers that named you with the count behind it, never a single check, and a fraction below five answers.
Is AI Mode ever averaged with the AI Overview?
Never, and not with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity either. Each engine retrieves differently, and a blended score hides which one you are losing, so AI Mode keeps its own card, its own count and its own trend.
AI Mode names a lot of brands. Does AI Mode tracking show where I was placed?
Yes. AI Mode replies run long and often name several brands, so every answer stores each tracked brand's place among the brands named and how many times it was mentioned. The Competitors screen keeps each rival's best place and usual place across all your answers.
Does AI Mode tracking include follow-up questions?
No. Each check sends your prompt to AI Mode as typed, from your market, and records its reply with the brands it named and the pages it cited. A thread of follow-up turns and clicks through to your site are outside what we measure.

Related reading

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Get recommended by AI Mode as well as the Overview

Bring the queries you already watch in Google. AI Mode and AI Overviews are asked as two engines on every plan, each with its own count, so you can see where each one leaves you out and whether a change moved it.

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On every plan

  • Every answer stored in full, with its citations.
  • Every rate shown with the number of checks behind it.
  • Cited-but-not-named reported as its own state.