# Google AI Overview Tracker & Brand Visibility Monitor (`davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker`) Actor

Track brand visibility inside Google AI Overviews for up to 100 buyer queries. Each query reports whether an AI Overview appeared, whether your brand is named in the answer, whether your domain is cited, which competitor domains were cited instead, and what changed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [David](https://apify.com/davidbenittah) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Google AI Overview Brand Visibility Tracker

Find out whether your brand appears in the AI Overview Google now prints above the classic results, for every query your buyers actually type, and follow it week after week. If the answer cites a competitor and not you, the customer is gone before the first blue link. Each run gives you a per-query verdict, the domains Google cited instead, and what moved since the previous check.

### What the brand visibility tracker reports

- **Per-query verdict**: AI Overview present or not, brand mentioned in the answer text, brand cited as a source — plus the answer excerpt.
- **Competitor intelligence**: the exact domains cited in the AI Overview where you are not — your GEO hit list.
- **Change tracking**: every run compares to the previous one and flags each query `appeared`, `disappeared`, `unchanged`, or `baseline` — schedule weekly and alert on `disappeared`.
- **Subdomain-aware citation matching**: `blog.yourbrand.com` counts as you.
- **Up to 100 queries per run**, any Google country domain and language.

### Who tracks brand visibility in AI Overviews

- **SEO/GEO teams**: weekly AI Overview share-of-voice report per market.
- **Agencies**: sell AI-visibility monitoring per client with zero manual checking.
- **Brands in competitive niches**: know the day your product disappears from "best X for Y" AI answers.
- **Content teams**: the `competitorDomainsCited` list tells you exactly which pages Google's AI trusts — study them, then earn the citation.

### Input example

```json
{
  "brandName": "AcmeCRM",
  "brandDomains": ["acmecrm.com"],
  "queries": ["best crm for small business", "crm with flat pricing"],
  "countryCode": "us"
}
```

### Output example

One dataset item per query:

```json
{
  "query": "best crm for small business",
  "aiOverviewPresent": true,
  "brandVisible": true,
  "brandMentionedInText": true,
  "brandCitedAsSource": true,
  "aiOverviewExcerpt": "For small businesses, popular CRM choices include HubSpot, Pipedrive and AcmeCRM...",
  "competitorDomainsCited": ["g2.com"],
  "changeSinceLastRun": "unchanged",
  "checkedAt": "2026-07-06T09:00:00.000Z"
}
```

A `SUMMARY` record reports totals: AI Overviews found, queries where the brand is visible, appeared/disappeared counts.

### Data returned for each query

| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| `query` | The tracked search |
| `aiOverviewPresent` | Whether Google showed an AI Overview at all |
| `brandVisible` | Named in the answer text, or cited as a source |
| `brandMentionedInText` | Brand name found inside the answer |
| `brandCitedAsSource` | One of your domains, or a subdomain, cited |
| `aiOverviewExcerpt` | The answer text captured |
| `competitorDomainsCited` | Domains cited where you are not |
| `changeSinceLastRun` | `appeared`, `disappeared`, `unchanged` or `baseline` |

### Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee per query checked. Under the hood the Actor runs the official Google Search Results Scraper (`apify/google-search-scraper`, billed to your account: ~$0.0045 per results page + ~$0.003 per AI Overview captured). Tracking 50 queries weekly costs roughly $0.38/week in scanning.

### FAQ

**What counts as "brand visible"?**
Either the brand name appears in the AI Overview's answer text, or one of your `brandDomains` (including subdomains) is cited as a source. Both are reported separately.

**Why does a query show `aiOverviewPresent: false`?**
Google does not show an AI Overview for every query, every region, every time. Track weekly — presence itself fluctuates, which is exactly what the change flags capture.

**How do I get alerted on changes?**
Schedule the Actor and plug the dataset into any Apify integration (Slack, email, webhook), filtering on `changeSinceLastRun` = `disappeared` or `appeared`.

**Is this legal?**
The Actor reads public Google search result pages via the official Apify Google Search scraper and collects no personal data. You are responsible for how you use the data.

# Actor input Schema

## `brandName` (type: `string`):

The brand to look for inside AI Overview answers and cited sources.

## `brandDomains` (type: `array`):

Domains that belong to the brand (e.g. 'mybrand.com'). Used to detect citations precisely and to exclude your own domains from the competitor list.

## `queries` (type: `array`):

The Google searches your buyers make (e.g. 'best web scraping tool'). Hard maximum: 100 queries per run.

## `countryCode` (type: `string`):

2-letter country code for the Google domain used (e.g. 'us', 'fr').

## `searchLanguage` (type: `string`):

Optional language restriction for results (e.g. 'en', 'fr').

## `monitorId` (type: `string`):

Optional. Advanced: keep separate histories for the same brand/query set, or reset one by changing the ID.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "brandName": "Apify",
  "brandDomains": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "queries": [
    "best web scraping platform",
    "how to scrape a website without coding"
  ],
  "countryCode": "us"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Structured result items.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "brandName": "Apify",
    "brandDomains": [
        "apify.com"
    ],
    "queries": [
        "best web scraping platform",
        "how to scrape a website without coding"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "brandName": "Apify",
    "brandDomains": ["apify.com"],
    "queries": [
        "best web scraping platform",
        "how to scrape a website without coding",
    ],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "brandName": "Apify",
  "brandDomains": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "queries": [
    "best web scraping platform",
    "how to scrape a website without coding"
  ]
}' |
apify call davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=davidbenittah/google-ai-overview-brand-tracker",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ce6Nvo3MnJHMismXy/builds/Af6FNte09L4ripIAr/openapi.json