# Apify Google AI Overview Monitoring

> Monitor whether a brand or domain is cited in Google AI Overviews with the Apify Google AI Overview API Actor (johnvc/Google-AI-Overview-API). Run a watchlist of queries on a schedule, check ai_overview_present, match your domain against the cited references, and build a citation history keyed by the fetched_at timestamp for AEO and GEO reporting. Use when the user wants google ai overview monitoring or tracking, brand visibility in AI Overviews, AI search visibility checks for a brand or client, answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO) measurement, competitor citation share in AI Overviews, or alerts when a domain drops out of an AI Overview. Pay-per-retrieval billing, MCP-ready for Claude and other AI agents.

- Skill: `johnisanerd/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add johnisanerd/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/johnisanerd/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- License: MIT
- Author: johnisanerd (https://skillmd.com/u/johnisanerd)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/johnisanerd/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring

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# Google AI Overview Monitoring: Brand Citations Over Time

Watch how a brand shows up in Google's AI Overviews. Run a fixed list of queries on a schedule, score each answer for whether your domain is cited, and build a history of citation share for AEO and GEO reporting.

## When to use this skill

- The user wants to monitor or track a brand, domain, or client in Google AI Overviews.
- They want AI search visibility, AEO, or GEO measurement for a set of queries.
- They want competitor citation share: which domains AI Overviews cite in their category.
- They want alerts when a domain drops out of an overview, or when an overview disappears for a money query.

Not for: one-off answer extraction or ad hoc lookups (use the google-ai-overview-api skill), organic rank tracking (this reads the AI Overview only), or other engines' AI answers (see `references/actor-index.md` for Bing, Brave, and Naver equivalents).

## The signals (one row per query per run)

Each row carries `ai_overview_present` (did an overview show at all), `references` (each cited source with `link`, `source`, `index`, plus `title` and `snippet` when present), `text_blocks` (the answer text, for brand mentions that are not linked), and `fetched_at` (the ISO timestamp that keys your time series). `gl` and `hl` echo the market targeting so multi-country histories stay separable.

Per query per run, the derived metrics are: overview shown (yes or no), brand cited (any `references[].link` or `references[].source` matching your domain), citation position (the matching reference's `index`), and competitor domains cited (the full `source` list).

## Prerequisites

- Apify account (sign up at https://apify.com?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo).
- Authentication via `apify login`, or an `APIFY_TOKEN` environment variable (Apify Console, Settings, Integrations).

## The Actor

- Store page: https://apify.com/johnvc/Google-AI-Overview-API?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo
- Actor ID: `johnvc/Google-AI-Overview-API`
- Pricing: pay per AI Overview retrieval plus a small per-run setup fee (see `references/gotchas.md`).

## Run it with the Apify CLI

One watchlist poll:

```bash
apify actors call "johnvc/Google-AI-Overview-API" -i '{"queries":["best crm for startups","crm with free tier","easiest crm for small business"],"gl":"us","hl":"en"}' \
  --json \
  --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring \
  2>/dev/null
```

Read a run's rows later, for example from a scheduled run:

```bash
apify datasets get-items <DATASET_ID> --format json --user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring 2>/dev/null
```

Every call carries the three flags this repo expects: `--json` (or `--format json`), `--user-agent apify-awesome-skills/apify-google-ai-overview-monitoring`, and `2>/dev/null`.

## Run it from Claude or another AI agent (MCP)

The Actor is MCP-ready. Add the hosted server URL:

`https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=actors,docs,johnvc/Google-AI-Overview-API`

Then ask, for example: "Check whether example.com is cited in the Google AI Overview for these ten queries and list who is cited instead." MCP setup docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp

## Workflow

1. Define the watchlist. Pick 10 to 50 queries where the brand should appear: category head terms, "best X for Y" picks, and question-style searches customers actually ask. Fix the list so runs stay comparable.
2. Pin the market. One `queries` input per market with `gl` set (keep `hl` at `en`; AI Overviews are currently English-only). Run one Actor call per market so histories never mix.
3. Estimate cost per poll and per month, then confirm with the user. See `references/gotchas.md`.
4. Run and score each row. Overview shown: `ai_overview_present`. Brand cited: match your domain against each reference's `link` or `source` (compare registered domains, not exact hosts, so `www` and subdomains still match). Unlinked mentions: scan the `snippet` text in `text_blocks`. Competitors: tally every other `source`.
5. Append to history and report. Store rows keyed by query plus `fetched_at`. Report citation share (cited queries over queries with an overview), new and lost citations since the last poll, and the top cited competitor domains.
6. Schedule it. Save the input as an Apify task and attach a schedule (daily or weekly), or cron the CLI call. Alert when a previously cited query loses the citation or loses its overview.

## Inputs

- `queries` (array of strings): the fixed watchlist; merged with `query` and deduped
- `query` (string): single-query alternative; at least one of the two is required
- `gl` (string, default `us`): two-letter country code, one market per run
- `hl` (string, default `en`): keep `en`
- `location` (string): optional named location for local-intent watchlists

## Cost

Billing is pay per event: a small setup fee per run plus a fee per AI Overview retrieval, about $0.015 each at the time of writing. A daily 20-query poll is about $0.31 per run, roughly $9.40 per month; weekly is about $1.35 per month. Deferred answers cost one extra retrieval each. Estimate with the live prices in `references/gotchas.md` before scheduling.

## Honest limits

- This is a polled monitor, not a push feed: freshness is your schedule interval.
- AI Overviews are not deterministic. Text and cited sources can change between identical runs, so judge trends over several polls, not single flips.
- Queries without an overview still cost a lookup, and `ai_overview_present: false` is itself a signal worth logging.
- English-only for now, in a limited set of countries; there is no historical backfill, so the history starts when your polling starts.

## Troubleshooting

- Citation flapping between polls: expected variance; alert only after two or three consecutive misses.
- Domain never matches: compare registered domains, and check `references[].link` as well as `source` (some references carry only `link`, `source`, and `index`).
- Whole watchlist shows no overviews: check `hl` is `en`, try `gl` at `us`, and rephrase head terms as questions.

See `references/gotchas.md` for cost guardrails and error recovery, and `references/actor-index.md` for the Actor routing table.

## Related answer-engine Actors

- Bing Copilot API: https://apify.com/johnvc/bing-copilot-api?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo
- Brave AI Mode API: https://apify.com/johnvc/brave-ai-mode-api?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo
- Naver AI Overview API: https://apify.com/johnvc/naver-ai-overview-api?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo
- Google News API: https://apify.com/johnvc/GoogleNewsAPI?fpr=9n7kx3&fp_sid=skillrepo