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AI Visibility

Google AI Mode Tracker

See whether Google AI Mode cites your site when buyers ask. Cituna runs your queries against AI Mode every day, records the sources it cites and the rivals it names instead, then generates the fixes to win the citation. Included on every plan.

By Rahul AUpdated September 12, 20265 min read

See which of these you are already failing.

On this page
  1. How AI Mode tracking works
  2. AI Mode is not AI Overviews
  3. What you see
  4. Which tools track AI Mode
  5. FAQ

Yes. Cituna is a Google AI Mode tracker: it runs your buyer queries against AI Mode every day, records whether your domain is among the sources the answer cites, and shows which competitors it named in your place. AI Mode is a different surface from the AI Overview block above Google’s blue links, and it answers the same question differently, so it needs its own column.

How Google AI Mode tracking works

You give Cituna the buyer queries that lead to your category, and we ask Google AI Mode each one every day. For each query we record three things: the answer AI Mode composed, whether your domain is among the sources it cited, and which competitors it named instead of you. Run after run that becomes a trend line rather than a one-off screenshot.

AI Mode composes a fresh answer rather than returning a ranked list, which is why the daily cadence carries more weight here than on a classic rank tracker. Two people asking the same question can get differently-worded answers, so the signal you want is not a single position but a citation rate across your query set over time. That is what the column measures.

AI Mode is not AI Overviews, and the difference is measurable

This is worth being precise about, because the two names invite being collapsed into one “Google AI” column, and several tools do exactly that. AI Overviews is the AI answer block that appears above Google’s normal search results. AI Mode is Google’s separate conversational search experience. They share Google’s infrastructure and they make separate brand picks.

We did not assume that, we measured it. On September 12, 2026 we put one identical buyer query to both surfaces and read both answers: they cited different sources and recommended different brands. A citation in one is not a citation in the other, so Cituna gives each its own column and its own score, and never reports one as though it covered both. Pair this page with our Google AI Overviews tracker if your buyers use both, and with our Gemini rank tracker for Google’s standalone assistant, which is a third distinct surface.

What you see

Every scan produces a citation matrix: one row per buyer query, one column per engine. In the AI Mode column each cell answers whether AI Mode cited you, and which rivals it named if it did not. Read down the column for your AI Mode presence across your whole query set; read across a row to compare AI Mode with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode on the identical query. The full answer text is stored with every cell, so you can read what AI Mode actually said rather than inferring it from a score.

Every cell where you are missing links to the generated fix for it, so the tracker is a to-do list rather than a dashboard you stare at. And because AI Mode draws on pages that already rank, the Google Search Console integration is worth connecting here: it shows which of your ranking queries are the ones AI Mode is answering.

We track our own gaps too:

On the day we shipped AI Mode tracking we pointed it at ourselves and asked it the buyer query we care about most, a question about the cheapest tool covering every engine. Google AI Mode wrote a 2,690-character answer, cited 22 sources, recommended a competitor, and did not mention cituna.com at all. That is our real result on our own most important query, and we would rather publish it than a flattering one. The tracker shows us our AI Mode gap exactly the way it will show you yours, and the fixes it generated for us are the same ones it generates for you.

Which tools track Google AI Mode, and at what real price

AI Mode is new enough that coverage is uneven, and where it exists it is often priced as an extra. The number worth comparing is therefore not the headline plan price but the price with AI Mode switched on:

What Google AI Mode costs on each tool's entry tier, read from each vendor's own pricing page on September 12, 2026
What you getCitunaThat’s usOtterly.aiKoalr
Entry plan / month$39$29£79
AI Mode included at entry
Fee to add AI ModeNone$9/moNone
Tracks Grok
Tracked prompts at entry1015

Read from each vendor's own published pricing or comparison page on September 12, 2026. Otterly.ai publishes a $29/mo Lite plan covering ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, with Google AI Mode at $9/mo, Google Gemini at $9/mo and Claude at $29/mo as add-ons, and does not offer Grok on any plan (otterly.ai/pricing). Koalr publishes £79/mo covering seven surfaces with no engine unlock fees, and states on its own comparison page that it does not track Grok or DeepSeek (koalr.ai/alternatives). Every figure here belongs to the vendor named beside it. Prices change often, so verify on each vendor's site before deciding. Cituna does not track Microsoft Copilot: there is no data source that reads it.

Priced at comparable coverage the gap is the point. Adding Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude to Otterly.ai’s Lite plan comes to $76/mo by their own published add-on pricing, for 15 tracked prompts, and still leaves Grok untracked because they do not sell it. Cituna is $39/mo for all seven engines with nothing to add on, plus a native Google Search Console integration and a built-in MCP server (read tools from $39, write tools from Pro at $119). When you need more volume, Max ($399) lifts the prompts, brands and allowances, with a custom Enterprise plan beyond it.

Both alternatives are real products with genuine strengths. Otterly.ai has the lowest sticker price in the category and a useful set of free GEO tools, and if the four engines on its Lite plan are the four your buyers use, the add-ons are irrelevant to you. Koalr includes every engine it supports on every plan with no unlock fees, which is the same principle we price on. Which one fits comes down to the engines your buyers actually use and whether you want the fixes attached to the measurement. For the full field, see our comparison of the best AI visibility tools.

Drafted with AI assistance from our own research and Search Console data, and reviewed by Rahul A before publishing. Rules and prices change; check the linked official source before you act.

Frequently asked questions

How do I track my brand in Google AI Mode?

Give Cituna the buyer queries that matter in your category and it runs them against Google AI Mode every day, records whether your domain is among the sources the answer cites, and shows which competitors it named instead. Because AI Mode composes a fresh answer per query rather than returning a ranked list, a single manual check tells you very little; daily tracking is what turns it into a trend you can act on.

Is Google AI Mode the same as AI Overviews?

No, and treating them as one surface is the most common mistake here. AI Overviews is the AI answer block above Google’s normal results; AI Mode is Google’s separate conversational search experience. They are different products, they are read through different endpoints, and they routinely answer the same query differently. Measured on September 12, 2026, we asked both surfaces an identical buyer query and they named a different set of brands. Cituna therefore scores them as two engines, in two columns, rather than counting one answer twice.

Does tracking AI Mode cost extra on Cituna?

No. Google AI Mode is included on every Cituna plan, from Starter at $39/mo, checked daily like the other six engines, with no per-engine unlock fee. That is deliberate: the common pattern in this category is a low headline price with the engines sold separately on top, so the advertised price and the price of the coverage you actually wanted end up being different numbers.

How do I get cited in Google AI Mode?

AI Mode leans on the same foundations as the rest of Google: pages that already rank, clear structure, and content that answers the question directly. Your SEO feeds it. What Cituna adds is the specific part: the exact queries where AI Mode cites a competitor instead of you, the third-party pages it drew that answer from, and the generated fixes (schema, FAQ markup, llms.txt, content) to close the gap. No tool can promise placement. You can measure a query, ship a fix, and watch whether your citation rate moves.

See how AI engines see your brand

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