Answer share
Of n answers to the same query, the number that name you. AI answers vary from run to run, so one answer proves nothing.
answer share = k / n
AI platform · Google AI
Google now answers before it lists. Is your company in the answer?
AI Overviews and AI Mode build answers from pages in Google's index and link to the pages they used. We measure which companies those answers name for your buyers' queries, and which pages they drew on.
How it builds an answer
How Google AI decides who to name.
AI Overviews and AI Mode are built from Google's own index. AI Mode splits a question into related searches, which Google calls query fan-out, and combines the results. A page has to be indexed and eligible to show a snippet to be used. Beyond that, inclusion depends on whether a passage answers the specific question better than the alternatives.
What it draws on
- Pages in Google's search index
- Pages eligible for a snippet: nosnippet and max-snippet limit what can be used
- Google's Knowledge Graph of entities
- Business Profiles, for local queries
What we measure
The same five measures, on Google AI.
Calculated per query, for you and every competitor in the set, so Google AI can be compared with every other platform.
Share of voice
Your mentions as a proportion of all mentions across the competitor set, for the same queries.
SoV = mᵧ / Σ mᵢ
Query coverage
The proportion of the query set, from problem to selection, in which you are named at least once.
coverage = |Q named| / |Q|
Citation coverage
Of the sources the answers cite, the proportion that mention you. AI systems repeat what their sources say.
citations naming you / citations
Retrieval margin
How closely your best passage matches the query, scored with our own embedding model, against the best competing passage. A negative margin usually explains why you were left out.
cos(q, pᵧ) − max cos(q, pᵢ)
Common questions
Do AI Overviews need separate technical work?
No. Google uses its existing index and crawler. What changes is the unit that wins: a passage that answers the question, rather than a page that ranks for a keyword.
Does blocking Google-Extended remove us from AI Overviews?
No. Google-Extended controls use of your content for Gemini models and grounding outside Search. AI Overviews are governed by Googlebot and the snippet controls.
Why do AI Mode answers cite pages that are not on page one?
Query fan-out runs several related searches, so a page that ranks for a narrower sub-question can be retrieved and cited for the broader one.
The roadmap, service by service
Free 15-minute consultation
Find out where your business stands.
- How search and AI systems currently interpret your business
- Where competitors are better understood than you
- Specific retrieval weaknesses, checked before we speak
- Whether there is work worth doing, and what it is worth to you
Apply for a free 15-minute consultation
We reply within one business day, and usually within the hour.