The latest articles on DEV Community by Nawaz Ahmad (@rankvelt). https://dev.to/rankvelt https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4205604%2Fe7fa6840-91fb-42e6-ae6b-0ee6f7667dce.png https://dev.to/rankvelt en Nawaz Ahmad Sat, 24 Oct 2026 23:51:07 +0000 https://dev.to/rankvelt/how-to-track-your-brand-in-google-ai-overviews-without-a-paid-api-o0b https://dev.to/rankvelt/how-to-track-your-brand-in-google-ai-overviews-without-a-paid-api-o0b <p>Google AI Overviews now answer a large share of commercial questions before any website gets a click. Business owners ask me the same thing every week: are we even in those answers?</p> <p>The honest problem is tooling. Most AI visibility trackers charge per prompt and per location, because they run the queries through paid APIs. For a small business, that pricing makes no sense.</p> <p>So we track it manually, in a structured way. This post explains the method, and the small free tool we built on top of it.</p> <h2> The Manual Method </h2> <p>Pick 10 to 20 questions your customers actually type. Not your brand name. Real buying questions, like "best plumber in austin" or "how much does a root canal cost".</p> <p>Every week, run each question in Google while signed out, and record three things:</p> <ol> <li>Did an AI Overview appear at all?</li> <li>Was your business mentioned or cited in it?</li> <li>Which competitors were cited instead?</li> </ol> <p>A spreadsheet survives about two weeks of this. Then someone forgets, the columns drift, and the habit dies. That failure is exactly what pushed us to build a tracker.</p> <h2> What the Tracker Does </h2> <p>The <a href="https://www.rankvelt.com/tools/ai-overviews-visibility-tracker" rel="noopener noreferrer">AI Overviews Visibility Tracker</a> keeps the same manual honesty, because you still run the searches yourself. It just removes the spreadsheet pain.</p> <p>You save your query list once. Each check, you mark whether an AI Overview appeared, whether you were cited or only mentioned, and which competitors showed up. Your data stays in your browser, in localStorage. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.</p> <p>Two scores come out of it:</p> <p><strong>AI Visibility Score</strong> = Citation Rate x 0.7 + Mention Rate x 0.3, calculated only over queries where an AI Overview actually appeared. Citing counts more than mentioning, because a citation carries a link.</p> <p><strong>Share of Voice</strong> = your citations divided by all citations (yours plus competitors). This is the number that hurts, and the number that tells the truth.</p> <p>Exports are CSV, JSON or print, so the weekly check turns into a client friendly report in one click.</p> <h2> What the Data Teaches You </h2> <p>After a few weeks, patterns show up fast. The businesses AI cites tend to share three traits.</p> <p>Their key pages answer the target question in the first lines, not after five paragraphs of branding. Their name, phone and service details match across their website, Google profile and directories. And other sites mention them, which gives the AI independent proof they are real.</p> <p>None of that needs a paid tool. It needs a weekly habit and pages written to be quoted.</p> <h2> Try It </h2> <p>The tracker is free, with no signup. If you run a local business or an agency, steal the method even if you skip the tool. A simple weekly check beats a monthly surprise.</p> <p><em>Written by Nawaz Ahmad, founder of <a href="https://www.rankvelt.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">RankVelt</a>, an AI-first SEO agency in Lahore, Pakistan. We build free SEO tools and help small businesses get cited in AI search. <a href="https://www.rankvelt.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.rankvelt.com/</a></em></p> seo webdev marketing ai