How to Track Brand Mentions in Google AI Mode: Manual Checks and 10 Tools (2026)

Google AI Mode answers a search with a written response and a set of links, so a brand can be named in the text, linked as a source, both, or neither. Tracking mentions means knowing which of those happened for the questions your buyers ask. This guide covers what Google itself reports for AI Mode, quoting its documentation, how to check mentions by hand, and ten tools that track AI Mode for you.

The short answer: Google's reports tell you how often links to your site were shown in AI features, not whether your brand was named, so mentions have to be checked by asking. Do it by hand with a fixed list of questions, or use a tracker. For AI Mode checked daily with six other engines, the pick is Cituna, which includes AI Mode on every plan.

This guide is about AI Mode only. For the click-loss side of Google's other AI feature, see how to track Google AI Overviews.

What does Google report for AI Mode?

Google gives site owners three things for AI Mode, all in Search Console, and none of them is a brand-mention count.

1. The Generative AI performance report (impressions only). Google's help page says the report shows impressions, defined as how many times links to your site were shown to a user in a generative AI feature on Google Search, and that it covers AI Overviews and AI Mode. You can group it by pages, countries, dates and devices, and filter the search type to Web: text-based or Web: multimodal. Google says it rolled the report out to all websites worldwide as of 31 August 2026, and that data from Search Labs experiments is not included (Generative AI performance report, read 24 October 2026). The page lists no query dimension and no way to split AI Mode from AI Overviews.

2. Clicks and position in the Performance report. Google's metrics page says, for AI Mode, that clicking a link to an external page counts as a click, standard impression rules apply, and position follows the same methodology as a Google Search results page. It adds that a follow-up question asked within AI Mode is essentially a new query, and that all impression, position and click data in the new response is counted for that new query (What are impressions, position, and clicks?, read 24 October 2026). Google's AI features page says this traffic is reported in the Performance report under the Web search type (AI Features and Your Website, updated 10 December 2025).

3. The Search generative AI control. Under Settings, then Search generative AI, you can include your site's links and content in AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover (the default), exclude them, or let a child property inherit its parent's setting. Google says exclusion generally takes a few days, that an excluded site receives no traffic or impressions from these features, and that the control does not affect AI training (Search generative AI control, read 24 October 2026).

Google also documents how AI Mode builds answers. Its AI features page says AI Mode and AI Overviews may use query fan-out, "issuing multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources," and that AI Mode is particularly helpful for queries that need further exploration, reasoning or complex comparisons. Its optimisation guide says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet, and the site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console; it also says you need no new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup, and that Google Search ignores llms.txt files (Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features, updated 10 July 2026).

The Search Console side is covered in more depth in what Search Console can show about AI Overviews and AI Mode.

How to check AI Mode brand mentions by hand

This needs a spreadsheet and about an hour for the first run.

1. Choose 10 to 20 buyer questions

Weight the list toward comparisons and multi-part questions, since Google says AI Mode is particularly helpful where exploration, reasoning or complex comparisons are needed. Examples: "Which accounting software works for a 10-person agency billing in two currencies?" or "[your rival] vs [another rival] for a small team." Add two or three questions that name your brand directly.

2. Open AI Mode signed out, in a private window

A private window signed out of your Google account keeps your own search history and account out of the answer.

3. Check from the country your buyers are in

Search Console reports AI impressions by country, so run the check from the market you sell in and note the country on every row. If you sell in several countries, give each one its own set of rows.

4. Log each answer

Keep "named" and "linked" as separate columns. A brand can be named with no link, and a page can be linked while a rival is the one recommended.

5. Log follow-up questions as their own rows

If you ask a follow-up inside AI Mode, record it as a new question. Google counts a follow-up as a new query in Search Console, so treating it the same way keeps your log comparable with Google's numbers.

6. Repeat on several days

Answers change. In Cituna's published data for 25 buyer prompts scanned from 18 to 23 October 2026, Google AI Mode named 57% of the same tools the next day (Cituna: how often do AI answers change, read 24 October 2026). Run the same list on at least three days and report the share of runs that name you, not a single yes or no. Our guide to measuring AI share of voice shows how to turn the rows into one figure.

7. Compare your log with Search Console

Open the Generative AI performance report, switch to Pages, and compare the pages Google shows in AI features with the pages your log found linked. A page with AI impressions that never appears in your log is being shown for questions you are not checking yet, which is a cue to add questions.

Which tools track brand mentions in Google AI Mode?

A tracker runs your questions on a schedule and records mentions, links and rivals for each run. Prices are the cheapest plan that includes AI Mode, billed monthly, as each vendor's page showed on the date given.

Ahrefs and Parse were read on their own pages today (Ahrefs AI Mode Tracker, Parse); the others come from each vendor's pricing and product pages as recorded on this site on the dates shown (Semrush, Otterly.AI, SE Visible, Peec AI, LLM Pulse, Keyword.com, AthenaHQ). The Semrush checker figure is from our free AI visibility checkers roundup. Semrush's toolkit counts 25 prompts and needs a licence per user, and Otterly.AI charges extra for AI Mode, Gemini and Claude.

Cituna (best for AI Mode tracked daily with six other engines)

Cituna asks your buyer questions every day on Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok, on every plan, and records which brands and pages each answer names. Paid plans include Google Search Console, so the AI Mode results sit next to your Google clicks, and AI crawler analytics show which AI crawlers read each page. Starter is $49 a month (1 brand, 10 prompts), Pro $119 (3 brands, 30 prompts) and Max $399 (10 brands, 90 prompts). Where it falls short: it does not track Microsoft Copilot, and the 3-day trial needs a card. See Cituna's AI Mode tracker or Cituna in our directory.

Ahrefs (best for a free first look without setup)

Ahrefs' free AI Mode Tracker shows how many AI Mode answers mention your brand across the prompts Ahrefs tested, with mentions over time and the top five cited domains and pages. Ahrefs says its prompts start from its keyword database and Google's People Also Ask data, and that roughly 24 million questions are run against AI Mode each cycle. Comparing share of voice against chosen rivals and tracking your own prompts needs Brand Radar, at $199 a month for selected platforms or $699 for all platforms, which covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and AI Overviews as well as AI Mode (read 24 October 2026). Where it falls short: the free tool is a limited preview of Ahrefs' prompts, not your own questions. See Ahrefs Brand Radar in our directory.

Parse (best for ChatGPT and AI Mode only)

Parse says it tracks your brand in ChatGPT and Google AI Mode by asking both the same buyer questions and counting every answer, with "mentioned in" as its main metric, plus citations and a rival comparison. Pro is $79 a month per brand; the free plan covers one brand with weekly updates, but topics added on it are asked on ChatGPT only (read 24 October 2026). Where it falls short: two engines, and no AI Mode on the free plan.

Which tool should you pick for AI Mode?

• AI Mode checked daily with the other main engines, plus Search Console: Cituna, from $49.
• A free first look with no setup: Ahrefs' AI Mode Tracker, then Brand Radar if you need your own prompts.
• You already pay for Semrush or Ahrefs: their AI tools keep the data in the suite you use.
• Only ChatGPT and AI Mode matter: Parse, $79 per brand.
• You need Microsoft Copilot as well: Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Keyword.com, AthenaHQ or Ahrefs, since Cituna does not track Copilot.

Keep the manual log for your five most important questions for the first month, to check the tool against what you see yourself. If you also want to know which of your pages are linked across every engine, see how to check if your website is cited in AI answers.

What to do first

1. In Search Console, open Settings, then Search generative AI, and confirm your site is included.
2. Open the Generative AI performance report, switch to Pages, and note which URLs Google shows in AI features.
3. Write 10 to 20 buyer questions and run them in AI Mode, signed out, from your buyers' country.
4. Log named and linked separately, and repeat on two more days.
5. For the questions where rivals are named and you are not, read the pages AI Mode links; our guide to getting cited with llms.txt, schema and FAQ pages covers the on-page fixes.
6. When the manual log takes too long, move the list into a tracker such as Cituna, which checks AI Mode daily on every plan.

Sources

• Google, Generative AI performance report (Search), What are impressions, position, and clicks? and Search generative AI control, read 24 October 2026.
• Google Search Central, AI Features and Your Website (updated 10 December 2025) and Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features (updated 10 July 2026), read 24 October 2026.
• Ahrefs AI Mode Tracker and Parse home page, read 24 October 2026; other vendors on the dates in the table.
• Cituna, "How often do AI answers change?" (cituna.com/learn), updated 24 October 2026; Cituna plan facts from cituna.com/pricing, read 24 October 2026.