Google AI Mode tracking
See where your brand lands in Google AI Mode.
Pineprompt runs your real buyer prompts against AI Mode daily, scoped to your country and language, then records every mention, every cited source, and every competitor that AI Mode named instead of you.
Why AI Mode matters
AI Mode is the conversational Google.
Where Google AI Overview drops a summary on top of classic SERPs, AI Mode replaces the result page entirely with a conversational interface. Buyers ask, compare, and decide without ever leaving Google. Being named in the answer is the visibility unit, and the click that used to go to the first blue link now goes nowhere at all.
1B+
monthly active users
2–3×
longer queries than classic Search
200+
countries since rollout
~93%
of queries end with no outbound click
Sources: Google I/O 2026 (monthly active users); Google product messaging (query length); Google rollout updates (country availability); Semrush AI Mode study (2025, zero-click rate).
What's scored
What every AI Mode answer is scored on.
AI Mode names more brands per answer than the Gemini app does, so the named list is within reach and the order matters. Pineprompt records the visibility headline, the position your brand lands in, and the tone the prose uses to frame you.
Visibility
The percentage of AI Mode answers that name your brand across your tracked prompts. The headline number on the Pineprompt dashboard.
Named by AI Mode
Across 142 tracked prompts this week.
Position in the answer
AI Mode names several brands per response, so order carries the weight a single recommendation used to. Pineprompt logs the rank each brand lands in, every answer, every day.
Sentiment tone
AI Mode synthesizes across grounded sources, so negative framing from a cited page leaks into the prose. Every mention is scored for tone. See sentiment analysis .
How AI Mode picks its answer
The two layers behind every AI Mode response.
AI Mode is Gemini plus always-on Google grounding, tuned for conversational breadth. The model layer carries baked-in brand coverage from its training data, and the grounding layer pulls a fresh set of pages from Google's index to write across. Pineprompt makes both layers visible, so you see which one is working in your favor and which one is not.
The model knowledge layer
Brands that appear in many authoritative places, such as review sites, Wikipedia, news, and category comparisons, get baked into the underlying Gemini model. Pineprompt's mention-rate trend tracks that baked-in coverage answer by answer.
The Google grounding layer
Unlike the Gemini app, AI Mode grounds against Google's index on almost every query. Pineprompt logs every cited URL, so you see which pages are teaching AI Mode about your category right now. See citation tracking .
Grounded against
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nytimes.com /2026/02/best-vacation-rentals
-
reddit.com /r/travel/vrbo-vs-airbnb
-
tripadvisor.com /guides/vacation-rentals
Of course, the grounded set shifts the moment the question gets more specific.
Slice it the way buyers ask
One AI Mode answer is not a metric.
AI Mode answers shift by prompt, by country, and by who the buyer is comparing you with. Pineprompt slices the same data along each axis, so you find the segment where your visibility actually breaks.
By country and language
Google rolled AI Mode out in waves, and behavior still differs sharply by market. The same prompt in en-US and en-GB often returns a different first brand. Every Pineprompt monitor is scoped to a specific locale.
By competitor share
Every answer is scored against your registered competitors. New brands AI Mode names that you have not registered surface as candidates for competitor discovery .
By buyer prompt
The same brand dominates one prompt and disappears from the next. Every prompt is tracked on its own, so you find the questions you are losing. See prompt tracking .
"best vacation rental site"
"cheap airbnb alternatives for groups"
Failure modes
Three AI Mode visibility failure modes.
Most AI Mode visibility problems come down to one of these three. Each shows up differently in the data, and each has a different fix.
Never named
AI Mode lists three or four competitors and you are not one of them. The cause is thin coverage in the pages AI Mode grounds against. Fix: earn placements in category comparisons, listicles, and authoritative reviews that already rank for your category terms.
Cited source poisons the prose
AI Mode synthesizes across grounded sources, so a critical paragraph in a cited page leaks straight into the answer. Trace the source via citation tracking , then publish counter-content.
"Airbnb can feel inconsistent compared with the dedicated rental platforms below."
Mentioned last
You are in the list but AI Mode names you after giving the first three competitors a paragraph each. AI Mode names more brands per answer than the Gemini app, so being last in a long list is the most common visibility failure. Fix: increase the volume and authority of category-defining content that opens with your brand.
Google AI Mode tracking FAQ
What people ask before they start tracking AI Mode visibility. For how visibility is scored, see the methodology .
- Is AI Mode the same as Google AI Overview?
- No. They are two different Google surfaces. AI Overview is a short summary above classic SERPs. AI Mode replaces the SERP entirely with a conversational interface. Track both via Google AI Overview tracking.
- How is AI Mode different from the Gemini app?
- AI Mode is search-shaped. It grounds against Google's index on almost every query and tends to name several brands per answer. The Gemini app is chat-shaped and leans more on the model's own knowledge. Track Gemini separately via Gemini visibility tracking.
- How is AI Mode different from Perplexity?
- Perplexity is a separate citation-first engine with its own index and a different audience. AI Mode grounds against Google's index. Different ranking behavior, different citation sets. Track both via Perplexity visibility tracking.
- Is AI Mode available everywhere?
- Google has rolled it out to more than 200 countries. Pineprompt supports AI Mode tracking in markets where Google ships the feature. If you need a region not yet available, let us know.
- How often is each prompt refreshed?
- Daily, on every plan. AI answers are stochastic, so daily density surfaces drift without noise. See our methodology.
The other seven engines
Buyers do not use one engine.
One Pineprompt project tracks all eight in parallel, so you compare the same prompt across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and the rest.
ChatGPT
OpenAI ChatGPT across web and mobile.
Learn moreGoogle Gemini
Track your brand inside Google Gemini answers.
Learn morePerplexity
Citations-first answers from Perplexity.
Learn moreClaude
Anthropic Claude across enterprise research.
Learn moreGoogle AI Overview
AI Overviews on top of the Google SERP.
Learn moreGrok
Real-time answers from xAI Grok.
Learn moreCopilot
Microsoft Copilot in Bing, Windows, and Microsoft 365.
Learn moreAll features
Everything Pineprompt tracks across the eight engines.
Learn moreStart tracking AI Mode visibility.
AI Mode names brands you have never heard of, in answers you will never see. Track it alongside the other seven engines, refreshed daily and scoped to your country and language.