Paste your domain. We'll show you whether Google AI Overviews cite it.

What this checks, and what it does not

The tool runs five live Google searches in your category and reports three specific things: whether the query triggered an AI Overview, whether your domain appears in that AI Overview's source references, and whether your domain appears in the top 10 organic results. An organic ranking is shown as a separate supporting signal; it is not counted as an AI citation.

What it does not do: it does not query ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini directly. Those engines can cite a different set of sources, and their results need to be tracked over time to be meaningful. This tool gives you a live Google AI Overview baseline; the audit on the GEO / AI SEO programme page covers the broader answer-engine set.

If you want the tracked-over-time version, the audit ships in 4 weeks for £2,500 and includes citation tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews on a 30-prompt battery, plus a 90-day priority roadmap.

What is an AI citation, and why it matters

An AI citation is when an answer engine names or links your brand or page as a source inside its generated answer. When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews a question and the answer says "according to X" or links X, that is a citation. In AI search, the citation is the win. The user often never scrolls to the blue links, so being inside the answer is the new equivalent of ranking first.

This matters more every quarter because a growing share of searches end without a click. If the answer engine resolves the question in its own response, the only brands that get attention are the ones cited as sources. Traditional rank tracking misses this entirely: you can rank page one and still be invisible in the AI answer, or rank page two and be the source the model quotes.

How to improve your AI citation rate

Four levers, in order of impact. First, answer the question directly in the first one or two sentences under a clear, question-shaped heading, because models extract self-contained passages. Second, add FAQ and schema markup so the structure is machine-readable. Third, keep the page fast and server-rendered so crawlers see the content without running JavaScript. Fourth, build consistent brand mentions across the web, because models corroborate facts that appear in multiple independent sources. The GEO and AEO playbook covers the full method, and the AEO vs GEO vs SEO breakdown explains how the research changes.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI citation?

An AI citation is when an answer engine like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews names or links your brand or page as a source in its response. Citations are the AI-era equivalent of a ranking: they put you inside the answer, not just in the blue links below it.

Is the AI citation checker free?

Yes. Enter your domain and it tests five buyer queries with no sign-up. It is a quick visibility baseline, not a tracked-over-time rank-monitoring subscription, which is the paid GEO programme.

How does the tool check if my brand appears in AI search?

It runs five live Google searches in your category, inspects the source references in each Google AI Overview, and separately reports whether your domain appears in the top 10 organic results.

How do I get cited by AI search engines?

Answer the question directly in the first sentence under a clear heading, add FAQ and schema markup, keep the page fast, and build consistent brand mentions across the web. AI engines cite sources that are structured, authoritative, and easy to extract.