Short answer. Check three places: the Gemini app, AI Overviews at the top of Google results, and AI Mode. Search the questions customers would ask, from a private window set to your customers' location. Record whether your business and website appear, and which sites are linked instead. Then confirm your pages are indexed in Google.
Three Google surfaces, one search index
These are different products with a common source.
| Surface | What it is | Where it gets web content |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews | An AI-generated snapshot with links, at the top of some Google results (Google) | Google Search |
| AI Mode | A longer, conversational search you can enter from an AI Overview (Google) | Google Search |
| Gemini app | Google's AI assistant | Google says some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results (Google) |
Google's developer documentation says that with Grounding with Google Search, Gemini decides whether a search would improve the answer, generates one or more search queries, runs them and cites its sources (Google AI for Developers). That page describes the developer API, not the consumer app, so for the Gemini app we rely only on Google's statement that some responses are grounded on Search. The wider picture is in which search engine each AI uses and the difference between AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini.
How to check, step by step
- Write five to ten real questions. As a customer would type them, without your business name: "Which electrician in Pretoria East can come today?"
- Use a private window and the right place. Results vary by location. Search from, or set your location to, where your customers are.
- Search on Google and look for an AI Overview. Google says AI Overviews appear only when its systems decide generative AI is especially useful (Google), and that they often do not trigger (Google Search Central). No overview is a normal result, so note it and move on.
- When an overview appears, open the links. Overviews link to supporting web sources. Record whether your site is one, and which others are.
- Continue in AI Mode. Google says you can select Show more under an AI Overview and type a follow-up, with your search context carried over. Ask the follow-up a customer would: "Which of those is open on Saturdays?"
- Ask the Gemini app the same questions. Note whether it names you and whether it shows sources.
- Repeat three times, and again next week. A SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai study of 2,961 prompts across ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI features found the same question rarely produced the same list of brands (Search Engine Land). Google's overviews also use "query fan-out", running several related searches, so the set of links can be wider and more varied than in classic search (Google Search Central).
Google also provides a Web filter, selected after a search, that shows only text links without features like AI Overviews. Use it to see where you sit in the plain results for comparison.
What Google says it takes to appear
Google's guidance on AI features is short. To be shown as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. Google says there are no additional technical requirements, and that no special optimisations, machine-readable files or schema.org markup are needed. It also says it does not guarantee a page will be crawled, indexed or served (Google Search Central).
So the first check is plain:
- Is the page indexed? Search for
site:yourdomain.comon Google, or use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. - Does it show a snippet? If you use
nosnippet,max-snippetornoindex, you are limiting what Google shows. Google lists these as the controls for limiting information from your pages in Search and in AI features. - Is it in Google at all for this question? If the ordinary results do not include you, the AI features probably will not either.
Seeing it in Search Console
Google says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted in the Performance report under the "Web" search type, not in a separate AI report (Google Search Central). You cannot filter it out from ordinary search traffic there, so Search Console shows whether your pages get impressions and clicks, not whether a given AI Overview cited you. Google suggests also tracking conversions and time on site in a tool such as Google Analytics.
What the results mean
| What you see | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| No AI Overview | Normal. Google often does not show one |
| Overview, you are linked | Google found your page useful for that question |
| Overview, competitors linked, you are not | Open their pages and compare with yours. Check yours is indexed |
| Gemini names you, Overviews do not | Different surfaces can return different results. Check each separately |
| Not found in Google's ordinary results either | The problem starts with indexing or relevance, not with AI |
Crawlers and Gemini
Google says Googlebot builds the Search index, and that Google-Extended is a robots.txt token, not a separate crawler, controlling whether crawled content is used to train Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI. It adds that Google-Extended "does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search" (Google Search Central). That page does not say whether it affects AI Overviews. Blocking Googlebot removes you from Google Search, so do not. More in what the AI crawlers do.
Doing it daily
Gemini and Google AI features change often, and a hand check covers one day. aipozi asks your questions on Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity every morning with live search on. We have not confirmed that it reads Google's AI Overviews as a separate surface, so check those by hand as above. The full method is in how to check if AI recommends your business. For next steps, see schema markup for AI search.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Google show no AI Overview for my search? Google says AI Overviews appear only when its systems judge that generative AI adds value beyond classic results, so they often do not trigger. Try a more specific, question-style search, and check again on another day.
Do I need special markup to appear in AI Overviews? Google says no. Its guidance states that to appear as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet, and that no additional technical requirements, special optimisations, machine-readable files or schema.org markup are needed.
Can I see AI Overview traffic in Search Console? Google says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Performance report under the Web search type. It is not broken out as a separate AI report in that documentation, so you cannot isolate it from ordinary search traffic there.
Does blocking Google-Extended remove me from AI Overviews? Google says Google-Extended does not affect inclusion in Google Search. Its crawler documentation covers Gemini training and grounding in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI, and does not say whether it affects AI Overviews. To limit what shows from your pages in Search, Google points to snippet controls such as nosnippet.
Is Gemini the same as AI Overviews? No. Gemini is Google's AI model and app. AI Overviews are summaries Google shows at the top of some search results. AI Mode is a longer, conversational search you can move into from an overview. They share Google Search as a source, but you check each separately.
Sources
Every source above was checked on 27 October 2026.