Guide · Getting started
How AI search works
Learn to separate an AI answer, a source link and a website visit, then check one answer about your business.
What a customer sees
Read the reply as a customer would. A useful review identifies the business named, the statement made and any linked evidence.
Start with a question a real customer has asked you. Save the wording and the whole answer. A cropped screenshot loses the context you'll want later.
Answers come in different shapes. Some are a short paragraph, some are a list of options and some compare businesses side by side. The shape changes what being named means, so save the answer as it appeared.
The customer can also ask a follow-up question. The second reply builds on the first, so one conversation can name different businesses at different points.
Some answers carry more than text, such as a map, a set of product cards or a row of links. Describe those parts in your notes, because a plain text copy loses them.
Four different events
A name, a source link, a visit and an enquiry describe different events. Keep a separate record for each event you can observe.
Each can happen without the others. A business can be named with no link. A linked page can get no visits at all.
Each event leaves a different record. A mention and a citation sit in the saved answer. A referral sits in your website analytics. A conversion sits wherever you log enquiries, bookings or sales.
Picture a florist. An answer names the shop and links to a wedding directory. That is one mention and one citation, but the link points to the directory, not to the florist's own site.
An answer that names you is something you saw on one day. A link lets you open the page it cites. Neither tells you a customer visited.
Give each event its own column in your record. Where you don't know, leave the cell blank.
A crawler request in your server logs is one more separate record. It shows that something asked for a page. It doesn't show what happened to the page afterwards.
Why one answer is only a sample
Ask the same question twice and the wording can change. So record the assistant, the date and the country every time, and keep results from an API apart from results in the consumer app.
Google says its AI features can run related searches to build one answer. That is Google's description of its own features. Other assistants work in their own ways.
Google also says AI Overviews are only shown when its systems judge them additive to classic Search, and that they often don't trigger. So a search without one says nothing about your business on its own.
Where an answer's information comes from
An assistant can answer from what its model learned during training. It can also search the web first and write its reply from the pages it finds.
Anthropic's documentation says its web search tool gives Claude real-time web content beyond its knowledge cutoff. It says responses then include citations for sources drawn from the search results.
OpenAI's documentation describes web search in similar terms. It lets models use up-to-date information from the internet and give answers with sourced citations.
This changes what you can check. A linked answer gives you pages to open. An answer with no links may rest on older material, and you can't see which.
So note whether the answer gave links at all, and whether the assistant showed that it searched. Both decide where your checking starts.
Why location and settings change the answer
Google says it uses your current location to give more helpful results. Its help page adds that location can bring nearby results even when the search names no place.
The developer tools behind many assistants allow for place too. OpenAI and Anthropic both document a setting for an approximate user location, such as a country, city or region.
So the same words asked in Leeds and in Bristol may get different answers. For a local service, write the town into the prompt and also record where you were.
Note whether you were signed in, and which device and browser you used. You may never know which setting mattered, but a later review can only compare like with like.
A sensible first review
Pick a question about something you really sell. Check each business fact in the answer against your own current information.
Say an answer tells customers a bakery delivers, but the bakery only does collection. Write down the error and the page the answer linked to.
Then read the answer as the customer would. Ask whether it gives them enough to choose, or leaves out something they need, such as price, area or availability.
Write down what the answer leaves open. A missing detail is not an error, but it shows you which facts your own pages should state plainly.
Expect some answers to be wrong
Google's own help page warns that AI responses may include mistakes. It suggests checking important information in more than one place and following the links to supporting pages.
Take the same view of answers about your business. A wrong opening time might come from an old page of yours, another website or the model itself.
Check your own page first, because it is the one you can change. Then open the linked sources and look for the same wrong detail there.
Google's help page also describes a feedback route under each AI Overview. You can mark it as unhelpful and report a problem. Sending feedback is a record of what you did, not a correction.
Start with the decision behind the prompt
Choose a decision your customers actually face. Use a question about an offer you provide, with the place or requirement that matters.
Write down the service, the place and what the customer needs. Use their words, not marketing phrases.
Include one question that names your business and one that doesn't. The first shows how you're described. The second shows whether you come up while someone is still choosing.
A question asked early is broad, such as what a boiler service includes. A question asked near the end is narrow, such as who can come this week. Keep some of each, because they lead to different answers.
Treat a conversation as one record
In any assistant that keeps a conversation going, a later reply can depend on the earlier ones. A business named in the third reply may owe that to the questions before it.
For a review, start a fresh conversation for each prompt. If you do ask a follow-up, save every turn in order and note which turn named you.
Don't merge a follow-up reply into the record for the first prompt. It answers a different question, even when the topic is the same.
Build a small review you can repeat
Choose a handful of questions about services you actually offer. Keep the wording the same for as long as you're comparing.
Save the whole answer, the linked pages, the date and the assistant. Note whether you used the consumer app or an API, because they behave differently.
Run the same review again later, and note any change in your location or account. Compare the saved records, not your memory of them.
Choose a gap between reviews that suits how often your facts change. A shop that changes prices every week needs a shorter gap than a firm whose services rarely change.
What a website owner can and can't influence
You control your own pages. You decide what they say, whether search crawlers can reach them and whether the facts on them are current.
For its AI features, Google lists the same basics as for Search. These include allowing crawling, keeping important content in text and keeping Business Profile information up to date.
Google also says those features need no AI text files and no special schema.org markup. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to be a supporting link.
You don't control whether an answer picks your page. Google says meeting every requirement doesn't mean a page will be crawled, indexed or served.
So spend your effort on what you can confirm. Accurate pages, open access and consistent business details are all things you can check yourself.
Turn a finding into a task
Finish with one fact to check, one page to review or one uncertainty to resolve. Keep that task beside the original answer.
Find the page you control that should explain the fact, and make it clearer for a customer. Then read the published page.
A later answer may or may not change. Note what you changed and when, and keep that separate from what the answer says.
If the wrong detail sits on someone else's page, the task has a different owner. Note who publishes that page and how they take corrections, and track it separately from your own changes.
How visits from AI answers are counted
Google says visits from its AI features count towards your overall search traffic in Search Console. They are reported in the Performance report under the Web search type.
Google Analytics follows the same line in its channel definitions. Its Organic Search channel includes visits from AI Overviews.
The same definitions describe an AI Assistant channel for visits from sources such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. That channel excludes Google's AI Overviews.
So a figure labelled AI traffic may leave out Google's own AI features. Check which channel a report uses before you compare it with anything.
Keep visits apart from mentions. A rise in one isn't evidence of a rise in the other.
Google's newer guide also documents a Generative AI performance report in Search Console. Check which report your property provides and its coverage.
A worked example
A bakery is named in an answer about delivery.
| Detail | Observation | Review or next step |
|---|---|---|
| The answer | The answer says the bakery delivers locally. | The owner says it only does collection. |
| The source | The answer links to an old delivery page. | Save the link and check the current collection policy. |
The bakery was named, but the delivery claim is wrong and needs fixing.
Common questions
Should I start with a question that names my business?
Start with both kinds. A question with your name in it shows how an assistant describes you. One without it shows whether you come up while someone is still choosing. Keep the two groups apart in your record.
How many answers should I save?
As many as you can review properly. There's no standard number. Start with a handful, save them all and report how many you checked.
Should I start with a question that names my business?
Start with both kinds. A question with your name in it shows how an assistant describes you. One without it shows whether you come up while someone is still choosing. Keep the two groups apart in your record.
How many answers should I save?
As many as you can review properly. There's no standard number. Start with a handful, save them all and report how many you checked.
Check your understanding
Which of these shows that an answer mentioned your business?
Read the answer and explanation
- A crawler requested your website.
- The saved answer names your business.
- Your page passed an access check.
Answer. The saved answer names your business.
A mention is your name appearing in the saved answer. A crawler visit and an access check are different records.
Answer and explanation
The saved answer names your business.
A mention is your name appearing in the saved answer. A crawler visit and an access check are different records.
Your next steps
Sources and method
A Carqo review method. Provider statements link to the relevant documentation.
- Google guidance on AI features Link checked 4 November 2026
- Claude API documentation, Web search tool Link checked 4 November 2026
- OpenAI API documentation, Web search Link checked 4 November 2026
- Google Search Help, Understand and manage your location when you search Link checked 29 October 2026
- Google Search Help, AI Overviews in Google Search Link checked 4 November 2026
- Google Analytics channel definitions Link checked 4 November 2026
- Google, optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search Link checked 4 November 2026