Google AI Mode position tracking
google_ai_modepositionAnonymous
Position in AI Mode reflects where an inline citation falls within the answer body, plus the source panel ordering — two signals that frequently disagree.
How it renders
Inline DOM order within the answer, alongside panel order.
Sampling
We report mean position with its spread, because a source that alternates between slot one and slot five is a different story from one that sits consistently at slot three.
Gotcha
Panel order and inline order are different things. We return both and never blend them into a single 'position' figure.
What the API returns
A single collection call against Google AI Mode for the position field, sampled n times and returned as one object per prompt.
{
"engine": "google_ai_mode",
"field": "position",
"prompt": "best ai visibility tracking tool",
"country": "GB",
"language": "en",
"n": 30,
"positions": [
{
"url": "https://nostimates.com/engines",
"avg_position": 1.8,
"best_position": 1,
"spread": 0.9
}
]
}Response fields
| Key | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| url | string | Cited URL. |
| avg_position | float | Mean ordinal across samples in which it appeared. |
| best_position | integer | Best slot achieved in the sample set. |
| spread | float | Standard deviation of position across samples. |
Google AI Mode position FAQ
- Which position should I report?
- Inline position, if you report one. It reflects how central the source was to the synthesised answer.
- Is panel order meaningful?
- Weakly. It is not rank and it shifts between samples more than inline order does.
Track where AI Mode leans, not just who it lists
We'll set up inline and panel position tracking across your prompts.
Other Google AI Mode data
Across every engine
Compare how position behaves on every engine we track.
Position across all engines →