Google AI Overviews answer text tracking
Every AI Overview summary we collect is stored verbatim. When a client asks why their share moved, the answer is the paragraph, not the percentage.
How it renders
The summary block itself, captured before parsing.
Sampling
Every sample is stored, not just the modal one. Divergence between samples is the raw material for the volatility metrics.
Gotcha
What the API returns
A single collection call against Google AI Overviews for the answer text field, sampled n times and returned as one object per prompt.
{
"engine": "google_ai_overviews",
"field": "answer_text",
"prompt": "best ai visibility tracking tool",
"country": "GB",
"language": "en",
"n": 30,
"samples": [
{
"sample_index": 1,
"tokens": 214,
"text": "Several APIs return AI answer data…",
"captured_at": "2026-08-03T09:14:22Z"
}
]
}Response fields
| Key | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| text | string | Verbatim answer, markup stripped. |
| html | string | Original markup, for citation position reconstruction. |
| tokens | integer | Approximate length, useful for drift detection. |
| captured_at | timestamp | UTC collection time for this sample. |
| sample_index | integer | Which of the n samples this is. |
What it costs
Included. Evidence retention defaults to 90 days and is configurable.
See credit pricing →Google AI Overviews answer text FAQ
- Do you store every sample or just one?
- Every sample. The divergence between them is the data, not noise to be averaged away before storage.
- How long is answer text retained?
- Ninety days by default, configurable per project for clients with longer reporting cycles.
Ship evidence with every AI Overview number
Agencies win renewals by showing the sentence. Let's scope evidence retention for your prompt set.
Other Google AI Overviews data
Across every engine
Compare how answer text behaves on every engine we track.
Answer text across all engines →