Getting started with Google AI Search

Google AI Search shows you how your brand appears on Google now that Google answers with AI — across both the classic blue links and the AI Overview that sits on top of them.

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Quick start

Three steps to go from zero to live tracking:

1. Add your keywords — the search intents you want to monitor (you get 5 for free).
2. Wait for the first run — Amadora checks each keyword on Google on a recurring schedule and builds your baseline.
3. Open the Overview — read your visibility funnel and the gap insights, then drill into the Keywords view to act.

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Step 1 — Add your keywords

What it is. In Google AI Search you track keywords — short Google-style search intents like mentoring software for mid-size companies, not the long conversational prompts you’d type into a chatbot. Each keyword is re-checked on a schedule so your metrics stay current. Why it matters. Your keyword set defines everything the feature measures. Choosing the right intents — the queries your buyers actually type — is what makes the visibility, mention, and citation numbers meaningful. Every account includes 5 keywords by default, so start with your highest-value commercial intents. There are three ways to add keywords. Use whichever fits how you already work — you can mix and match.

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Option A — Add keywords manually

Best for: a handful of known, high-priority queries you already have in mind. Benefit: full control and instant setup — type exactly the intents you care about, no list required.

1. Open your project and go to Google AI Search.
2. Click Add keywords and choose the manual entry option.
3. Type one keyword (search phrase) per line.
4. Save. The keywords enter the queue and are checked on the next run.

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Option B — Pick keywords from the topical map

Best for: covering a whole topic thoroughly without brainstorming every phrase yourself. Benefit: the topical map groups relevant search intents by theme, so you can see the full landscape around your product and select the ones worth tracking — fast coverage, fewer blind spots.

1. In Add keywords, open the Topical map.
2. Browse the suggested keywords, organized by topic.
3. Tick the intents you want to track (prioritize commercial and comparison queries).
4. Add the selected keywords to your project.

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Option C — Import keywords from a CSV file

Best for: bulk-loading an existing keyword list — for example, an export from your SEO tool or a list you maintain in a spreadsheet. Benefit: add many keywords at once instead of typing them in, so migrating an existing research set takes seconds.

1. Prepare a CSV with one keyword per row (a single column of search phrases).
2. In Add keywords, choose Import from CSV and upload the file.
3. Review the parsed list and confirm.
4. The keywords are added and queued for the next run.

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Going beyond 5 keywords

To track more, activate the keyword add-on — pricing scales with the number of keywords and starts at $9/month for 15 keywords. The add-on takes effect immediately, so you can expand into longer-tail and competitor-comparison queries whenever you’re ready.

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Step 2 — Let the first run complete

What happens. Once keywords are added, Amadora runs each one on Google and captures a snapshot of the whole results page — your organic rank, whether an AI Overview appeared, and whether your brand was mentioned or cited in it. Keywords are re-checked on a recurring schedule (shown in the header, e.g. “All keywords run 3 times a week”), so the numbers reflect a repeated sample rather than a single moment. Why it matters. You don’t need to do anything here — but knowing the data is sampled repeatedly explains why metrics firm up after the first couple of runs and why they shift gradually rather than spiking.

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Step 3 — Read your results

Google AI Search has two views, switched from the top-right toggle. Here’s what each is for.

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The Overview — your visibility at a glance

What it is. The aggregate health of your whole keyword set: four headline metrics, a competitor comparison, SERP composition, and an automated insights panel. Why it matters. It answers the big questions in seconds — do we show up, does Google show an AI answer, and does that answer mention or cite us? The four metrics form a funnel:

• Organic Presence Rate — how often you rank in the organic top 10.
• AI Overview Present — how often Google shows an AI Overview at all.
• AIO Mention Rate — how often the AI Overview names your brand.
• AIO Citation Rate — how often it cites your site as a source.

The step-down from “an AI answer appears” to “we’re mentioned in it” is usually your biggest opportunity. The Brand visibility table benchmarks you against competitors, and the Gap insights & opportunities panel turns the gaps between these surfaces into a short, prioritized to-do list (for example, Invisible in AI Overview or Rank but not cited).

For the precise definition of each metric, the All / AIO toggle, and every gap-insight type, see the Google AI Search — feature reference article.

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The Keywords view — find the queries behind the numbers

What it is. A per-keyword table with sortable columns: Organic Rank, AI Overview, AIO Mentioned, and AIO Cited. Why it matters. The Overview tells you what is happening; the Keywords view tells you which queries are responsible — so you can build a concrete work list. Sort by a column to triage; for example, surface every query where an AI Overview appears but you’re not mentioned, and start there.

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Optional — Connect Google Search Console

What it is. A connection to your own Search Console data that brings real clicks, impressions, and average position alongside Amadora’s AI-visibility metrics. Why it matters. Google folds AI-feature traffic into its general performance numbers, so GSC alone can’t tell you whether an AI Overview is costing you the click. Pairing it with Amadora connects cause to effect — high-impression, low-CTR queries where you’re not mentioned in the AI Overview are usually your best opportunities. This step is optional and can be added anytime; see the reference article for details.