Are you checking both places?
Your position in search results and your appearance in an AI answer are different observations. Keep tracking the search traffic that matters to you, then ask the questions your customers bring to AI.
What is getting cited?
Open the sources under the answer. Look at the specific question each page, review, forum discussion, or video helps answer. That tells you more about the result than assuming your main keyword ranking should carry you into every response.
What can you contribute?
Publish the experienced answer you can support: a real decision, a useful explanation, or a firsthand example with enough context to be understood. Keep the underlying website accurate and accessible. Repeat your checks with the same questions and record the date. A ranking does not guarantee a citation, and one citation does not prove a lasting position.
Sources
Sources
- Ahrefs, Louise Linehan and Xibeijia Guan, "76% of AI Overview Citations Pull From the Top 10," July 21, 2025. 1.9 million citations from 1 million AI Overviews; 76.10% of cited pages ranked in the top 10.
- Search Engine Journal, "Google AI Overview Citations From Top-Ranking Pages Drop Sharply," March 2, 2026, reporting Ahrefs' updated analysis: 863,000 keywords, 4 million AI Overview URLs, 38% of cited pages in the top 10.
- Google Search Central, "AI features and your website," last updated July 10, 2026.
- Jeff Fargo, Fargo Factor Insight: Why AI Recommends Your Competitor When You Know More
Transcript
Verbatim from the Fargo Walks clip, as recorded.
AI stopped caring about your Google ranking. Most of what AI cites today doesn't even come from Google's top ten anymore. A year ago almost all of it did. AI now is citing from pages, forums and videos that Google is barely even ranking. You might be winning the SEO game and losing the AI one. They are different games now. I'm Jeff Fargo. I help businesses get found in AI search. Go forth.