AI Overview Citations: How Many Rank on Page One? We Checked 200 Google Searches

one-call.mjs

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  q: "how to clean a cast iron skillet",
  gl: "us",
  hl: "en",
  fetch_ai_overviews: true,
});
const res = await fetch(`https://api.openwebninja.com/realtime-web-search/v2/search?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
});
const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data.organic_results.map((r) => `${r.position} ${r.url}`).join("\n"));
console.log(JSON.stringify(data.ai_overviews.reference_links.slice(0, 3), null, 2));

output

1 https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESaAHEIkXX...
2 https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-restore-vintage-cast-iron-cookware
3 https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/5qanxl/how_to_clean_and_care_for_your_cast_iron/
4 https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESyQEBxCJF...
5 https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESowEBxCJF...
6 https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESaAHEIkXX...
[
  {
    "title": null,
    "link": "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/inpcSlkyRdk",
    "snippet": null,
    "source": "youtube.com"
  },
  {
    "title": null,
    "link": "https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESbQHEIkXX...",
    "snippet": null,
    "source": "lodgecastiron.com"
  },
  {
    "title": null,
    "link": "https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESaAHEIkXX...",
    "snippet": null,
    "source": "youtube.com"
  }
]

ai-overview-citations.mjs

// ai-overview-citations.mjs: which AI Overview sources also rank on page one.
// Setup: npm install csv
// Run: node ai-overview-citations.mjs "how to lower blood pressure" "best crm for real estate"
import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
import { stringify } from "csv/sync";

const API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY";

// Many links come back as google.com/goto redirects: read the page they point to.
// A freshly issued link can take a few minutes to resolve, so retry once a minute.
const resolve = async (link) => {
  if (!link.includes("google.com/goto")) return link;
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= 5; attempt++) {
    const target = (await fetch(link, { redirect: "manual" })).headers.get("location");
    if (target) return target;
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 60_000));
  }
  return link;
};

// Match pages the way the study does: host, path and query without www., m., a trailing slash,
// utm_* or srsltid, and YouTube videos (watch, shorts, youtu.be) by their video ID alone
const key = (url) => {
  const u = new URL(url);
  const host = u.hostname.replace(/^(www|m)\./, "");
  const videoId = host === "youtu.be" ? u.pathname.split("/")[1]
    : host === "youtube.com" ? u.searchParams.get("v") ?? u.pathname.match(/^\/(shorts|embed|live)\/([^/]+)/)?.[2]
    : null;
  if (videoId) return `youtube:${videoId}`;
  for (const p of [...u.searchParams.keys()]) if (p.startsWith("utm_") || p === "srsltid") u.searchParams.delete(p);
  u.searchParams.sort();
  return host + u.pathname.replace(/\/$/, "") + u.search;
};

// Links that are not a page are left out, as in the study
const notAPage = (url) => url.replace(/\/$/, "") === "https://www.google.com" || url.startsWith("https://null");

const rows = [];
for (const query of process.argv.slice(2)) {
  const params = new URLSearchParams({ q: query, gl: "us", hl: "en", fetch_ai_overviews: true });
  const res = await fetch(`https://api.openwebninja.com/realtime-web-search/v2/search?${params}`, {
    headers: { "x-api-key": API_KEY },
  });
  const { data } = await res.json();
  const pageOne = [];
  for (const r of data.organic_results) pageOne.push(key(await resolve(r.url)));
  const links = new Set((data.ai_overviews?.reference_links ?? []).map((r) => r.link));
  for (const link of links) {
    const url = await resolve(link);
    if (notAPage(url)) continue;
    rows.push({ query, url, page_one_position: pageOne.indexOf(key(url)) + 1 || "" });
  }
}

writeFileSync("citations.csv", stringify(rows, { header: true }));
const onPageOne = rows.filter((r) => r.page_one_position).length;
console.log(`${rows.length} citations, ${onPageOne} also on page one`);

output

22 citations, 1 also on page one

citations.csv

query,url,page_one_position
how to lower blood pressure,https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974,
how to lower blood pressure,https://www.torrancememorial.org/healthy-living/blog/control-high-blood-pressure/,
how to lower blood pressure,https://mplsheart.org/tips/how-prevent-and-treat-high-blood-pressure,
how to lower blood pressure,https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8/how-to-manage-blood-pressure-fact-sheet,
how to lower blood pressure,https://www.ncoa.org/article/10-foods-that-help-lower-blood-pressure-naturally/,6
how to lower blood pressure,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmi9qghwQEY,
how to lower blood pressure,https://healthcare.utah.edu/cardiovascular/conditions/hypertension/how-to-lower-high-blood-pressure,