AI Overviews cite pages that are not on page one. Check what they say about yours.

Google’s AI Overviews do not only cite pages from the first page of results. On September 29, Washington University in St. Louis reported a forthcoming study of 55,393 Google searches. It found that 29.8% of the domains cited in AI Overviews did not appear in the first-page results. It also found claims in the overviews that the cited pages did not back up.

If you rank well but watch the AI answer name someone else, both findings matter. Here is what the study found, what it did not, and a check you can run this week.

What the study found

The team ran searches on trending topics over 40 days, from March 13 through April 21, 2026. Then they checked each overview against the pages it cited.

• AI Overviews appeared on 13.7% of all searches.
• Nearly 65% of searches phrased as a question got an overview. Only 9.5% of the rest did.
• Among searches that were not questions, longer ones got more overviews: 9.9% for one word, 38.7% for six words or more.
• An average overview cited about eight sources.
• 29.8% of the cited domains were not on the first page of results.

The team also checked 98,020 claims that could be verified. About 89% were clearly or broadly supported by the cited sources. The other 11% split two ways. For 7%, the claim could not be found in the cited text the team was able to collect. For 4%, the claim contradicted the cited source.

Only 41.9% of overviews were fully grounded. That means every verifiable claim was supported by the available cited text.

What it did not show

Keep three limits in mind.

1. The topics were trending ones. Your customers’ questions may behave differently.
2. The 11% is a ceiling. The authors said the error rate should be treated as an upper limit.
3. No traffic numbers. The researchers did not directly measure lost traffic or revenue.

The searches also ran in March and April. Treat the rates as a snapshot, not as today’s numbers.

Why this matters if you rank but lose the answer

Two things follow from the study.

First, rank and citation are separate. A page off page one can be cited in the overview. Google chooses overview sources separately from the first-page ranking. A rank report alone will not tell you whether you are in the answer.

Second, a citation is not the same as a correct summary. The overview can link to your page and still say something your page does not say. A customer who reads only the overview never sees your page’s version.

Questions are where an overview shows up most. In the study, searches phrased as a question got an overview far more often than other searches. Your customers ask questions.

A check to run this week: the question sheet

This takes about an hour and a plain spreadsheet.

1. Write down 10 questions your customers ask, in their words. Phrase each one as a question.
2. Search each one on Google. Write down the date.
3. Record whether an AI Overview showed, and which sites it cited.
4. Record whether your site was cited, and whether your rival’s was.
5. Record where your page ranks in the regular results, if it is on page one.
6. Where the overview cites you, read the sentence it ties to your page. Open your page. Does it say the same thing?
7. Mark each row one of four ways: cited and correct, cited but wrong, not cited, or no overview.

Results can differ from one search to the next, so the date on each row matters.

A decision rule for what you find

• Cited but wrong. Check your own page first. Is the fact stated plainly? Is it current? Fix what is unclear or old, then check the search again in two weeks.
• Not cited, but on page one. Look at the pages the overview did cite. Note which parts of the question they answer that your page does not.
• Cited and correct. Save the row with its date. That is your baseline.
• No overview. Check the same question again next month.

None of this guarantees that an overview will cite you, or describe you correctly. It gives you a dated record of where you stand, question by question.

What to do this week

• Run the question sheet on 10 customer questions.
• Mark every row: cited and correct, cited but wrong, not cited, or no overview.
• Fix any fact on your own pages that is unclear or out of date.
• Stop treating a page-one rank as proof that you are in the answer.
• Put a date on your calendar to run the sheet again next month.

If a rival keeps showing up in the overview instead of you, New Reward’s war campaign includes a Rival Map: where AI names you, your rival, or nobody, for the questions your customers ask. Tell us who AI names instead of you. Book a war briefing with New Reward, and bring their name.