The short answer

Test relevant questions in a clearly identified Gemini experience, save the complete responses and classify brand mentions, linked sources and explicit recommendations separately. Record the date, language, market and visible settings. Treat Gemini Apps observations and Google Search-grounded Gemini API tests as different datasets.

Keep source evidence and recommendation evidence distinct

A linked page can support a definition without endorsing its publisher as the best provider. Read the surrounding sentence before assigning a commercial recommendation. Save the actual link target and the passage that makes the recommendation.

Gemini may show sources and related links, and some responses provide neither. Keep inline citations, the Sources panel and related reading links separately labelled. Read the response and linked page together before deciding which claim a source supports.

Use API experiments for their stated scope

Search grounding in the Gemini API is a configurable developer capability. Record whether it was enabled and preserve returned grounding information where available. An API test is useful for a controlled experiment, but it is not evidence that every Gemini Apps user sees the same answer.

For a change review, keep a before-and-after panel with the same classification rules. Report the counts, collection failures and observation window. Use a repeated factual error to choose a source correction, rather than reacting to one isolated wording change.

What to check

  1. Separate questions that name your company from questions that ask Gemini to choose a provider.
  2. Save the response and source links before interpreting the outcome.
  3. Repeat the same question panel in comparable sessions and include absences and failed attempts.

A practical example

If Gemini suggests an answer hub as a resource, record that as a recommendation of the resource. If it also links a specific page, record the citation separately. That single response does not establish how often Gemini recommends the business for unrelated buying questions.

Sources and further reading

These steps are Arrow AI's implementation guidance. The example is illustrative; it is not a measured customer result. Publication and source access do not guarantee an AI recommendation.

Apply this to your website

Identify the source gaps and decide what to improve with Arrow's free audit. Review what Arrow GEO measures before choosing a reporting scope.