December turned AI Tracker from “nice report” into a full control room. You can spot gaps, read real AI answers, track sentiment, buy missing mentions, see which pages AI trusts, and win the hidden fan-out questions—fast.
Two months ago, AI Tracker was already great at three things:
- telling you if AI models talk about you
- showing you which sources you should get your brand mentioned in
- letting you compare your strategy with others
In December, we pushed it into a real visibility command center.
Now it doesn’t just show mentions. It shows how you got them, how they sound, what’s missing, and what to do next.
If AI search is the new highway, AI Tracker is your GPS plus a live traffic report plus a dashboard that tells you where you’re losing speed — and how to overtake.
Let’s walk through what’s new and why it matters.
1) Mentions + Brands: find gaps and opportunities fast
What’s new
We added two new columns to AI Tracker reports:
- Mentions — shows if your brand is mentioned in each source.
- Brands — shows which brands get top billing in that article (aim for #1; if not, top 2–3).
Why it matters
AI models don’t pull sources randomly. They pull pages that look relevant, well-supported, and easy to trust for that question.
If you’re missing from the list, you’re not “almost winning.”
You’re invisible.
These columns make visibility gaps painfully obvious in seconds:
- You see sources that rank but don’t mention you.
- You see sources that mention competitors above you.
- You know exactly where to focus your next move.
How to use it today
- In Sources tab, find sources where you’re not mentioned or competitors are #1–2 instead of you
- Quick win: Reach out to respective website owners and request (or pay for) a mention
- Long play: Open those sources and ask: what do they say that I don’t? Then, add or improve your own pages that answer that missing piece
Think of it like a heat map for your visibility.
You’re not guessing where the cold spots are — you can see them, and fix them fast.
2) Real LLM responses: see what AI really says about you
What’s new
You can now see the exact answers AI models give for each prompt you track.
Why it matters
Before: you had rankings and citations, but the “why” was fuzzy.
Now: you can see the full response and understand:
- What angle AI takes
- What brands it trusts
- What facts it repeats
- What wording keeps showing up
It’s the difference between hearing rumors about your brand and reading the exact quote.
How to use it today
- Look for repeated phrases or claims in model answers
- Mirror that language in your content (without copying like a robot)
- Make your pages the easiest “lift” for AI to cite
AI is lazy in a predictable way.
Give it clean, strong answers and it’ll keep using you.
3) Mention sentiment analysis: protect your brand before it bleeds
What’s new
Sentiment analysis is now layered on top of response previews.
Why it matters
A mention isn’t always a win.
If AI calls you “expensive,” “hard to use,” or frames you wrong, you’re visible alright… just in the worst way.
Bad sentiment and misleading statements in AI answers can spread quietly because people trust “the assistant.”
That’s how you lose deals without ever seeing the knife.
What to do when you spot a bad/neutral/misleading mention
Request a rewrite:
- Reach out to the site owner directly, or
- Use a paid link provider
The key is speed and consistency.
AI models refresh, scrape, and remix all the time.
Fix the source and you fix future answers.
This is a gradual rollout. Want earlier access?
Drop us a message: [email protected]
4) Missing a mention? Find paid mention opportunities without leaving AI Tracker
What’s new
We integrated the first link provider inside AI Tracker.
If a tracked source is in their coverage, you’ll see a purchase option right appear next to the source.
Transactions and insertions are handled fully by InsertLinks.
Why it matters
Sometimes you don’t need a long content war.
You need one strong mention in one strong source that AI already trusts.
This update makes that move simple:
- Find the missing mention
- Click to secure placement
- Watch AI answers shift over time
It’s like getting your product into the aisle AI shops in.
This is a gradual rollout. Want earlier access?
Drop us a message: [email protected]
5) Owned content citations: see which of your pages AI trusts
What’s new
New “owned content” filter shows which of your pages get cited for tracked prompts.
Why it matters
Now you can answer questions like:
- Which pages are building AI visibility for us?
- What format gets cited most?
- Where are we already winning?
This stops you from treating every page the same.
You double down on what AI already likes.
How to use it today
- Pull your top cited pages.
- Analyze what they have in common (structure, depth, clarity).
- Reapply that pattern to pages that should be cited but aren’t.
Visibility compounds when you repeat winning moves.
6) Fan-out queries: win the hidden questions behind the question
What’s new
We added a new tab: Fanout Queries.
Fan-outs are the extra questions AI asks itself to answer the main prompt well.
Why it matters
AI answers aren’t built from one search.
They’re built from a web of supporting questions.
If you only focus on the main prompt, you’re leaving the back door open for competitors.
When you cover fan-outs too, you:
- Feed AI more complete context
- Increase trust
- Become the “default” source
And yes, that gives you real power to shape the story.
How to use it today
- Review fan-outs for your top prompts.
- Build a content cluster that answers them cleanly.
- Interlink those pages to your prompt pillar page (the page that directly answers top prompts)
Do this and you won’t just get a quick mention.
You’ll become the source AI keeps coming back to — because you’ve covered the whole story, not just the headline.
7) API + Looker Studio: Surfer works where you work
What’s new
Enterprise users now get:
- AI Tracker API
- Looker Studio integration
Why it matters
AI visibility on its own is nice. AI visibility next to revenue data is power.
Now you can:
- Pipe AI Tracker data into your dashboards
- Blend it with GA or Google Ads
- Build a live feedback loop between visibility and performance
That’s how you prove AI visibility isn’t a vanity metric.
It’s a growth lever.
These upgrades set up AI Tracker Recommendations (coming soon)
All December updates—mentions, model responses, sentiment, paid opportunities, owned citations, fan-outs—are the base layer for what’s next:
AI Tracker Recommendations: smart, personalized improvement suggestions for your brand’s AI visibility.
Instead of only seeing what’s happening, you’ll get a clear path for what to fix next, delivered straight to your inbox.
In other words, soon you’ll grow AI visibility on autopilot.
What would you like to be notified of?
Help us shape how AI Tracker Recommendations work: [email protected]
The real story: Surfer’s AI Tracker is a must-have
December wasn’t “some features.”
It was a shift from monitoring to managing and growing AI visibility.
You can now:
- Spot mention gaps instantly
- See real model answers
- Catch bad sentiment early
- Fix sources fast (even paid, if needed)
- Track which of your pages drive visibility
- Win the fan-out question battle
- Bring all of it into your analytics stack
AI models are already talking about your niche.
AI Tracker makes sure they say the right thing about YOU, and say it often.
If you’re already a Surfer user, open AI Tracker and try the updates:
- Check Mentions + Brands for gap hunting
- Review real LLM answers to verify sentiment
- Filter owned content citations and analyze winners
- Pull fan-outs and plan your next cluster
You’ll find wins in the first session.
Go look.
If you’re not using Surfer yet, now is the time.
Brands that don’t track AI visibility won’t know they’re losing until it hurts.
After 2025, it’s painfully clear: if you want sales, you need a strong, multi-channel presence.
Sign up for Surfer and start building visibility everywhere—Google, AI models, and beyond.