Google’s AI Overview stated no although the reply was sure
In July 2026, Steve McLeod, founding father of participant suggestions platform Function Upvote, Googled “characteristic upvote api” to tug up the assistance documentation concerning the platform’s public REST API, which he’d launched every week earlier.
However to Steve’s shock, he was greeted with a Google AI Overview saying Function Upvote didn’t have a REST API.
“Google’s AI Overview reply was fully false,” stated Steve. “If it’s giving me incorrect details about my platform, absolutely it’s additionally giving customers the identical incorrect data. And this downside wants fixing.”
Steve is a pal of mine, so after I noticed it in his publication, I instructed some fixes. And inside an hour of Steve implementing them, Google’s AI Overviews began saying that Function Upvote had a public REST API.
Right here’s how Steve modified Google’s inaccurate AI Overview reply.
The issue: Google primarily based its reply on outdated data
Google gave a incorrect AI Overview reply about Function Upvote as a result of the search engine had primarily based its reply on content material that was listed however outdated.
“It turned out that we had a few actually previous weblog posts with throwaway feedback saying we didn’t have a REST API,” stated Steve.
“Google’s AI Overviews cited this a lot older data versus our new assist documentation that had ‘Public REST API’ as its H1 heading.”
How Function Upvote tackled the issue
After discovering Google’s incorrect AI Overview reply, Steve introduced Function Upvote’s public REST API on July 24, 2026, through a weblog put up, an X put up, and an e mail publication.
Steve printed this content material as a tongue-in-cheek promotion of his API. However he additionally had a secondary purpose: he needed to provide Google recent information for correcting the AI Overview.
In all three content material items, Steve referred to as Google out for its error. He additionally requested his X followers and publication readers for concepts on fixing it.
“I assumed it would catch individuals’s curiosity after I say ‘Google says this, and it’s incorrect,’” stated Steve. “As a enterprise proprietor, I’m at all times making an attempt to get publicity.”
I subscribe to Function Upvote’s e mail publication. So, after studying it on July 27, 2026, I wrote again with a number of solutions:
- Right the outdated pages on Function Upvote’s website that Google cited in its AI Overview to state that the platform does have a public REST API
- Submit Function Upvote’s new and up to date pages about its public REST API to Google for indexing, as a result of Google attracts on pages in its search index to generate AI Overviews
- Safe protection of Function Upvote’s public REST API in related business publications
In comparison with securing third-party protection, updating and manually submitting his website’s pages to Google for indexing would take Steve lower than a day. So, he did simply that.
Within the course of, he found that Google hadn’t listed his announcement weblog put up, opposite to what he’d thought.
Steve by no means bought the press protection, and he did not want it. The primary two fixes labored.
The end result: the reply began to flip virtually instantly
Inside an hour of manually submitting his website’s pages to Google for indexing on July 28, 2026, Steve Googled “does characteristic upvote have an api?”, and the AI Overview replied “Sure.”
I confirmed the change myself a day later, after I Googled “does characteristic upvote have a public relaxation api” in three separate browser tabs to substantiate the right reply wasn’t a coincidence. I additionally ran the searches in incognito mode to get unpersonalized outcomes.
That stated, the repair didn’t instantly work throughout all question variations.
“I seen the AI Overview’s reply modified relying on how I requested the query,” stated Steve.
“If I requested ‘does characteristic upvote’s relaxation api embody this,’ the AI Overview would say Function Upvote doesn’t have a REST API. But when I requested ‘does characteristic upvote have a relaxation api,’ the AI Overview would say sure, Function Upvote does.”
“It took a number of extra days for the AI Overview to constantly give the suitable reply.”
Methods to monitor and repair AI solutions for incorrect model information
Steve described his expertise altering Google’s AI Overview reply as a “thoughts opener.”
“I used to be blown away that you simply’re in a position to change Google’s AI Overview solutions with a method that takes into consideration how these solutions work.”
In Steve’s case, he printed new pages overlaying his public REST API, up to date current pages that have been inaccurate, and submitted all these pages to Google for indexing.
Right here’s how one can repair what AI will get incorrect about your personal model:
1. Establish model information value monitoring
Begin with the information that price you gross sales when AI will get them incorrect. These can embody:
As Function Upvote is a B2B SaaS product, Steve prioritizes monitoring information concerning the platform’s options, like whether or not it has a public REST API.
“Usually, the primary manner small B2B SaaS firms get prospects is through website positioning,” he stated. “If Google provides false data, we would not get individuals into our gross sales funnel, and that’s a giant downside.”
2. Decide the AI search platforms your target market makes use of
Understanding your viewers’s most popular AI search platforms helps you prioritize the platforms most definitely to generate leads and gross sales. The AI Visitors dashboard in Semrush’s Visitors & Market Toolkit exhibits the AI search platforms that ship site visitors to your website:
Within the instance screenshot above, ChatGPT leads, adopted by Claude and Gemini.
After that, examine the “High Sources” report within the Visitors & Market Toolkit’s Natural Search dashboard. If Google sends you most of your natural site visitors, its AI Overviews are the AI solutions to examine first.
3. Verify what AI search platforms say about you
Earlier than you alter something, document what AI search platforms say now and which sources they cite. That is your baseline.
Craft a portfolio of prompts that will get AI search platforms to floor your goal model information. Listed below are some examples:
|
Instance immediate |
Model reality |
|
what’s the deal with of [your business] |
Your enterprise deal with |
|
how a lot does [your service] price |
Your service’s value |
|
does [your product] combine with [another product] |
Whether or not your product integrates with the opposite named product |
|
is [your product] gdpr compliant |
Whether or not your product complies with the Normal Information Safety Regulation |
|
does [your business] provide refunds |
Your enterprise’s refund coverage |
Provide you with three to 5 variants of every immediate concentrating on a selected model reality. As Steve shared, AI search platforms can reply one query appropriately (e.g., “does characteristic upvote have a relaxation api”) however give a incorrect reply while you ask about the identical reality from a distinct angle (e.g., “does characteristic upvote’s relaxation api embody this”).
Subsequent, run your prompts in your recognized AI search platforms and write down:
- If you ran the immediate
- The reply, phrase for phrase
- The pages the AI search platform cited
Screenshot the incorrect AI solutions and flag them.
Hold your prompts’ wording unchanged throughout all runs, so you may attribute adjustments within the AI solutions to your fixes moderately than adjustments to your preliminary immediate.
4. Debug the data provide chain
For every incorrect reply, work again by way of the sources till you discover the place the incorrect reality comes from.
Right here’s how:
|
What to examine for |
Why this step issues |
What to do |
|
Have you ever printed details about the model reality on a standalone web page in your website? |
AI search platforms can’t present details about your model that they don’t have |
Publish a devoted web page about your model reality. State the actual fact in a full sentence close to the highest, within the phrases individuals search with. For instance, “Sure, [brand] has a public REST API.” If it fits the web page, add a regularly requested questions (FAQs) part that restates the actual fact in a solution. |
|
Is the data you’ve printed in your website concerning the model reality correct? |
AI search platforms would possibly repeat your website’s inaccurate data, identical to how they referenced Steve’s outdated weblog posts when saying Function Upvote didn’t have a public REST API |
Replace any outdated references to the model reality in your website’s pages, particularly those AI search platforms have cited |
|
Does the web page state the actual fact clearly? |
Offering clear data helps AI search platforms perceive and extract it for AI solutions |
State details about your model reality plainly on the web page. Keep away from together with irrelevant content material. |
|
Has Google listed the pages that point out your model reality? |
Google’s search index is a key data supply for numerous AI search platforms, together with AI Overviews |
Get Google to index your web site should you haven’t already. Then, use Google Search Console’s URL Inspection software to request indexing for the pages that point out your model reality. |
|
Is the right details about your model reality bolstered on different websites? |
AI search platforms usually tend to point out data corroborated by third-party sources |
If the incorrect reality seems on another person’s website, see whether or not you may repair the inaccuracy your self, reminiscent of by updating your itemizing on a assessment platform. In the event you can’t, contact the location proprietor and ask them to appropriate it. Additionally, run digital public relations campaigns to safe protection of your model reality in related business publications. |
5. Recheck after making adjustments
As soon as your fixes are dwell, run the identical prompts once more.
If an AI reply is now correct, document how lengthy the AI search platform took to replace it. This data provides you a benchmark for the way quickly future fixes would possibly present outcomes.
Our information to fixing AI model misinformation says fixes can take weeks to months, however Steve’s began working inside an hour.
If the reply continues to be incorrect, determine the pages the AI search platform cites in help. Then, work to replace these pages’ data and have Google re-index them earlier than rechecking the immediate.
The repair isn’t assured to stay
There’s no assure corrected AI solutions will keep mounted. Their content material and citations could change as AI search platforms regenerate them, particularly when new sources seem.
On September 10, 2026, for instance, Google’s AI Overview nonetheless appropriately stated “Sure” after I requested “does characteristic upvote have a public relaxation api” in an incognito browser tab. However it now cited Function Upvote’s “Function Voting Device” advertising web page and “API utilization instance in Java” assist article as an alternative of the announcement put up itself.
Periodically recheck your goal prompts, particularly after main product or firm adjustments. This manner, you’ll keep on high of AI solutions which have gone stale and might repair them rapidly.
Semrush’s Place Monitoring software tracks your prompts and the AI solutions to them in ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode. For Google’s AI Overviews, it flags AI Overview outcomes for the key phrases you observe.
Place Monitoring additionally exhibits which of your website’s pages AI search platforms cite of their responses, plus snapshots of the AI solutions in your reference.
“We modified inaccurate AI solutions about Function Upvote inside a matter of days,” stated Steve. “When individuals seek for details about your online business, they nonetheless get a solution even when they don’t land on the pages you constructed for that key phrase.”
“You have to monitor what that reply is, and if it’s incorrect, you must repair it. And it may be mounted.”
