Prompt Research for AEO and GEO: Best Discovery Techniques

7. Expand each prompt with query fan-out

Query fan-out is the set of related searches an AI system runs before it answers. Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI search gives an example.

For a question about fixing a lawn full of weeds, fan-out queries might cover the best lawn herbicides and how to prevent weeds. Each one is a sub-question your page may need to answer.

A query fan-out tracker shows these supporting searches for each tracked prompt. You also see how often they recur and whether you already track them.

Google warns against creating a separate page for every fan-out query. Cover the closest sub-questions on one strong page instead.

8. Reverse-engineer competitor citations

Look at the URLs AI engines cite for your best prompts. Each cited competitor page answers a set of prompts, and its headings often reveal questions you haven't considered.

List those questions. Then check whether any page on your site answers them as directly.

9. Prioritize with demand estimates

Not every good prompt deserves tracking. Some have almost no demand, while others represent thousands of monthly searches.

Estimated prompt volumes combine search demand with other signals. They're estimates, so use them to rank prompts, not to forecast traffic.

How to research prompts for AEO, step by step

1. List five to ten topics your brand should own, based on products, use cases and audience.
2. Collect raw questions. Start with Search Console and Bing grounding queries, then add sales notes, support tickets and community threads.
3. Build a cluster for each topic that covers all five prompt types.
4. Expand with fan-out and competitor citations to find the sub-questions behind each prompt.
5. Score the candidates with the criteria below and pick the ones to track.
6. Refresh the tracked set every month as new questions and competitors appear.

AEO prompt selection: how to choose which prompts to track

Score each candidate prompt from 1 to 3 on five criteria, then track the highest totals first.

• Demand: estimated prompt volume or Search Console impressions.
• Intent: how close the prompt is to a buying decision.
• Fit: whether your product is a credible answer.
• Gap: competitors are named or cited and you aren't.
• Answerability: you have, or can publish, a page that answers it well.

Start with 25 to 100 prompts across your topics. To weight prompts by pipeline value, read our guide to finding AI search prompts that drive revenue.

What our prompt data shows

We track prompts about AI search, and in one month they produced 103,427 AI answers and 746,702 citations. Source: Ansvisor tracking data, September 15 to October 14, 2026.

In our data, niche prompts averaged several times the visibility of broad category prompts. We're visible where we hold a distinct position (open source). Broad definition prompts such as "What is GEO?" are much harder to win.

Group your own prompts by topic the same way. The averages show where you already win, and where you need a new page or third-party coverage.

How to track prompts for AEO after discovery

Discovery only pays off once the prompts run on a schedule. Run the same prompts on each platform every week and log mentions, cited URLs and competitors.

Give each prompt a target URL, a status and notes, so research turns into work. Our guide on how to track prompts in ChatGPT and AI search covers the setup.

Then use the tracked prompts to plan content. The AI content optimization workflow shows how a prompt becomes a brief, a page and a citation.

How Ansvisor helps with prompt research

Ansvisor starts from your domain, suggests topics and prompt clusters, and adds estimated volumes. Query fan-out and competitor citations then show the sub-questions behind each prompt.

Prompt monitoring tracks visibility for every prompt, with mentions and citations counted separately. Your team can attach notes and a target URL to each prompt and set its status.

Start a 14-day free trial to discover your first prompt set, or self-host the open-source project on GitHub.

FAQ

How do you research prompts for AEO?

Start from the topics your brand should own and collect real questions from Search Console, sales calls and communities. Expand them with prompt suggestions and query fan-out, then score each one on demand, buying intent and product fit. Track the best ones weekly.

How is prompt research different from keyword research?

Keyword research looks at short search terms and the pages that rank for them. Prompt research collects full conversational questions, their follow-ups and the searches AI systems run before answering. You win a mention or citation in the answer, not a ranking.

How many prompts should you track for AEO?

Start with 25 to 100 prompts spread across your main topics and funnel stages. That's enough to see patterns by topic and platform. Add prompts as you find new questions, and pause ones that no longer matter.

How do you choose which prompts to track for AEO?

Score each prompt on demand, buying intent, product fit, competitor gap and whether you can answer it well. Track the highest scores first. Include some broad definition prompts, but give priority to prompts close to a buying decision.

Are AI prompt volumes exact?

No. AI platforms don't publish full prompt data, so prompt volumes are estimates built from search demand and other signals. Use them to rank prompts against each other, not to forecast exact traffic.