USE CASE
AI prompt research,
from the questions buyers ask.
Keyword research shows you what people type into Google. What they ask an assistant is different: longer, more specific and usually closer to a decision. This guide covers where to find those questions and how to sort them. Once you have a list, SEORCE tracks it on every engine.
What is AI prompt research?
AI prompt research is the work of finding the questions people put to AI answer engines about a category, a problem or a brand. It is the counterpart of keyword research, with one large difference: AI engines publish no volume data for prompts. The research therefore starts from how buyers ask, in sales calls, support tickets, reviews and question searches, and sorts those questions by the stage of the decision they belong to.
Key facts
- It is the counterpart of keyword research, for AI answer engines
- AI engines publish no volume data for prompts, so any volume figure you see is an estimate from a sample
- Prompts are longer than keywords and often carry the buyer's situation: their size, their budget, their problem
- The most valuable prompts sit at the comparing and choosing stages
- Twenty to fifty questions from buyers are a better start than several hundred built from a keyword export
- SEORCE collects question keywords for every topic, and tracks your prompts by stage on 7 AI engines + Google AI Overview, AI Mode & Search
Last reviewed 15 October 2026 by the SEORCE team.
A prompt says more than a keyword does.
A keyword is two or three words. A prompt is a full sentence, and buyers often put their company size, budget and problem into it. You won't find those in a volume chart, and they're the questions that end with a shortlist.
Keyword research gives you
- –Short phrases, with monthly volume
- –Demand you can size and rank
- –Mostly early-stage, informational terms
- –Little about how a buyer decides
Prompt research gives you
- ✓Full questions, in the buyer's words
- ✓The situation behind the question
- ✓Comparing and choosing questions
- ✓A list to track on every engine
Where prompts come from.
There are four places to look, and none needs volume data. Between them you'll collect most of what buyers ask before they choose.
What buyers ask you
The best prompts are already in your business. A buyer who asks your sales team a question has probably asked an assistant the same thing.
- Sales calls and demosThe questions that come up before someone decides.
- Support ticketsWhat customers couldn't work out for themselves.
- Site search and chat logsThe exact words visitors use.
What people ask Google
Where a prompt has a search equivalent, keyword data gives you a rough sense of how often it is asked.
- Question keywords, by topicSearches phrased as how, what, why or can.
- People Also AskThe follow-up questions Google suggests for a keyword.
- Volume, where it existsFrom Google's own data. Many buyer questions will show none.
What buyers ask each other
Forums and review sites show questions in the raw. They are also sources AI engines cite, so they matter twice.
- Reviews of your categoryWhat people praise, and what they complain about.
- Forums and communitiesThreads where someone asks for a recommendation.
- The threads engines citeCitation tracking shows which discussions an engine drew on.
What the engines add
Ask an engine one of your questions and read what comes back. The answer shows how the category is being framed, and what gets asked next.
- Follow-up questionsMany engines suggest what to ask next. Those are prompts too.
- The features that get namedIf every answer mentions multi-currency support, buyers will ask about it.
- The brands that get namedThe shortlist an engine builds tells you who you are compared with.
How to research AI prompts, in six steps.
The method needs no special tool to begin. A spreadsheet and an afternoon will produce a first list.
Gather from all four sources
Collect every question you can find. Keep the buyer's own wording.
Question keywords →Sort by stage
Learning, comparing or choosing. Remove duplicates, and keep the versions buyers use.
Prompt coverage →Run them and read the answers
Ask each engine. Note who is named and which sources are used.
AI Beacon →Keep the ones worth tracking
Twenty to fifty, weighted towards comparing and choosing. Drop the ones no buyer would ask.
Prompt diagnosis →Feed the gaps into content
Each question you are missing on is a candidate for a page to write or a page to fix.
Content opportunities →Refresh the list each quarter
New questions appear as products and markets change. Add them, and retire the ones nobody asks.
AI visibility tracking guide →See what an engine can read on your pages.
Prompt research tells you what buyers ask. The extension shows whether the page you'd want quoted is readable to the engines answering them.
How to judge a prompt list.
Two things count: how closely the list matches what buyers ask, and whether anything gets done with it.
| Metric | What it counts | What it tells you | Read it with care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prompts by stage | The list | How your list is spread across learning, comparing and choosing. | A list that is mostly learning-stage questions is a keyword list in disguise. |
| Prompts by source | The list | Where each question came from. | A list from one source has one point of view. Use all four. |
| Prompts with a search equivalent | Size | How many of your prompts also have keyword volume. | No volume is no sign of no demand. Choosing questions rarely show any. |
| Prompt coverage | Outcome | The share of prompts where you are named. | It depends on the list. Change the prompts and the number changes. |
| Gaps turned into content | Outcome | How many missing prompts led to a page being written or fixed. | Some gaps should be left. Don't count those as failures. |
Thirty prompts, from one afternoon.
Ledgerly is our demo account, a B2B accounting tool for agencies. The team had 400 keywords and no idea what buyers asked AI. They built a prompt list from what they already had.
Four sources, 52 raw questions
Sales calls gave the most, and the most specific.
Thirty were left after sorting
Duplicates and reworded versions were merged, and each question was given a stage.
Each was run on every engine
The answers showed who was named, and which sources were used.
All thirty were kept
The list was already weighted towards comparing and choosing, which is where the value sits.
Seven gaps went into the content plan
Four became briefs for new pages. Three became fixes to existing ones.
The list is reviewed each quarter
Sales adds new questions as they come up, and coverage is checked on the same thirty.
Find the questions. Then track them.
A prompt list in a spreadsheet goes stale quickly, and nobody checks it against what the engines say. In SEORCE the questions you collect become tracked prompts, so you can see which ones you're missing and turn those into briefs.
Prompt figure from SEORCE's own data, as of October 2026: 33.9M prompts on ChatGPT and 407.5M on Google AI Overviews. Keyword figure as reported by SEORCE, September 2026.
Every module talks to the others.
A prompt list is only useful if something happens to it. Left in a spreadsheet, it goes out of date within a quarter.
In SEORCE the list keeps working after you've built it. Each prompt is tracked, the gaps feed the content plan, and you can see whether visits follow.
Ask SEORCE sits on top. It is your AI agent, in the app and on WhatsApp. Ask it a question in plain language and it answers from your project's data.
To start, sign up, link your WhatsApp number and text "Hi" to +1 (363) 200-3169.
Meet Ask SEORCE →How SEORCE handles each part of the job.
This page covers the subject as a whole. The pages below are product pages and related guides. Each goes deeper into one part.
Prompt coverage
The buyer questions you appear on, by stage.
See prompt coverage →Question keywords
The questions people search, for every topic.
See question keywords →Topical map
A full topic plan from one seed keyword.
See the topical map →Keyword ideas
Related keywords and searches for any seed.
See keyword ideas →Search intent
Every keyword classified by what the searcher wants.
See search intent →Prompt diagnosis
Why an answer named someone else.
See prompt diagnosis →Competitor citations
Who is named on your prompts.
See competitor citations →Citation tracking
The sources engines use, including the threads.
See citation tracking →Content opportunities
Turn a gap into a brief.
See content opportunities →AI search content strategy
The guide to planning content from buyer questions.
Read the strategy guide →AI visibility tracking
The guide to tracking your prompts on every engine.
Read the tracking guide →Generative engine optimization
The guide to the whole discipline.
Read the GEO guide →Frequently asked questions.
AI prompt research is the work of finding the questions people put to AI answer engines about a category, a problem or a brand. It is the counterpart of keyword research, for AI answers.
Keyword research finds phrases with measurable demand. Prompt research finds the full questions buyers ask when deciding, including ones nobody types into a search box. The two overlap at the informational end and part ways at comparing and choosing.
No. AI engines publish no volume data for prompts. Any figure you see is an estimate built from a sample. Where a prompt has a search equivalent, keyword volume gives a rough guide.
From how buyers ask: your sales calls, support tickets, review sites, forums, and the question searches and People Also Ask sets around your category.
Twenty to fifty to begin with, weighted towards comparing and choosing. That will teach you more in a month than several hundred assembled from a keyword export.
The ones a buyer asks just before deciding. Comparison and choosing questions produce a shortlist, and being left off a shortlist costs more than missing a definition.
Use both kinds. Questions about your category, with no brand named, show whether you make the shortlist. Questions that name you show how you are described.
Partly. Keywords from your topical map can be sent to AI Beacon to track. Rewrite them as full questions first, the way a buyer would ask.
Every quarter is a sensible rhythm. New questions appear as products, prices and competitors change.
Ask SEORCE is SEORCE's AI agent, currently in beta. It works in the app and on WhatsApp, and answers plain-language questions from your project's data, such as which tracked prompts you are missing at the choosing stage. It is included for every user, with no usage limit. To use it on WhatsApp, link your number and text Hi to +1 (363) 200-3169.
Not a dedicated one. Prompt research starts from your own sales and support conversations. The free tools and browser extension help with the next step, which is checking that the pages you want quoted can be read.
Find out what buyers ask AI about you.
Add your site and the first questions on your list. You'll see which ones name you, and who gets named when you're left out.
Not ready for an account? Use the free browser extension or any of the free tools.