# How to choose the prompts you track in AI answers

> People ask AI assistants full questions, not two-word keywords. Here is how a business picks the questions worth checking every week: where the real wording comes from, the five kinds to cover, how many to start with, and a worked example.

Updated October 6, 2026 · AI Syndicate team · https://www.aisyndicate.com/blog/how-to-choose-prompts-to-track/

**Quick answer:** Track the questions your buyers actually ask, in their words. Google says people in its AI search ask **longer and more specific questions**. Start with **15 to 25 prompts** across five kinds: category, comparison, problem, brand and price. Keep most of them **unbranded**, word each one two or three ways, and ask the same list on a schedule.

**Our take:** The best prompt list comes out of your inbox, not a keyword tool. Customers already tell you how they phrase the problem every time they call or email. Copy that wording, keep most questions free of your own name, and resist adding hundreds. A short list asked the same way every week shows real movement; a giant one mostly shows noise.

## What are the key facts about choosing prompts to track?

| Fact | Detail | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Longer questions | Google says users of its AI search are "asking longer and more specific questions" plus follow-ups (May 2025) | Google Search Central |
| AI Mode length | Early testers asked queries "two to three times the length of traditional searches" (May 2025) | Google |
| Many searches behind one answer | AI Mode uses "query fan-out", running several related searches at once (March 2025) | Google |
| ChatGPT is mostly questions | 49% of sampled ChatGPT messages were "Asking": seeking information or advice to make a decision | NBER paper by OpenAI and Harvard researchers (Sept 2025) |
| A search substitute | "Seeking Information" grew from 14% to 24% of ChatGPT use in a year and covers people, products and current events | Same paper |
| Real queries | Search Console's branded filter splits your Google queries into branded and non-branded (Nov 2025) | Google Search Central |
| AI impressions | Search Console's generative AI reports show impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates for AI Overviews and AI Mode (June 2026) | Google Search Central |

## Why aren't my SEO keywords good prompts?

Because people don't type keywords into an AI assistant. They ask a full question, often with their situation attached.

Google has said this plainly. In its May 2025 guide for site owners, Google wrote that in its AI search experiences "users are asking longer and more specific questions — as well as follow-up questions to dig even deeper." [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search) At its I/O event the same month, Google said early AI Mode testers were asking queries "two to three times the length of traditional searches." [Google](https://blog.google/technology/ai/io-2025-keynote/)

ChatGPT looks similar. A September 2025 working paper by researchers at OpenAI and Harvard classified a sample of consumer ChatGPT messages. About **49%** were "Asking", meaning the person wanted information or advice to help make a decision. The "Seeking Information" topic, which covers people, current events and products, grew from **14% to 24%** of all use between July 2024 and July 2025, and the authors call it "a very close substitute for web search." [NBER](https://www.nber.org/papers/w34255)

| A keyword | The prompt a buyer actually types |
| --- | --- |
| plumber tampa | Who's a good plumber in Tampa who can come out today for a leaking water heater? |
| water heater replacement cost | How much should a new 50 gallon water heater cost installed in Tampa? |
| tankless vs tank | Is a tankless water heater worth it for a family of four in Florida? |

Those examples are made up, but the pattern is the point: the prompt carries a place, a deadline, a budget or a household. That detail changes which businesses the AI names.

There's one more reason. Google says AI Mode uses a "query fan-out" technique, "issuing multiple related searches concurrently" to build one answer. [Google](https://blog.google/products/search/ai-mode-search/) So a single prompt can pull from pages that rank for several different keywords. Tracking the keyword alone tells you little about the answer.

## Where do I find the questions my buyers really ask?

Start from what real people have already said, not from a brainstorm.

1. **Your inbox and phone notes.** Read the last 30 customer emails, web-form messages and call notes. Copy the first sentence of each, word for word. This is our advice, and it's the best source you have, because it's how your buyers actually talk.
2. **Google Search Console.** The Performance report shows the real searches that brought people to your site. Google's branded queries filter splits them into branded (your name, misspellings, your own products) and non-branded, and Google says non-branded queries "show how new users find your content without any initial intent to go to your site." [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/11/search-console-branded-filter) Look for the longest queries there; they're the closest thing to prompts.
3. **Google's question boxes.** Search your main service and read the questions Google lists under "People also ask". Our advice: treat them as phrasing ideas, not as a finished list.
4. **Your staff.** Ask whoever answers the phone: "What do people ask right before they book?" and "What do they ask when they're comparing us?"
5. **Reviews.** Your reviews and your competitors' reviews often name the exact problem a customer had.

Google now also shows how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Its generative AI reports in Search Console list impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates. [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports) The question someone asked isn't on Google's list of what those reports show, so you still need your own prompt list to see the answers themselves.

## What kinds of prompts should I track?

This is our advice. Cover five kinds, because buyers ask different questions at different moments, and an AI can name you in one and skip you in another.

| Kind | Example (made up) | What it tells you |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Category** | "Best emergency plumber near me in Tampa" | Whether you're on the shortlist when someone starts looking |
| **Problem** | "My water heater is leaking from the bottom, who can fix it today in Tampa?" | Whether AI connects your business to the need, when the buyer doesn't know the category word |
| **Comparison** | "Harbor Plumbing vs Bayside Plumbing, which is better?" | What AI says when someone is close to choosing |
| **Brand** | "Is Harbor Plumbing any good?" | What a person hears after a friend mentions you |
| **Price** | "How much does a plumber charge to replace a water heater in Tampa?" | Whether AI quotes your prices or someone else's, and whether the numbers are right |

Category and problem prompts matter most for new customers, because the buyer hasn't picked anyone yet. Brand and price prompts are where wrong facts show up: an old phone number, closed hours, a price from three years ago.

## Should my prompts include my business name?

Some should, most shouldn't. This is our advice.

- **Unbranded prompts** (no business name) show whether AI recommends you to people who don't know you yet. That's where new customers come from. Make these roughly **three quarters** of your list.
- **Branded prompts** (with your name) show what AI says about you once someone has heard of you. Use them to catch wrong facts and confusion with a similarly named business.

Google draws the same line for regular search. Its branded queries filter separates people "already familiar with your brand" from people who "didn't explicitly intend to visit your site." [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/11/search-console-branded-filter) A list made only of branded prompts will look great and tell you almost nothing about winning new work.

## How many prompts should a small business track?

Our advice: start with **15 to 25**, then grow only when you have a reason.

- **Roughly 3 to 5 per kind** across the five kinds above.
- **One set per place you serve**, if location changes the answer. "Best plumber in Tampa" and "best plumber in Clearwater" can return different businesses.
- **One set per main service.** A plumber who also does water heaters and drain cleaning needs prompts for each, because they're different buyers.

Why not hundreds? Each prompt needs someone to read the answers and act on them. A list nobody reviews is worse than a short list that gets read every week. Add a prompt when a customer asks something new, when you launch a service, or when you move into a new area.

## Should I track the same question worded different ways?

Yes, for your most important questions. This is our advice. People word the same need differently, and AI answers can shift with small changes in wording, place or detail.

For each of your top five prompts, write two or three versions:

- **Short and long.** "Best plumber in Tampa" and "Who's the best plumber in Tampa for an old house with galvanized pipes?"
- **Near me and named place.** "Emergency plumber near me" and "Emergency plumber in South Tampa".
- **Question and request.** "Who should I call for a burst pipe?" and "Recommend a plumber for a burst pipe in Tampa."

Then keep the wording fixed. If you edit a prompt every week, you can't tell whether the answer changed or your question did. Answers also move on their own from one day to the next; our guide to [why AI answers change](/blog/why-ai-answers-change/) explains why, and why one screenshot isn't a trend.

## What does a good prompt list look like for a local business?

> **This example is made up.** Harbor Plumbing is a fictional plumbing company in Tampa. The names, services and prompts are invented to show the method.

Harbor Plumbing does repairs, water heaters and drain cleaning in Tampa and Clearwater. Its owner read the last month of emails and call notes, checked the longest non-branded queries in Search Console, and wrote this starter list of 20:

| # | Kind | Prompt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Category | Best plumber in Tampa |
| 2 | Category | Emergency plumber near me open now in Tampa |
| 3 | Category | Best plumber in Clearwater for an older home |
| 4 | Category | Who are the most trusted water heater installers in Tampa? |
| 5 | Problem | My water heater is leaking from the bottom, who can fix it today in Tampa? |
| 6 | Problem | Kitchen drain keeps clogging, who should I call in Tampa? |
| 7 | Problem | Low water pressure in the whole house in Clearwater, what plumber should I use? |
| 8 | Problem | Who can find a slab leak in South Tampa? |
| 9 | Comparison | Tankless or tank water heater for a family of four in Tampa, and who installs them? |
| 10 | Comparison | Harbor Plumbing vs Bayside Plumbing |
| 11 | Comparison | Is it better to use a local plumber or a big chain in Tampa? |
| 12 | Price | How much does it cost to replace a 50 gallon water heater in Tampa? |
| 13 | Price | What do plumbers in Tampa charge for an emergency call at night? |
| 14 | Price | How much is drain cleaning in Clearwater? |
| 15 | Brand | Is Harbor Plumbing any good? |
| 16 | Brand | What are Harbor Plumbing's hours? |
| 17 | Brand | Does Harbor Plumbing serve Clearwater? |
| 18 | Category (variant) | Recommend a reliable plumber in Tampa |
| 19 | Problem (variant) | Water heater leaking, Tampa, need someone today |
| 20 | Price (variant) | Average cost of a new water heater installed in Tampa 2026 |

Why it works: 15 of the 20 prompts don't use the company's name, both service areas appear, each main service has its own questions, and the three variants cover the questions that bring in the most jobs. The brand prompts check facts that would cost a booking if AI got them wrong: hours and service area.

## What should be on my prompt-tracking checklist?

| Check | Done when | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Real wording collected | You copied buyer questions from emails, calls and reviews | Our advice |
| Search Console checked | You read your longest non-branded queries | Google Search Central |
| Five kinds covered | Category, problem, comparison, brand and price each have prompts | Our advice |
| Mostly unbranded | About three quarters of prompts don't name you | Our advice |
| Every area and service | Each place you serve and each main service has its own prompts | Our advice |
| Variants for top questions | Your five most important prompts have two or three wordings | Our advice |
| Wording frozen | Prompts don't change between checks | Our advice |
| Same schedule | The same list is asked on the same days, so changes mean something | Our advice |
| Review trigger set | New prompts get added when customers ask something new | Our advice |

## How do I run my prompts across AI engines?

You can paste each prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google by hand and note who gets named. For 20 prompts that's slow, but it works, and it's a good way to learn how the answers read.

Our [Prompt Simulator](/prompt-simulator/) asks one question across 12 AI engines at the same moment and highlights your brand's citation and rank in each answer. Our [prompt tracking](/platform/prompt-tracking/) page explains how we choose and save questions, and our [AI Search Console](/ai-search-console/) puts your real Search Console queries next to what the AI engines answer for each one.

## FAQ

### What is a prompt in AI search?

A prompt is the question or request someone types or says to an AI assistant, like "who's a good plumber in Tampa who can come today?" Google says people in its AI search ask longer and more specific questions than in regular search, so prompts are usually fuller than keywords. [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search)

### Can I use my SEO keyword list as my prompt list?

As a starting point only. Rewrite each keyword as the full question a buyer would ask, with the place, problem or budget they'd mention. Google says early AI Mode testers asked queries two to three times the length of traditional searches. [Google](https://blog.google/technology/ai/io-2025-keynote/)

### How many prompts should I track?

Our advice is 15 to 25 to start: three to five for each of five kinds (category, problem, comparison, brand, price), with separate prompts for each area and main service. Add more only when a customer asks something new or you launch a service.

### Should I track prompts with my brand name in them?

Some. Our advice is to keep about a quarter branded, to catch wrong facts about you, and three quarters unbranded, to see whether AI recommends you to people who don't know you yet.

### Does Google Search Console show which AI questions I appear for?

Google's generative AI reports in Search Console show impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates for AI Overviews and AI Mode. The questions people asked aren't on Google's list of what those reports show, so a prompt list is still how you see the answers. [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports)

## Sources

1. [Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google's AI experiences on Search](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/05/succeeding-in-ai-search) — Google Search Central. Read Oct 6, 2026.
2. [Google I/O 2025: From research to reality](https://blog.google/technology/ai/io-2025-keynote/) — Google. Read Oct 6, 2026.
3. [Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode](https://blog.google/products/search/ai-mode-search/) — Google. Read Oct 6, 2026.
4. [How People Use ChatGPT (NBER Working Paper 34255)](https://www.nber.org/papers/w34255) — National Bureau of Economic Research. Read Oct 6, 2026.
5. [Introducing the branded queries filter in Search Console](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/11/search-console-branded-filter) — Google Search Central. Read Oct 6, 2026.
6. [Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports) — Google Search Central. Read Oct 6, 2026.