Free 100-question library

How to choose buyer questions for an AI visibility audit

Build a controlled question set for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or another answer engine. Use the selection framework, then draw from 100 prompts covering discovery, fit, comparison, proof, and brand accuracy.

By Kyle Kane, product maintainer and editorPublished Fact-checked Reviewed for question balance, scoring boundaries, and download consistency.
Download all 100 prompts See the scoring method

Question selection framework

Choose questions that can change a buying decision

A useful question represents a real decision, exposes a meaningful competitive set, and can be judged consistently. Start with customer language from sales calls, support logs, site search, paid-search terms, interviews, and conventional keyword research.

Decision relevance

Would the answer influence discovery, a shortlist, risk assessment, or purchase?

Neutral wording

Does the discovery prompt avoid naming or praising the target brand?

Distinct intent

Does it add a new audience, use case, constraint, comparison, or proof requirement?

Scorable answer

Can reviewers label mentions, prominence, competitors, citations, and accuracy consistently?

Use the bank, not the whole bank

Freeze a smaller, defensible test

Replace the bracketed fields with language your buyers actually use. Remove questions that do not affect discovery or a buying decision. Then freeze the final wording, market, locale, providers, and collection date.

Do not mix brand-named prompts into a discovery score. If the question already supplies the brand, the answer cannot prove that an AI system would have discovered it independently.

Remove near-duplicates that ask the same decision in slightly different words. Balance broad category questions with high-value use cases, constraints, comparisons, and proof checks so one prompt family cannot dominate the score.

Recommended starter benchmark

Select 20 neutral questions and five brand diagnostics

The downloadable CSV marks a balanced 25-question starter set. It is a practical scale for a directional baseline, not a statistically representative sample of everything buyers ask.

Preview the 25-question starter set
  1. 01What are the best [category] options for [target audience]?
  2. 02Which [category] providers should a [buyer role] evaluate?
  3. 03What tools help [target audience] solve [problem]?
  4. 04Which [category] products are best for a team of [company size]?
  5. 05What should be on a shortlist for [category] software?
  6. 06Which [category] is best for [use case]?
  7. 07Which provider supports [critical requirement]?
  8. 08What is the best [category] for a [buyer role] who needs [outcome]?
  9. 09Which solution gives the clearest evidence for [decision or report]?
  10. 10Which solution supports repeatable before-and-after comparisons?
  11. 11What are the best alternatives to [competitor]?
  12. 12How do the leading [category] platforms differ?
  13. 13Which [category] vendors publish the clearest methodology?
  14. 14Which providers offer both downloadable reports and underlying data?
  15. 15Which [category] tools are transparent about sampling limitations?
  16. 16Which [category] providers are considered reliable?
  17. 17Which [category] products explain how their scores are calculated?
  18. 18Which providers preserve the evidence behind each result?
  19. 19Which [category] vendors publish a public methodology?
  20. 20Which [category] metrics are useful for executive reporting?
  21. 21What is [brand], and what does it do?
  22. 22What are the strengths and limitations of [brand]?
  23. 23How does [brand] compare with [competitor]?
  24. 24What evidence does [brand] provide for its results?
  25. 25Is the information available about [brand] current and consistent?

The complete library

Five question groups, 20 prompts each

01

Category discovery

Tests whether the brand appears before the buyer names a vendor.

  1. 001What are the best [category] options for [target audience]?
  2. 002Which [category] providers should a [buyer role] evaluate?
  3. 003What are the leading [category] products in [market or region]?
  4. 004Which companies are known for [core outcome]?
  5. 005What tools help [target audience] solve [problem]?
  6. 006What is the best way to achieve [outcome] without [undesired tradeoff]?
  7. 007Which [category] vendors specialize in [industry]?
  8. 008What are reliable alternatives for solving [problem]?
  9. 009Which [category] products are best for a team of [company size]?
  10. 010What should I use to replace a manual [workflow] process?
  11. 011Which platforms combine [capability one] and [capability two]?
  12. 012What are the most established companies in [category]?
  13. 013Which newer [category] products are worth considering?
  14. 014What [category] tools are designed for [specific role]?
  15. 015Which providers offer [category] for [regulated or specialized industry]?
  16. 016What are the best [category] services for a limited budget?
  17. 017Which [category] products work well for distributed teams?
  18. 018What are the top [category] options for organizations in [region]?
  19. 019Which vendors are strongest at [specific capability]?
  20. 020What should be on a shortlist for [category] software?
02

Use-case and constraint fit

Tests whether answers connect the brand to the situations it is built for.

  1. 021Which [category] is best for [use case]?
  2. 022What [category] works with [required integration or platform]?
  3. 023Which provider supports [critical requirement]?
  4. 024What is the easiest [category] product for a small team to adopt?
  5. 025Which [category] has the shortest implementation time?
  6. 026What [category] offers transparent pricing without an annual contract?
  7. 027Which [category] is suitable for [company size] with [constraint]?
  8. 028What is the best [category] for a [buyer role] who needs [outcome]?
  9. 029Which solution can handle [volume or scale requirement]?
  10. 030What [category] is appropriate when [risk or compliance constraint]?
  11. 031Which providers support both [use case one] and [use case two]?
  12. 032What [category] requires the least technical setup?
  13. 033Which solution gives the clearest evidence for [decision or report]?
  14. 034What [category] works for teams without a dedicated [specialist role]?
  15. 035Which provider is best when [existing approach] is no longer sufficient?
  16. 036What is a practical [category] option for a first-time buyer?
  17. 037Which [category] can be purchased without a sales call?
  18. 038What [category] is best for agencies managing multiple clients?
  19. 039Which solution supports repeatable before-and-after comparisons?
  20. 040What [category] offers useful results without a subscription?
03

Comparisons and alternatives

Tests competitive framing, substitution, and shortlist position.

  1. 041What are the best alternatives to [competitor]?
  2. 042Which products compete most directly with [competitor]?
  3. 043What is a simpler alternative to [competitor]?
  4. 044What is a more affordable alternative to [competitor]?
  5. 045Which [category] tools do not require a subscription?
  6. 046How do the leading [category] platforms differ?
  7. 047Which [category] is best for [audience A] versus [audience B]?
  8. 048What should I compare before choosing a [category] provider?
  9. 049Which [category] vendors publish the clearest methodology?
  10. 050Which tools provide raw evidence behind their [metric or result]?
  11. 051What [category] is best for one-time audits instead of ongoing monitoring?
  12. 052Which [category] is best for ongoing monitoring instead of a one-time benchmark?
  13. 053Which providers offer both downloadable reports and underlying data?
  14. 054What are the tradeoffs between [approach one] and [approach two]?
  15. 055Which [category] products are best for consultants?
  16. 056Which [category] products are best for in-house teams?
  17. 057What are the most credible [category] tools for [industry]?
  18. 058Which providers make it easiest to reproduce their results?
  19. 059What alternatives to [competitor] support [required provider or channel]?
  20. 060Which [category] tools are transparent about sampling limitations?
04

Risk, proof, and buying confidence

Tests whether answers surface credible evidence instead of unsupported claims.

  1. 061Which [category] providers are considered reliable?
  2. 062What evidence should I ask for before buying [category]?
  3. 063How can I verify a [category] vendor's claims?
  4. 064Which [category] products explain how their scores are calculated?
  5. 065What are the limitations of [category] tools?
  6. 066How accurate are [category] measurements?
  7. 067What can cause two [category] tools to report different results?
  8. 068Which providers preserve the evidence behind each result?
  9. 069What privacy risks should I consider when using [category]?
  10. 070Which [category] tools minimize retention of sensitive data?
  11. 071What questions should I ask during a [category] product demo?
  12. 072How should I evaluate [category] software for [regulated industry]?
  13. 073Which [category] vendors publish a public methodology?
  14. 074What does a credible [category] sample report include?
  15. 075Which providers disclose coverage, failed tests, and missing data?
  16. 076How often should a [category] benchmark be rerun?
  17. 077What sample size is useful for a directional [category] benchmark?
  18. 078How can I tell whether a [category] improvement is real or noise?
  19. 079Which [category] metrics are useful for executive reporting?
  20. 080What should not be inferred from a single [category] score?
05

Brand-named diagnostics

Tests accuracy and positioning after the brand is explicitly named. Keep these separate from discovery visibility.

  1. 081What is [brand], and what does it do?
  2. 082Who is [brand] designed for?
  3. 083What problem does [brand] solve?
  4. 084What are [brand]'s main features?
  5. 085What is [brand] best known for?
  6. 086What are the strengths and limitations of [brand]?
  7. 087How does [brand] compare with [competitor]?
  8. 088What are the best alternatives to [brand]?
  9. 089How much does [brand] cost?
  10. 090Does [brand] require a subscription?
  11. 091Is [brand] suitable for [target audience]?
  12. 092Does [brand] support [critical requirement]?
  13. 093What evidence does [brand] provide for its results?
  14. 094Is [brand]'s methodology public?
  15. 095How does [brand] handle customer data?
  16. 096What do reviewers say about [brand]?
  17. 097What should a buyer know before choosing [brand]?
  18. 098When is [brand] a better fit than [competitor]?
  19. 099When is [competitor] a better fit than [brand]?
  20. 100Is the information available about [brand] current and consistent?

Put the library to work

Test, track, audit, and report the same frozen questions

Questions about the questions

How to keep the test honest

Should every brand run all 100 AI visibility prompts?

No. Treat the list as a research bank. Select a smaller set that represents real buyer decisions, freeze it, and run the same questions across providers and reruns. The 25-question starter set uses 20 neutral discovery questions and five brand-named diagnostics.

Why separate neutral prompts from brand-named prompts?

A brand-named question tests recognition and factual accuracy after the user supplies the brand. A neutral question tests discovery: whether the brand appears before it is named. Combining them inflates visibility and hides the more important discovery gap.

Can these prompts predict real search volume?

No. They are structured test questions, not a claim about prompt frequency or representative sampling. Validate them with customer interviews, sales calls, site search, support logs, paid-search data, and conventional keyword research.

How should AI visibility answers be scored?

Keep mention rate, prominence, selected-competitor share of voice, citations, sentiment, and provider coverage separate. Preserve the answer and source evidence behind every metric, and report failed or unsupported runs as coverage rather than silent misses.

From worksheet to evidence

See what a completed four-provider benchmark looks like

Review the stored answers, citations, competitor mentions, coverage, limitations, and prioritized actions before running your own benchmark.

See the AI visibility tool View the sample report