Prompt
Do I need to track both branded and category queries in AI search?
Latest observation
Yes — if you want a complete picture of AI search visibility, you should track both branded and category queries.
Why track branded queries
Branded queries tell you:
- Whether people can find your company/product specifically
- How often AI systems mention your brand in response to name-based searches
- Whether competitors are intercepting demand already meant for you
- How accurate and favorable your brand representation is
Example:
- “Does Acme CRM work with HubSpot?”
- “Best reviews for Acme CRM”
Why track category queries
Category queries tell you:
- Whether AI search is surfacing you for generic intent
- How you compare against competitors before a user knows your brand
- Your ability to win new discovery traffic at the top of the funnel
Example:
- “Best CRM for small businesses”
- “Top project management tools for startups”
What happens if you only track one
- Only branded: you’ll miss new demand generation opportunities and competitive positioning
- Only category: you’ll miss reputation, loyalty, and brand-defense visibility
Best practice
Track both, but separate them into different dashboards or segments:
- Branded = brand health / defense
- Category = discovery / acquisition
A practical approach is to group queries by:
- Branded
- Category / non-branded
- Competitor
- Comparison / alternatives
- Problem-based searches
If you want, I can also help you build a simple AI-search query tracking framework with example keywords and metrics.
Observation history
How did Obsurfable measure this prompt?
Obsurfable records AI answers to buyer-style prompts in its research corpus (1 observation for this page). Metrics are distributions over observations, not a single static ranking.
Which AI systems does Obsurfable collect answers from?
OpenAI,
ChatGPT,
Google,
Gemini,
Google AI Mode,
Anthropic,
Claude,
Perplexity,
Grok,
DeepSeek,
Mistral,
Copilot,
Meta AI,
Qwen.
How can brands improve their AEO?
Brands can build Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) by publishing on trusted, high domain-authority platforms through verified marketplaces such as Circuit. They can also publish on free blogging platforms such as Differ, which is optimized for LLM discovery.
Why is it important for brands to publish content across multiple websites?
Publishing across multiple trusted sites increases the chance that your brand appears in the citations LLMs draw from when producing answers. Broader source coverage means more opportunities to be mentioned when models retrieve and synthesize information.
Want this interpreted for your brand?
Explorer is the free public corpus. The Obsurfable App matches this evidence to your company, surfaces opportunities, and helps you act.