Is there a tool that tells me what topics I should write about to show up in AI answers?
Yes. Here is how we find topics worth writing about for AI answers using content gap analysis, query fan-outs and citation data, and where the tools stop helping.
Yes, and it is a core part of how we plan content for clients. The tools do not hand you a magic list, though. They give you evidence, and the planning still takes judgment. This is how we use them.
Start from buyer questions, not keywords
Classic keyword research tells you what people type into Google. AI answers are shaped by longer, more conversational prompts, and by the sub-queries an engine runs to answer them. So we start with the questions a buyer asks at each stage: what is this, which option fits me, how do I compare, what does it cost, is it safe to choose.
In Promptwatch, which is where we run client programs, we load those as prompts and tag them by topic, intent and persona. Prompt Volumes shows search volumes, difficulty and citation rates across AI search, Google and Bing, so we can see which prompts carry real demand. Prompt Explorer suggests more from Search Console, ranking keywords, People Also Ask or a specific page, which catches questions we would not have thought of.
See what the engines actually searched
One of the most useful features for topic planning is query fan-outs per model. When an engine answers a prompt, it breaks it into sub-queries. Seeing those tells us what a good page has to cover, and it makes a ready outline. A page that covers only the head question and misses the sub-queries tends not to be pulled in.
Measure coverage against your own site
Content gap analysis in Promptwatch scores how well your existing pages cover each topic. The Answer Gap Report is the view used by agencies like Monks for client content roadmaps. We use the same idea: sort topics by high demand and low coverage, and that is the top of the list.
Topic Insights adds a different angle: pages that exist but underdeliver for their topic, based on crawler logs, citation clicks and AI-referred visits joined together. Some of our best wins are refreshes, not new articles, and Content Refresh gives diff-style update suggestions for those pages.
Decide whether the answer is a page at all
Not every gap is a content gap. Sometimes the engines cite a handful of third-party sources, and the right move is a profile, a review or a community answer. Citation analytics tells us which domains the engines use, with Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn reports and offsite mentions that show where the brand is named without a link. We separate "write a page" from "get listed there" before we plan any content.
Turn topics into a plan
The Action Board gives a prioritized GEO to-do list. A Discovery agent investigates the data weekly and suggests up to five evidence-backed actions per run, with assignees and comments. We use it as the weekly backlog and pull the content items into an editorial calendar.
For production, we use the Content Agent where the client's plan includes it (Business and up), with a review inbox so a human edits everything. The Professional plan includes 5 AEO articles and a knowledge base. Publishing goes to WordPress, Webflow or Framer. We always check facts, prices and claims before anything goes live.
Then we check whether it worked
Two weeks after publishing, we look at Citation Trends for the new pages: first cited, ramp-up days, peak rate and decay half-life. Visitor analytics shows whether AI-referred visits arrived. If a page was never fetched, we check crawler logs. If it was fetched and not cited, we rewrite it. If it was cited, we leave it and note what worked.
Where tools stop
No tool can tell you with certainty that a topic will earn a mention. Volumes and difficulty are estimates, and engines vary between runs. We test topics in small batches and let results guide the next batch. A good plan is a hypothesis list, not a promise.
If you want to try this on your own, Promptwatch's free Explore plan covers ChatGPT with 10 prompts, and content gap analysis comes with the Essential plan at $95 a month.