Discovery prompt

A discovery prompt is a question that names no brand and asks an AI platform who to pick, like "What's the best coffee subscription?"

A discovery prompt asks an AI platform to recommend something in your category without naming any brand. "What's the best coffee subscription for an office?" is a discovery prompt. So is "Which project management tools work well for small agencies?"

These are the questions people ask before they've made up their mind, so they show which brands the platforms put in front of new customers.

Why they matter most

When a question names no brand, the platform has to choose who to mention. Whoever it names gets a shot at the customer. Whoever it leaves out doesn't.

That makes discovery prompts the best measure of whether AI search brings you new business. They're usually the biggest share of what a brand tracks.

Writing good ones

Write them the way a buyer would, with their situation in the question. "Best coffee" is too broad to tell you anything. "Best coffee subscription for a team of 20 that drinks mostly espresso" is a real buyer's question, and the brands named in the answer are the ones you're up against for that buyer.

For example, a roaster that sells mainly to offices might track five office questions and five gift questions. If it's named in four of the office answers and none of the gift ones, it knows where to work.