This question has been living rent-free in my head for months:
Every marketing team I’ve spoken to recently is asking some variation of this. And honestly, it makes sense.
“How do we know what prompts our customers are using on ChatGPT?”
or
“Which prompts matter most to our ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) right now?”
It’s always a variation of those questions. Marketing teams are challenged these days quite a bit and the biggest limitation most marketing teams have is: Not knowing which prompts people use on ChatGPT.
Is There a ChatGPT Search Console?
No, there’s no Google Search Console-like tool for ChatGPT, yet.
Or put it differently: Nobody has real prompts at this point.
Yes, we’ve heard this many times. There is no Google Search Console-like tool for ChatGPT. Put it differently: OpenAI is not disclosing any search data directly.
We don’t know:
- What prompts people are typing into ChatGPT
- How often certain queries appear
- Which brands are getting mentioned, recommended, or clicked
And while that might change eventually, I wouldn’t bet on it happening any time soon. So instead of waiting around, we need to get resourceful.
How Are Marketers Finding ChatGPT Prompts Without OpenAI Data?
Over the past month, I’ve spoken to 100+ marketing teams across industries. What follows is a collection of 17 smart ways marketers are identifying, collecting, and prioritizing real prompts – without needing direct access to OpenAI’s data.
Each method comes with its pros and cons, so you can mix, match, and experiment based on your team’s goals and resources.
Let’s dive in. How Can You Get Real Prompts Without OpenAI Data?
1. Survey Your Customers
Category: Direct User Input
ROI: ★★★★☆
If you don’t know what prompts your customers use – just ask them.
Pull a list from your CRM (paid users, power users, or a niche segment), and send them a short survey. You’ll often get valuable insights: real prompts, in their own words, with language that’s directly tied to their buying intent.
Here’s how to do it:
Pro tip: Give your customers something in return, e.g. a gift card, some merchandise, whatever they like really.
Email draft:
Subject: Quick question? Help us improve!
Hi [First Name],
We’re always looking for ways to make (our brand) smarter, faster, and more valuable to you.
That’s where you come in. We’re running a short survey to better understand how customers like you discovered us.
It takes less than 2 minutes, and your input directly helps us improve our visibility and usefulness to more people like you.
👉 [Take the 2-Minute Survey]
Gratefully,
Your BrandAnd here’s the Survey Form:
📝 SURVEY FORM QUESTIONS:
Where did you first hear about OtterlyAI?
(Select all that apply)
- Google search
- ChatGPT or another AI assistant
- Twitter/X/Instagram/Facebook/Linkedin
- YouTube
- Word of mouth/referral
- Newsletter or blog
- TV
- Offline advertisment
- Other (please specify): ___________
Did you use an AI search engine or assistant while researching brands like us?
- Yes
- No
- I don’t remember
If yes, do you remember what you asked or typed in?
Please share any prompts, questions, or search phrases you used. Specific examples help us a ton!
(Open text field)Pros
- Real prompts from actual users
- Uses authentic customer language
- Works across B2B & B2C
- Easy to execute with CRM + survey tool
Cons
- Customers may not recall prompts
- Response rates can be low
- Skews to won customers only – you only get responses from people who bought from you in the first place
2. Add “Where Did You Hear About Us?” to Lead Forms
Category: Direct User Input
ROI: ★★★☆☆
This is another low-lift, high-leverage tactic: Add a “Where did you hear about us?” question to your lead forms.
Especially effective at the moment of conversion, this data can reveal ChatGPT as a hidden referral source – even if your analytics don’t show it.
WDYHAU forms are particularly popular in B2B, but also work great in B2C. Especially when you appreciate the form submission with a little token of appreciation.
A marketing team told me recently:
While ChatGPT traffic showed up as 1-2% of site visits, 5-10% of net-new leads listed ChatGPT as their first touch. That’s 5x the impact – only visible through WDYHAU data.
Use the same wording and structure as the survey above, and make it a required field for form submissions.
Pros
- Captures data at conversion moment
- Ongoing automated collection of insights
- Simple to integrate in lead forms
- Can reveal ChatGPT as hidden channel
Cons
- You only get responses from people who found you in the first place
- Doesn’t show volume or frequency
- Quality depends on honesty/accuracy
3. Tap Into Your Sales Team (Calls, Demos, RFPs)
Category: Direct User Input
ROI: ★★★★☆
Sales teams sit on a goldmine of prompt-like language. From early discovery calls to RFP (Request for Proposal) to demo recordings, buyers reveal what they’re researching, struggling with, or trying to compare.
Here’s how to get those insights:
- Ask sales reps to note how prospects first heard about you—and what they were searching for
- Review demo transcripts via Gong, Kickscale or similar tools for common questions
- Analyze RFPs and evaluation docs to surface repeat concerns or topics
You may not get ChatGPT-specific prompts, but you will uncover phrasing and questions that map to different intent stages.
Pros
- Rich qualitative insights
- Captures real buyer objections/questions
- Demo/RFP docs reveal intent stages
Cons
- Not always ChatGPT-specific
- Skews to mid/late funnel buyers
- Harder to structure/quantify
4. Use Market Research Tools to Survey Your ICP
Category: Direct User Input
ROI: ★★★☆☆
If you want prompt data from people not already in your funnel, market research tools can help.
Platforms like Pollfish and Wyntner let you target specific ICP segments and ask them anything – including what they’d ask an AI when researching tools in your category.
As a marketing professional, I’ve used Pollfish and Wyntner in the past to survey my ICP. These are platforms that allow you to directly ask your ICP, and you’ll get responses most often within 24 or 48 hours.
Use this for:
- Early validation
- Prompt benchmarking across markets
- Testing assumptions outside your customer base
Pros
- You get access to non-customers in target ICP
- Fast turnaround (24–48h)
- Scalable to hundreds/thousands
Cons
- Tools and systems are costly at scale
- Self-reported, recall bias possible
- Responses can be “generic” without strong filtering
5. Your Website Search Logs
Category: Internal Data
ROI: ★★★☆☆
If your site has a search bar, it’s already collecting queries that resemble prompts.
Search providers – such as Algolia – not only provide you with proper search technology for your own website, but also give you insights into what your website users search for on your website.
Take a look at the search analytics, and you’ll find out what people type in your search bar. It might not be 100% comparable to ChatGPT prompts, but again, it will give you some great inspiration for what people are looking to find.
Pros
- Actual queries from your visitors
- Shows unmet content needs
- Easy to extract with search provider
Cons
- Not related directly to the ChatGPT browsing history
- Queries are site-specific, not global
- Volume depends on site traffic
- Only insights from your website visitors
6. Use Google Search Console (Please!)
Category: Internal / Owned Data
ROI: ★★★★★
Google Search Console is already a goldmine for search queries—and with the rise of “AI Mode” in Google, we’re seeing way more long-form, conversational queries in the data. These often mirror how users interact with tools like ChatGPT.
So while it’s not OpenAI data, it’s the next best scalable dataset for prompt-style insights today.
We wrote about this here on how you can find real prompts from real people in your Google Search Console account.
Look for:
- Long-tail queries with high impressions
- Conversational phrasing (“how do I”, “what’s the best…”)
- Queries with zero clicks (content gaps!)
Pros
- Real prompts from real people – used on Google and AI Mode
- Large-scale real query data
- Reveals long-tail intent
- Free & standardized
Cons
- Shows only queries where you have impressions as a website on Google
- Misses invisible searches
- No ChatGPT attribution
7. Microsoft Bing Copilot Suggestions
Category: Search Engine / AI Proxy
ROI: ★★☆☆☆
I recently heard this from a SEO professional, and I think it’s a good option.
Bing’s Copilot (https://bing.com/copilotsearch) offers AI-powered search experiences – and when you enter a query, it also shows related AI-generated queries and suggestions.
Check out this screenshot.
Pros
- Native AI suggestions: Prompt and topic suggestions natively from Copilot, suggesting topics that people also search for. This is a great indicator to see what people search for
- Surfaces related questions/topics
- Easy, free access
Cons
- Not ChatGPT-specific
- Dependent on Bing adoption
- Doesn’t show search volume
8. Auto complete on ChatGPT
Category: AI Native Source
ROI: ★★★★☆
When typing into ChatGPT’s search bar, you now get autocomplete suggestions – similar to Google Suggest. This is one of the only native signals you can get from ChatGPT itself. These prompts reflect current usage trends, even if they don’t come with volume data.
Pro tip: Try entering partial phrases relevant to your product or ICP and see what auto-populates.
Pros
- Directly from ChatGPT interface
- Reflects top trending prompts
- Native to the platform you care about
- Great for brainstorming prompt lists
Cons
- Limited to available autocomplete
- No volume/frequency data
- Can change frequently, no archive
- Doesn’t cover niche queries well
9. Keyword Research Tool by OtterlyAI: Turn SEO Keywords into Prompts
Category: Synthetic / Research Tool
ROI: ★★★★★
At OtterlyAI, we’ve developed an AI-powered Keyword Research tool designed to help you brainstorm and explore relevant prompts in your niche. A popular use case for this tool is transforming a list of SEO keywords into actionable prompts.
Using the SEO Keyword-to-Prompt feature, you can convert your keywords into prompts. Simply input your SEO keywords, and OtterlyAI will analyze the associated search intent to generate tailored prompts that align with your goals.
Pros
- Bridges SEO + AEO strategy
- Translates existing keyword lists
- Scalable, automated
- Helps prioritize prompts by intent
Cons
- Based on keyword seeds (limited)
- Estimated prompts, not real prompts
- Quality depends on input list
- May miss emerging queries
10. Keyword Research Tool by OtterlyAI: URL Analysis
Category: Synthetic / Research Tool
ROI: ★★★★☆
Another great way to identify prompts: Identify prompts based on any URL. For instance, if your web analytics shows you which landing pages are generating referral traffic from ChatGPT, you can use this information effectively.
Simply input those URLs into OtterlyAI’s AI Keyword Research tool, and it will estimate relevant search prompts for you. This approach works not only with your own URLs but with any URL you choose.
Pros
- Generates prompts from content/URLs
- Works for competitor analysis
- Leverages proven content
- Easy to apply across multiple URLs
Cons
- Still estimated prompts
- Dependent on content quality
- Doesn’t prove actual usage
- Can produce generic prompts if input is broad
11. Keyword Research Tool by OtterlyAI: Brand Research
Category: Synthetic / Research Tool
ROI: ★★★★☆
Curious how your brand is positioned in AI search? Use OtterlyAI’s Brand Research tool to surface topic associations, related prompts, and visibility across four intent stages:
- Category based search
- Competitor based search
- Brand based search
Simply add a brand name, a domain, and an industry as well as country, and OtterlyAI will identify the associations of this particular brand in the selected market.
Pros
- Surfaces brand/topic associations
- Covers multiple intent stages
- Market + geography filters
- Scalable & repeatable
Cons
- Still estimated prompts
- Risk of noise if brand is niche
- Lacks frequency/volume data
12. Use Query Fan-Out Tools (e.g., Qforia)
Category: Synthetic / Research Tool
ROI: ★★★☆☆
Andrei, the Digital Marketing Director at Bacula Systems, recently talked about this during our webinar on how they are succeeding with ChatGPT. He brought up an example of a tool called Qforia, created by iPullRank, which helps find related questions based on a single prompt.
“Query Fan Out” is when an AI search engine takes a question or prompt and breaks it into smaller, related questions. It then looks up answers to those smaller questions in real time from different sources.
Using a tool like Qforia, you can mimic this process to find useful subtopics and prompts connected to your main question.
Pro tip: Start with a real user query, then explore the fan-out prompts to build clusters and supporting content.
This is an example from Bacula Systems:
Pros
- Shows how AI breaks prompts down
- Reveals hidden sub-topics
- Great for content gap analysis
- Mirrors AI’s reasoning process
Cons
- Technical learning curve
- Simulated, not real-user prompts
- May over-generate irrelevant queries
13. Use AnswerThePublic or AlsoAsked
Category: SEO Proxy Tool
ROI: ★★★☆☆
AnswerThePublic or AlsoAsked are great ways to identify and visualize sub topics of any particular category. These tools show question clusters from Google search data. They’re visual, intuitive, and perfect for identifying “people also ask” style content—which often aligns with AI prompt structure.
Think of it as an idea-starter, not a precision tool.
Here’s a screenshot of AlsoAsked for “best CRM for small businesses”
Pros
- Visualizes question clusters
- Great for topic ideation
- Familiar to SEO teams
- Helps structure FAQs/content
Cons
- Based only on Google data
- Not ChatGPT-specific
- No usage volume in prompts
- Risk of generic suggestions
14. Use this prompts to identify potential search prompts
Category: Synthetic / Research Tool
ROI: ★★★☆☆
You can also generate prompts using structured frameworks. For example, ask ChatGPT to generate 5–25 prompts per intent stage, based on your brand, domain, and industry.
This is especially useful for monitoring brand visibility over time—or simulating likely buyer queries across the funnel.
Act as an experienced brand and marketing manager. Activate your web search capabilities. I will give you a brand, a domain, its industry, the main focus country and the default intent stages. I want to monitor the brand visibility in AI searches and LLMs like ChatGPT for this brand. Please create 5/10/25 search prompts for each intent stage (see intent stages below) that potential prospects would ask ChatGPT to find such a brand.
Brand: (your brand name)
Domain: (your domain)
Industry: (your industry here)
Country: United States
Intent stages:
* Problem based - they search by the description of your problem
* Category based - They search by the solution category
* Competitor based - They want a better version of what they currently have
* Brand based – They want you
Return a list of search prompts for each intent stage (minimum 5 search prompts per intent stage) without any additional information only a break at the end of each prompt. Make them rather shorter. Add no quotes to them.
Pros
- Covers all funnel stages
- Highly customizable
- Scalable generation
- Provides monitoring framework when data missing
Cons
- Not real prompts
- Subjective to prompt-writer bias
- Can overfit to assumptions
15. Prompt Marketplace
Category: Community / Marketplace Mining
ROI: ★★☆☆☆
Prompt marketplaces let users share or sell high-performing prompts. Most are geared toward productivity, content generation, or niche use cases—but browsing them can help you:
- Spot emerging trends
- See how your ICP phrases problems
- Find if your brand or competitors are mentioned
Promptbase, PromptHero or AIPRM provide prompt libraries for all different use case.
Pros
- Access to thousands of shared prompts
- Shows how users phrase queries
- Great for identifying emerging use cases
- Easy competitive/industry scanning
Cons
- Not tied to your ICP
- Skews toward “prompt engineer” crowd
- Popular prompts may not reflect buyer intent
- Hard to validate frequency/importance
16. Mine Reddit Threads
Category: Community / Marketplace Mining
ROI: ★★★★☆
Reddit is a place where people ask honest, straightforward questions – the same kind of language they might use with ChatGPT.
For many industries and purposes, Reddit is an excellent resource to find real questions from users. These questions often reflect how people naturally phrase prompts. It’s a helpful way to discover authentic language for all kinds of topics.
Tip: With OtterlyAI, you can spot reddit.com threads that are frequently mentioned and used in ChatGPT. Focusing on these threads can help you target the ones most likely to be picked up by AI search tools.
Pros
- Authentic user questions
- Mirrors natural language phrasing
- Covers niche industries & pain points
- Free, massive data source
Cons
- No volume metrics
- Not ChatGPT-specific
- Discussions may drift off-topic
17. Run Your Own AI Search Panel
Category: Community / Owned Data
ROI: ★★★★☆
Have you ever thought about setting up your own “Search Panel” where people share prompts with you, like once a week? If you have an active and engaged community, this could be a great idea! You could create an AI Search Panel as a smaller group within your Discord or Slack channel, or even as part of your larger community program.
Pros
- Builds proprietary dataset
- Regular pulse on ICP prompt behavior
- Can track prompt trends over time
- Creates ongoing feedback loop
Cons
- Costly/time-intensive to run
- Requires consistent participant base
- Small panel risks bias
- Hard to scale globally
Final Thoughts
There may not be a “Search Console for ChatGPT” (yet), but that doesn’t mean you’re flying blind. By combining direct input, proxies, synthetic tools, and smart community mining, you can build a prompt database and workflow tailored to your brand.
The key isn’t to find one perfect method—it’s to layer multiple sources and build a signal over time. If you have additional approaches, please send me an email at thomas.peham@otterly.ai – I’d love to hear from you.
Try OtterlyAI for AI Search Monitoring
OtterlyAI helps you identify, monitor, and optimize the prompts that matter – whether you’re scaling SEO into GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), tracking brand visibility in ChatGPT, or just trying to stay visible in a world without click-throughs.