{"id":207542,"date":"2025-12-16T13:42:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/?p=207542"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:48:20","slug":"ai-prompt-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/marketing\/geo\/ai-prompt-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Prompt Analysis: How to Do It in 3 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lately, I\u2019ve been obsessed with understanding how AI decides which brands to recommend. People ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity everything, from what tools to buy to which home d\u00e9cor stores they should trust, and GEO tools<\/a> are quickly becoming part of how brands analyze these interactions. So I wanted to break down the process and actually see<\/i> how AI answers are formed.<\/p>\n

To do that, I used Similarweb\u2019s AI Brand Visibility tool<\/a> and walked through real prompts, topics, citations, and answers. Everything you\u2019ll read here is based on what I did and what I found along the way.<\/p>\n

What Is AI Prompt Analysis?<\/h2>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

AI prompt analysis is the process of understanding what people ask AI tools, how AI interprets those questions, and how it builds the answers it gives back.<\/p>\n

When you analyze prompts, you look at the language of the question, the prompt’s intent<\/a> behind it, the structure of the AI\u2019s response, and the sources or brands the AI chooses to reference.<\/p>\n

At its core, prompt analysis helps reveal what the AI sees as relevant or trustworthy. It shows you why certain brands or insights appear in answers while others don\u2019t, similar to AI competitive analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once you understand how AI makes those decisions, it becomes much clearer how AI influences user choices, and how brands can position themselves to show up more effectively in future responses.<\/p>\n

The Importance of Analyzing AI Prompts<\/h2>\n

AI prompt analysis reveals which brands show up in AI answers and which ones don\u2019t. When a brand is missing from an answer, it\u2019s usually not because the topic isn\u2019t relevant, but because the AI couldn\u2019t find sources it trusts and content that\u2019s detailed or updated enough to justify mentioning it.<\/p>\n

In this article, I analyzed Home Depot\u2019s prompts and discovered why this kind of analysis matters. It clearly shows where a brand is performing well and where competitors are starting to take the lead.<\/p>\n

And the need for this kind of visibility is only growing. Our Generative AI Landscape report<\/a> shows that AI sessions are becoming far more conversational and personalized than traditional search. ChatGPT prompts now average around 60 words, compared to Google\u2019s 3.4, as users add context and preferences for more tailored answers. And while AI Mode sessions currently involve fewer queries, they\u2019re steadily rising as people grow more comfortable with generative interfaces. All of this signals a shift from quick searches to more detailed conversations, so each prompt becomes a bigger opportunity for brands to appear.<\/p>\n

The sooner you catch these types of shifts, the better your chances are of staying ahead, and that\u2019s why prompt analysis can give you a real advantage.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start diving in.<\/p>\n

How to Analyze AI Prompts<\/h2>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Step 1: Find the main topics<\/h3>\n

I began by opening the AI Prompt Analysis tool<\/a> and selecting Home Depot. Then I chose the brand topics I wanted to explore: tools, d\u00e9cor, and appliances.<\/p>\n

Once I made the selection, the tool showed me Home Depot\u2019s overall AI visibility and how often the brand appears across these specific topics. Product Availability, Price, and Value were Home Depot\u2019s strongest areas, followed by Tools and D\u00e9cor.<\/p>\n

These are the categories where AI already \u201crecognizes\u201d the brand and mentions it the most. Other topics, like Shopper Experience, had much lower visibility.<\/p>\n

This quick overview gave me an understanding of where Home Depot is already visible in AI answers and where there\u2019s room to grow.<\/p>\n

\"Find<\/p>\n

Step 2: Analyze the prompt list<\/h3>\n

Once I understood Home Depot\u2019s topical strengths and weaknesses, I wanted to get closer to the actual questions people are asking AI. I filtered the prompts under the \u201cDecor\u201d<\/b> category.<\/p>\n

This immediately gave me a full list of real user prompts along with their visibility scores, sentiment, top brands mentioned, and the citations behind each answer.<\/p>\n

The list itself was interesting. Some prompts had exceptionally high visibility, like \u201cWhere can I find blackout blinds for a nursery?\u201d<\/i> at 89%, where brands like IKEA and Home Decorators Collection dominated. Others had moderate visibility with clear competitive clusters around brands like Wayfair, West Elm, Target, and Kohl\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But what stood out most were the prompts where Home Depot should<\/i> have been relevant but wasn\u2019t appearing at all.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when one specific prompt caught my eye:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should I consider when buying a ceiling fan for outdoor use?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Even before clicking in, a few things were immediately noticeable from the data:<\/p>\n