Your prompt library is the foundation of your AEO strategy. Here's how to build one that tracks the right buyer queries and drives real MentionShare improvement.
The quality of your AEO insights is entirely determined by the quality of your prompt library. Track the wrong prompts — generic, low-intent, or internal-terminology queries — and your MentionShare data is useless. Track the right prompts — specific, buyer-intent queries in the exact language your buyers use — and you have a precise measurement of your AI visibility at the purchase moment.
Most brands start with obvious prompts and leave the most valuable signals unmeasured. This guide covers how to build a prompt library that tracks what actually moves pipeline.
1. Category prompts — commercial intent. "Best [category] tool for [use case]" — these are the highest-value prompts because they represent buyers who have already identified their need and are now shortlisting. Example: "best project management software for remote engineering teams." These should be your first 5–10 prompts.
2. Competitor comparison prompts — evaluation intent. "How does [your product] compare to [competitor]" and "alternatives to [competitor]." These capture buyers actively evaluating your category. Critical because AI engines often recommend competitors by name in comparisons.
3. Use case prompts — informational to commercial. "How to [solve problem] with [category]" and "[category] for [specific workflow]." These are slightly earlier in the journey but generate meaningful MentionShare data and often turn into commercial intent.
4. Pricing prompts — transactional intent. "How much does [category] cost?" and "[category] pricing comparison." Buyers asking about pricing are close to a decision. If AI engines are recommending your competitors' pricing pages, that's a high-priority fix.
5. Feature prompts — commercial. "Which [category] has [specific feature]?" — captures feature-driven buyers who have a specific requirement. "Which AEO tool tracks Perplexity?" is more specific than "best AEO tool" but converts at a higher rate.
Google Search Console import. Your top GSC queries represent real buyer searches — people who found your site through these exact phrases. Import them via Prompt Library → Search Console tab. TrueCite auto-tags intent using Claude Haiku, so you immediately see which queries are commercial vs informational.
Sales team intelligence. Ask your sales team: "What questions do prospects ask in the first 15 minutes of a demo call?" These are the exact phrases AI engines see from buyers. Add the top 5 verbatim to your prompt library.
Review site analysis. Read your G2 and Capterra reviews. What problems do customers say you solved? How do they describe what you do? Use their exact language in your prompts.
Competitor positioning. Check competitor websites and ads. What use cases do they emphasize? What prompts are they optimizing for? Track those — if AI engines are recommending your competitors for those prompts, that's your highest-value opportunity.
TrueCite auto-tags each prompt with intent: commercial, informational, navigational, or transactional. Review tags in Prompt Library → My Prompts and correct any misclassifications — the auto-tagger is accurate but not perfect.
Use intent filters in the [Prompt Performance](/features/prompt-performance) tab to prioritize fixes. Commercial intent prompts with low MentionShare are your highest-priority Fix Generator targets — these are the moments where AI recommendations translate directly into buyer consideration.
For brands with international markets, assign target countries to individual prompts — up to 5 countries per prompt. AI engines are instructed to respond as if the searcher is in the specified country, giving you market-specific MentionShare data. Country targeting is included at no extra scan cost. Set countries in Prompt Library → My Prompts → country selector.
[Build your prompt library today](/sign-up) — TrueCite includes 102 industry-specific templates across 10 industries to help you get started fast.