Prompts are the questions submitted to AI services like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Surfacd captures the responses and analyses how your brand (and competitors) are mentioned. The quality and breadth of your prompts directly determines the quality of your insights.
The Prompts Table
Navigate to the Prompts tab within any project to see all your tracked prompts.
| Column | Shows |
|---|
| Prompt | The question text |
| Visibility | Your selected brand’s score for this specific prompt |
| Top Brands | The most frequently mentioned brands in responses |
| Country | Geographic context (with flag) |
| Estimated Popularity | Relative search volume indicator |
| Tags | Categories you’ve assigned |
Adding Prompts
Surfacd offers three ways to build your prompt library. See Adding Prompts for a detailed guide on each method:
- Manual Entry — type prompts directly, one at a time or in bulk
- File Import — upload prompts from a CSV or Excel file
- Suggested Prompts — describe a topic and let AI generate relevant prompts for you (see Suggested Prompts)
Writing Good Prompts
Use natural questions that your buyers would actually ask:
- “What’s the best email marketing tool for small businesses?”
- “Can you recommend a CRM that integrates with Outlook?”
- “How does HubSpot compare to Salesforce for mid-sized companies?”
Avoid bare keywords:
- “email marketing tools” ✗
- “CRM software comparison” ✗
Cover different stages of the buyer journey:
| Stage | Example Prompts |
|---|
| Awareness | ”What is a CDP?”, “Why is my email open rate low?” |
| Research | ”Best CRM for small business”, “Top marketing automation tools” |
| Evaluation | ”HubSpot vs Marketo”, “Is Asana secure for enterprise?” |
| Purchase | ”How much does Slack cost?”, “Zoom enterprise plan pricing” |
| Retention | ”How to export contacts from HubSpot”, “Integrate Gmail with Notion” |
- Too broad: “What software should I use?”
- Too narrow: “What CRM for a 47-person B2B SaaS in Manchester?”
- Right: “What CRM is best for mid-sized B2B companies?”
Prompt Status
Each prompt has a status that determines whether it’s included in data collection.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
| Active | Included in data collection runs and reports |
| Inactive | Paused — not analysed but preserved for later |
| Suggestion | AI-generated prompt awaiting your review |
| Declined | A suggestion you’ve chosen not to use |
Bulk Actions
Select multiple prompts using the checkboxes, then choose an action from the toolbar:
| Action | What It Does |
|---|
| Add Tags | Add tags to selected prompts (keeps existing tags) |
| Replace All Tags | Replace all tags on selected prompts with new ones |
| Remove All Tags | Clear all tags from selected prompts |
| Copy to Country | Duplicate prompts to additional countries (see Copying Prompts) |
| Delete Selected | Permanently delete selected prompts and their data |
Inline Tag Editing
Hover over the tags column on any prompt row to reveal an edit icon. Click it to quickly add or change tags for that individual prompt without navigating away.
Country Selection
Each prompt has a country that provides geographic context. AI responses can vary significantly by region — a prompt about “best banks” will return different results in the UK versus the US.
To monitor the same question across multiple countries, use Copy to Country to duplicate prompts efficiently.
Export
Click Export to download all prompts with their visibility data as an Excel file. Your current search and filter settings are applied to the export.
Tips
- Start with 20–50 prompts covering your key topics
- Use Tags consistently for powerful filtering and matrix analysis
- Review monthly: remove irrelevant prompts, add new topics as your market evolves
- Sort by visibility to quickly find where you’re winning — and where you’re not
- Use Suggested Prompts to discover questions you hadn’t considered
Deleting a prompt removes all its historical data and cannot be undone.
