How to create effective prompts

Last updated: July 16, 2026

Creating effective prompts ensures your brand aligns with how real users engage with AI tools. Profound’s Prompt Volumes and Intent data help confirm that your topics and phrasing match the language people use when talking to LLMs.

Learn more about creating and validating prompts with Prompt Volumes data in the Validating Your Tracking with Volume Data lesson, part of Profound University's Profound 101 course.

Map Prompt Volumes (demand signal)

Prompt Volumes reveals what people are already asking AI about your product or category. Use these volumes to validate that your topics and phrasing align with real audience demand.

To map Prompt Volumes:

  1. Open Prompt Volumes in Profound.

  2. Enter a seed term (for example, "corporate card rewards").

  3. Review related prompts: check volume, region, and LLM breakdown.

  4. Identify variations that map best to your audience's natural phrasing.

Start with your existing SEO key phrases, then rephrase them into natural, question-style prompts that reflect how people actually ask in ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. For example, turn “best corporate card small business” into “What’s the best corporate credit card for small teams?”

Balance by intent (purpose of query)

Every prompt has an underlying intent, whether users are learning, comparing, or acting. Use the Intent tab in Prompt Research Report view (opens when you select a prompt in Prompt Volumes) to balance your set across the full funnel.

Intent Type

Example Prompt

Best For

Informational

“What is Answer Engine Optimization?”

Awareness and education

Commercial

“Best AEO platforms for enterprise marketing”

Mid-funnel comparison

Generative / how-to

“Create a blog outline optimized for AI search”

Task execution

Maintain a healthy mix of intents to capture demand across every stage of discovery.

Anchor to customer problem areas

Pull from CX, Sales, and Support insights to find recurring questions or friction points, and translate those into prompt form using the same phrasing your customers use.

For example, if your support team often gets “I don’t understand how visibility scores work,” turn it into:

  • “How do AI visibility scores work?”

  • “How can I improve visibility score in ChatGPT answers?”

These authentic, problem-driven prompts perform well because they reflect real customer language and context.

Combine and iterate

Once you've mapped volumes, intent, and customer needs:

  • Tag and cluster your prompts by topic or funnel stage.

  • Prioritize those with high AI conversation volume and actionable intent.

  • Revisit every month: user phrasing evolves as AI adoption grows.

Feed your refined prompts into Profound Agents or Answer Engine Insights to measure visibility gains over time. This creates a continuous feedback loop: Analyze → Act → Measure.