The Complete AI Research Workflow: From Prompt Discovery to Content Creation - Moz

The Complete AI Research Workflow: From Prompt Discovery to Content Creation

April 14, 2026 11 min read

I don’t need to tell you that AI search is everywhere. It feels like it’s embedded in everything we do. It’s in Google search results through AI Mode and AI Overviews. It’s been integrated into social media apps. It’s being discussed across our LinkedIn feeds, in blog posts, and in team meetings. Folks all over the world are using AI agents like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and more in their everyday lives.

And the good news is that if you’ve built a strong foundation for content creation that is rooted in SEO best practices and features creative, data-driven perspectives, you’re already moving in the right direction.

Are you showing up in AI search results?

Google AI Mode is now available in Moz Pro!

The good news is that you can now do your GEO and SEO tasks in the same tool with Moz Pro’s newest features. We’ve recently rolled out an AI research toolkit that can help you tackle AI search visibility in a tangible way. I’ve put together a five-step workflow that moves from research to refinement all within the tool suite you already use.

Introducing an AI research workflow in 5 steps

We start by researching prompts that are important to your business. We track your presence in AI-generated responses. Then we use competitor information and organic data to identify high-impact opportunities for content creation and updates. I’ll then show you how to monitor your progress over time. And finally, you can review and adjust as needed to stay agile and competitive as the world of marketing and search shifts.

Step 1: Research

It’s probably not a surprise that the first step in our workflow is research, but where do you start? My best advice — start with what you know!

AI search starts with a prompt. An AI prompt is a specific set of instructions or a question entered into an AI tool to guide its logic and tell it what you want to know, create, or do. It is a conversation between a user and an LLM. And when users interact with LLMs, they typically do so in a conversational way. But how are people talking, conversationally, about your brand, industry, and niche? This is where Prompt Suggestions comes in handy.

In the Prompt Suggestions tool, you can enter any term or topic related to your brand to receive a list of suggested prompts people may use in LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini to discover and learn about your brand. This allows you to research how your brand shows up in AI-generated responses.

The Organic search snapshot is based on organic search data and SERPs. Seeing this data alongside your suggested prompts allows you to make a fully informed decision about prompt targeting and content strategy.

But why is it important to consider organic data when doing AI research?

AI-generated responses aren’t the same as organic search. SEO and GEO are in the same realm. In fact, Lily Ray has estimated that GEO and SEO tasks overlap by about 90%. This likely means that if you target a topic for AI search, it will also impact how you show up in organic search.

Step 2: Track

Now that you’ve identified prompts that are important to your business, you can add them to your AI Visibility Dashboard to track.

Why should I track AI prompts?

Prompt tracking allows you to monitor how your brand appears in AI-generated responses, which is critical to understanding brand reach and visibility. By doing so, you’ll get a complete picture of how your audience is finding you and spot ways to improve your brand’s presence in the marketplace.

Now, you could track your selected prompts manually by going to each LLM (like Gemini), entering the prompt, and then noting what brands are being mentioned in the response.

But let’s be honest, nobody has time for that.

AI Visibility in Moz Pro allows you to track prompts to see where and when your brand shows up in the AI-generated responses. You can also track your visibility alongside 3 competitor brands to get a better idea of how you stack up in your industry.

Step 3: Identify

To recap, you’ve now selected prompts that matter to your business and have started tracking them to see how your brand shows up in AI-generated responses. Now it’s time to identify opportunities for content creation and updates.

If there is a specific prompt or topic that you and your stakeholders are particularly passionate about, you can move forward to step 4. However, if you’re looking for additional ideas or don’t know where to start, I recommend checking out the Prompt Performance module in AI Visibility.

This handy module will show you which AI-generated responses you and your competitors are featured in for your tracked prompts.

Step 4: Create

Once we’ve identified prompts we want to focus on in our content strategy, we are going to use AI Content Brief to generate a comprehensive, SEO-informed brief.

To get started, add your prompt(s) into AI Content Brief, select your Content Type, and click Generate.

AI Content Brief will outline everything you need in order to create content for your chosen topic including target audience, suggested headers and structure, and questions or facts to consider. You can edit the brief as needed and then export to .pdf or .docx to give to your writers, marketing team, or yourself if you are the one planning to write the content.

Step 5: Monitor, Review, and Adjust

We’re almost there! You’ve made it to the final step. Now that you’re tracking prompts and have created content (or updated it), it’s time to monitor, review, and adjust.

Let’s pop back into our AI Visibility Dashboard. If you’ve just created one in step 2.5, be sure to wait until your first data collection has populated. Within your dashboard, you can see how your brand’s visibility in AI-generated responses has changed over time.

Wrapping up

So now you’re done! Just kidding. Just like monitoring and adjusting your strategy for organic search never ends, the same is true for AI search. So I hope you hold onto this workflow and return to it from time to time to ensure you’re still meeting the right intent with your content, finding new ways to improve your visibility, and being mentioned where it matters most.

In conclusion, continuing to create great, perspective-led content that helps your audience is still the primary way to build brand awareness and visibility. People are naturally curious - make sure you’re answering their questions, and they’ll be sure to find you.