A template for 20 questions
| Stage | Count | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Shortlist | 6 | Best close software for a 300-person logistics company |
| Alternatives | 4 | Alternatives to [competitor] for mid-size finance teams |
| Comparison | 4 | [You] vs [competitor] |
| Integration | 3 | Close software that works with NetSuite |
| Problem | 3 | How to shorten month-end close |
Examples use a fictional category.
Where to find them
- The first sentence prospects say on discovery calls.
- Demo request form answers.
- Questions sales gets asked in every evaluation.
Countries
Answers vary by location. If you sell in the US and the UK, split your questions between them, or track the most important ones in both. Many tracking tools count each country as a separate question against your limit.
Review quarterly
Drop questions where nothing changes and nobody buys; add the ones sales hears more often.
How to write a tracked question well
- Use a full sentence, as a buyer would type it.
- Include one qualifier: size, industry, stack or region.
- Avoid your own brand in most questions; add a few brand questions separately.
- Keep wording stable so trends are comparable.
Questions
Should we track questions with our brand name?
Yes, a few: "What is [company]?" and "[company] vs [competitor]". They check accuracy.
How many countries?
Only the markets you sell in. Split questions between them if your tracking limit is tight.
Can we change the questions later?
Yes, quarterly. Changing them weekly breaks the trend.
Why fewer, better questions win
Tracking hundreds of generic questions produces a share-of-answers number that barely moves and says little about pipeline. Twenty questions taken from real sales conversations move when your work succeeds and point straight at the pages and sources to improve.
Grouping for reports
Group tracked questions by stage and by product line. Reporting share of answers per group shows where you're strong (often comparison questions with your brand) and where you're absent (often problem questions where competitors publish more).
Linking tracking to ads
The questions you track for visibility make good starting context hints for ads. When an ad group performs well, add its question to your tracked set if it isn't there yet.
Start here: AI visibility for B2B. More articles in AI visibility.