Your content calendar is probably full of topics the team wants to say something about, supplemented by what search volumes suggest. That works, as long as buyers find you through search results. But what if they ask an AI assistant instead? Then they get one answer with a few sources, and you are either in it or you aren't. A content strategy that responds to this starts from those answers: where are you missing, who is there instead, and which pages does the answer cite? In five steps, you use GripIQ to turn those gaps into a list of topics and a content calendar.

Step 1: Find the questions where you are not in the answer

Go to Prompts and open the answers to the questions your buyers ask. GripIQ puts every prompt to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Mode, and shows for each answer which brands are mentioned, with what sentiment and tone.

Work with two groups:

  • Prompts in which your brand is missing while your competitors do appear. Those are your clearest gaps.
  • Prompts in which your brand does appear, but in a supporting role or in connection with a topic you don't want to be associated with.

With the date filter, you limit the list to a period, for example the last 30 days. The figures and lists follow the selected period, from the Dashboard to Prompts, Keywords and Socials.

Want to get clear first on what this is all about? Read Generative engine optimization: what it is and where to start.

Step 2: Read the sources below the answer

GripIQ lets the assistants answer with web search enabled, just like an ordinary user. If an answer uses sources, GripIQ shows them with the answer, under Sources. So you see not only what the AI assistant says, but also what it is based on.

And that turns a gap into a concrete task. For each gap on your list, look at which pages are cited:

  • Is it a competitor's page? Then they have an answer to the question that you don't.
  • Is it a comparison site, a trade publication or an overview page from a third party? Then, besides your own content, you also need a place where you are mentioned.
  • Is it one of your own pages? Then your content is already visible, and the problem lies in how the answer describes you.

For each gap, note the question, the source being cited and what that source does better. That is all. A full content audit is unnecessary: a list with a reason for each topic will do.

Step 3: Turn the gaps into topics

Five gaps that cover the same thing make up one topic. So group your list by theme. You do that yourself, because GripIQ doesn't sort answers by topic. With tags, though, you can give prompts that belong together their own label and filter on it.

Use Keywords as well. There, GripIQ tracks keywords per project. On the Strategy tab, the Opportunity Matrix sets search volume against your position for each keyword, and the Competitive gap on the Overview shows keywords where competitors rank in the top 20 and you don't. For each keyword, you see the potential commercial value at position 1 and the related keywords. That way, you know which topic also pays off outside AI answers.

An example. Your list contains six prompts about implementing scheduling software in a mid-sized company. The topic is then: implementation for the mid-market. Under Keywords, you check whether there is search demand and commercial value behind it. If there is, this topic goes to the top of your calendar.

For the broader picture of what dominates your sector, Trend analysis: which topics dominate AI answers about your sector is a good framework.

Step 4: Turn the topics into your content strategy and calendar

Rank the topics on two things: how big the gap is, and how well you can write about it. A topic you really have something to say about takes priority over a topic that is merely big.

Give each topic in the calendar three fields:

  • the question it answers, in the buyer's words;
  • the source from the answer you want to match or beat;
  • the place where it appears: your own website, a guest contribution or a mention by a third party.

You schedule an Insight from GripIQ for a specific date in the calendar with the Schedule action, also from the Dashboard. Insights link through to the brands, keywords or prompts they are based on, so for every scheduled action you see where it comes from.

A practical rule of thumb for the order: start with topics you already have knowledge of in-house, and where the gap comes back in several prompts. If a topic only shows up in one prompt, that can be coincidence. If it comes back in five prompts, you have found a pattern. For each topic, first write down the key sentence you want the buyer to take away. If you can't, the topic isn't ready for the calendar yet.

Step 5: Measure whether the gap is closing

You only keep a content strategy going if you see what it delivers. After a few weeks, check in Prompts whether your brand appears in the answers to the questions concerned. Every overview shows next to the filters when the last scan ran and when the next one is scheduled. So you know whether an unchanged picture means nothing has really changed, or whether the next scan has yet to run.

Don't expect a change the day after publication. What does help: review the same gaps again at every monthly calendar round, and update your list.

What you can do now

  • Open Prompts, select the last month and note the five questions in which your brand is missing.
  • For each of those five, read the sources below the answer, and write down what that source does better.
  • Group the five into two or three topics, and put the first one in next month's calendar.

What would that look like for your own brand? Book a demo.