The Buyer Journey Has Moved
The way people make decisions online is changing. For two decades, discovery began with Google keywords. Someone typed in “best ERP software” or “top ecommerce platform” and brands competed to show up on page one.
That model isn’t gone, but it’s no longer enough. Today, the journey starts inside AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. A prospect doesn’t search — they ask:
- “What’s the best ERP for manufacturers under $50M?”
- “Which logistics platforms do Fortune 500 companies trust?”
- “Who are the leading B2B agencies for platform migrations?”
These aren’t casual searches. They’re intent-rich prompts that signal purchase decisions, partnerships, and even investment. And the AI doesn’t return ten blue links, it gives a handful of names. If your brand isn’t in that answer, you’re invisible.
This is the new visibility battleground: AI prompt rankings.
Zen Media’s Prompt Discovery Index™
To address this shift, Zen Media launched the Prompt Discovery Index™ (PDI) — the first system built to map, measure, and grow brand visibility inside AI-generated answers.
The PDI acts as the AI-era counterpart to keyword research:
- Discovery: Builds a Core 1,000 Prompt Universe™, expandable to 10,000 prompts, segmented by industry, persona, and buyer intent.
- Measurement: Introduces Prompt Share—a new metric that tracks how often your brand appears across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity relative to competitors.
- Action: Identifies white-space prompts, competitor strongholds, and narrative gaps that PR, SEO, and content teams can immediately act on.
For SEO, this is as groundbreaking as keyword research was in the early 2000s. For PR, it replaces vanity metrics like impressions with measurable visibility.
Keywords Still Matter — But Prompts Decide Winners
It’s important to note: keywords aren’t dead. They remain critical for web search and site traffic. But prompts add a new layer of visibility:
- Keyword: “CRM software.”
- Prompt: “Which HIPAA-compliant CRM integrates with Epic?”
Keywords capture awareness. Prompts reveal intent. Together, they create a dual pathway for visibility, one in search engines, one in AI engines.
Brands that fail to adapt risk letting competitors dominate the prompt layer, where there are no second pages and no fallback clicks.
Industry Applications of Prompt Tracking
The implications stretch across industries:
- B2B Tech: Winning prompts tied to integrations, compliance, and ROI.
- Healthcare: Being named in prompts that link trust to regulation or safety.
- Ecommerce: Showing up when buyers ask AI about specific use cases like “best Bluetooth headset for long-haul drivers.”
- Finance & Services: Earning credibility in prompts that investors and journalists use to size up companies.
Prompts are zero-sum. If a competitor shows up in them, it almost always means you don’t.
From Vanity Metrics to Proof
Traditional PR relied on mentions, impressions, and placements. Those were signals, but they weren’t proof.
With the PDI, brands can see:
- Which prompts they appear in.
- How often they surface compared to competitors.
- Where gaps exist in their market visibility.
This turns visibility into an enterprise-level metric, one that CMOs can take into the boardroom and tie directly to valuation, revenue, and risk.
The Prompt Funnel: Mapping Buyer Intent
Just as SEO taught us the importance of the funnel, prompts give us sharper resolution at every stage:
- Awareness: “How can distributors reduce shipping costs?”
- Consideration: “Compare Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce for industrial products.”
- Decision: “Which agency specializes in migrating Magento configurators to Shopify?”
- Retention: “Best loyalty programs for repeat B2B customers.”
The Prompt Discovery Index™ maps these conversations across the funnel, showing exactly where brands need to insert themselves and where competitors are already shaping narratives.
Optimum7’s Perspective
We see the Prompt Discovery Index™ as a turning point. It validates what we’ve been telling clients: visibility is no longer just about keywords; it’s about conversations inside AI.
By launching the PDI, Zen Media has created the framework that brings accountability to this new era. For marketers, PR leaders, and executives, this means you can no longer rely on outdated SEO logs or vague impression reports. Prompt Share will be the metric that defines competitive advantage.
Your Questions Answered
- Do prompts replace SEO?
No. SEO still matters, but prompts now lead many buyer journeys. The two must work together. - How fast do prompt rankings change?
They shift constantly — often faster than SEO. News cycles, competitor activity, or AI model updates can alter visibility in days. - Which AI platforms matter most?
Start with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Each surfaces different brands in different contexts. - What industries benefit?
Any where trust, research, or complexity drive decisions: B2B tech, healthcare, ecommerce, finance, education, logistics. - What’s Prompt Share?
It’s the new visibility metric: the percentage of prompts where your brand surfaces across AI engines, compared to competitors. - How do I influence prompts?
By aligning PR, SEO, and content strategy to the prompts buyers are already asking — and using schema to ensure AI models can read your content clearly.
AI Visibility Isn’t Optional—It’s Survival
Zen Media’s Prompt Discovery Index™ marks the start of measurable AI visibility. Keywords built the last era of SEO, but prompts are shaping the next.
At Optimum7, we believe this framework isn’t just innovative, it’s essential. Brands that start mapping and tracking their Prompt Universe today will own tomorrow’s conversations.
Because in AI-generated answers, there’s no page two. You’re either present, or you’re not.
Contact us today to request your AI Visibility Report and see exactly where your brand stands in this new landscape—before your competitors claim the ground first.
