Before investing in a full AEO measurement platform, many teams start by manually tracking ChatGPT citations across a focused prompt set. This template makes that process structured and repeatable.
How to use this template
Step 1: Define your prompt set
Start with 50-200 buyer-intent prompts that real users would ask in your category. Examples:
- "What is the best [category] for [use case]?"
- "Compare [your brand] vs [competitor]"
- "How much does [your service] cost?"
- "Who are the leading providers of [category]?"
Step 2: Set up the tracker
Create a sheet with these columns:
- Prompt
- Date checked
- Brand mentioned? (Yes/No)
- Citation given? (Yes/No)
- Sentiment (Positive/Neutral/Negative)
- Competitors mentioned
- Notes
Step 3: Run the prompts weekly
Each week, paste each prompt into ChatGPT and capture the answer. Note whether your brand was mentioned, whether your URL was cited, and what competitors appeared.
Step 4: Track trends
Build a trend chart showing your share of voice (mentions / total prompts) over time. Compare to competitor SOV.
Step 5: Graduate to a tool
Manual tracking works for the first 90 days. Past that, switch to a dedicated AEO measurement tool like Otterly.AI, Profound, or Athena HQ for richer data and lower time cost.