Module 03 · Lesson 1 of 4
Query Universes and Prompts
A query universe is the complete set of ways your buyer asks about what you sell. Keywords, question forms, conversational prompts, comparisons, edge cases. Most sites optimise for a handful of head terms and ignore the rest of the universe; AI search makes that expensive, because fan-out and prompts live in the long part of the set.
Start with seeds, expand with patterns
Write down five to ten seeds: the words buyers actually use, not your internal jargon. Then expand each seed through the pattern classes:
| Pattern class | Forms | Example (seed: seo audit) |
|---|---|---|
| Definitional | what is, meaning, explained | what is an seo audit |
| How-to | how to, steps, checklist | how to do an seo audit yourself |
| Comparison | vs, best, top, alternatives | best seo audit tools compared |
| Situational | for X, in Y, beginner, agency | seo audit for ecommerce sites |
| Conversational prompts | full sentences with context | "I manage marketing at a law firm, what should an seo audit cover?" |
| Commercial | cost, price, hire, service | how much does an seo audit cost |
Free expansion sources
- Autocomplete: type a seed and read the completions; note the alphabet trick (seed + a, seed + b...).
- People Also Ask / related searches: the question and branch list is a free map of the universe.
- Search Console: queries you already appear for are seeds you have earned; mine them monthly.
- Assistants themselves: ask two AI assistants "what would someone search to solve [problem]" and harvest the phrasing.
- Sales and support: the literal sentences customers write are the best prompt seeds you will ever get.
Twenty to forty items is a working universe for one topic. More than that and you are procrastinating; fewer and you will mistake a sample for the population.
Seed topic: "estate agent SEO". Definitional: what is seo for estate agents, does seo work for estate agents. How-to: how to rank for [city] property searches, how to get more valuations from google. Comparison: best crm for estate agent marketing. Situational: seo for estate agents in london, seo for letting agencies, seo for single-branch agents. Prompts: "I run a two-branch estate agency, how do I compete with Rightmove online?", "why does my estate agency website not show up in google". Commercial: estate agent seo agency, estate agent seo cost. That is the shape: every class represented, prompts written the way people actually talk.
- Pick your single most commercial topic. Write five seeds from customer language.
- Expand to 20-30 items across all six pattern classes, using at least two free expansion sources.
- Tag each item: definitional, how-to, comparison, situational, prompt, commercial.
- Star the ten with the clearest link to revenue. Those lead your first repeatable runs in the next lesson.
- Save the set. It is now the instrument; do not change it casually, only add and date the addition.
Why include prompts, not just keywords?
How big should a first universe be?
Why does the set need to stay stable?
Sources used in this lesson
Google Search Central: SEO starter guide
Google Search Central: AI features and your website