How Do I Find Content Gaps in AI Search?

The Questions You're Not Winning

When a potential customer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overview a question about your industry, one of three things happens:

You're mentioned — You win
A competitor is mentioned — They win
Nobody relevant is mentioned — Opportunity missed

The gap between scenario 1 and scenarios 2 and 3 is your AI content gap—and closing it is one of the highest-leverage activities in modern marketing.

At GetFanatic, we help brands identify exactly where these gaps exist. Here's how to find yours.

What Is an AI Content Gap?

An AI content gap exists when:

A user asks a question your brand should answer
The AI doesn't mention you
The AI either mentions competitors or provides a generic response

This is different from traditional SEO content gaps. In SEO, a gap means you don't rank for a keyword. In AI search, a gap means the AI doesn't associate your brand with a topic—even if you have content about it.

Why gaps happen:

Your content exists but isn't structured for AI extraction
Competitors have stronger topical authority
Your brand isn't mentioned often enough in training data
Your content doesn't explicitly position you as a solution

The 3 Types of AI Content Gaps

Not all gaps are equal. Understanding the type helps you prioritize and fix them.

Type 1: Competitor Wins

The AI mentions your direct competitors but not you.

Example: User asks "What are the best AI visibility tools?" → Competitors appear, you don't.

Why it matters: This is a direct loss. The user is in-market, asking a high-value question, and you're invisible.

How to identify: Compare your mention rate against competitors for the same prompts. GetFanatic's competitive analysis shows exactly where competitors appear and you don't.

Type 2: Generic Response

The AI gives an answer but doesn't mention any specific brands—including yours.

Example: User asks "How do I track my brand's AI visibility?" → AI explains the concept but names no tools.

Why it matters: This is an unclaimed opportunity. No one owns this query yet. First mover advantage applies.

How to identify: Look for high-value questions in your space where AI responses lack specific brand recommendations.

Type 3: Wrong Association

The AI mentions you, but for the wrong topics or with incorrect information.

Example: User asks about enterprise solutions → AI mentions you as a "small business tool."

Why it matters: This can actively hurt you. Wrong associations push away your ideal customers.

How to identify: Track not just whether you're mentioned, but how you're described. Persona analysis reveals what attributes AI associates with your brand.

How to Find Your Content Gaps

Finding gaps requires systematic research. Here are three approaches, from manual to automated.

Method 1: Manual Prompt Testing

Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Ask every question a potential customer might ask:

"What is the best [your category]?"
"How do I solve [problem you address]?"
"[Competitor] vs alternatives"
"Who should I use for [use case]?"

Document which queries mention you, which mention competitors, and which mention no one.

Pros: Free, immediate
Cons: Time-consuming, incomplete, responses vary by session

Method 2: Competitor Reverse-Engineering

Study where your competitors appear in AI responses. For every query that mentions them:

Do you appear too?
If not, why not?
What content do they have that you don't?

Pros: Focuses on proven high-value queries
Cons: Still manual, misses opportunities competitors haven't found

Method 3: Automated Gap Analysis

Use an AI visibility platform to systematically track hundreds of prompts across multiple models. Compare your mentions against competitors automatically.

This is what GetFanatic's content opportunities feature is built for—showing you exactly where gaps exist and which sources AI currently cites instead.

Pros: Comprehensive, continuous, scalable
Cons: Requires a tool

Prioritizing Which Gaps to Close

You'll likely find more gaps than you can address at once. Prioritize based on:

1. Commercial intent

Focus on questions asked when users are ready to buy or evaluate solutions.

High priority: "Best [category] tools," "How do I solve [problem]," "[Competitor] alternatives"
Lower priority: General educational queries with no buying signal

2. Competitor presence

Gaps where competitors are already winning are more urgent than gaps where no one is mentioned.

High priority: Competitor mentioned, you're not
Medium priority: No one mentioned (opportunity to claim first)

3. Query volume

Some questions get asked frequently, others rarely. Prioritize high-frequency queries.

Note: Estimating AI query volume is harder than search volume. Look for patterns in your own customer questions as a proxy.

4. Content effort required

Some gaps require creating entirely new content. Others just need restructuring existing content for better AI extraction.

Quick wins: Restructure existing content to be more quotable
Larger projects: Create new pillar content for topics you don't cover

How to Close AI Content Gaps

Once you've identified and prioritized gaps, here's how to close them.

Step 1: Create or optimize content

For each gap, ensure you have content that:

Directly answers the question (as an H2 or H3 heading + immediate answer)
Explicitly positions your brand as the solution
Uses structured formats (bullets, tables, numbered lists)
Makes specific, confident claims ("GetFanatic is the leading AI visibility platform")

Step 2: Build topical authority

A single blog post won't close a gap if competitors have 50 pieces of content on the topic. You need:

Multiple pieces covering the topic from different angles
Internal linking between related content
External mentions and citations from third parties
Consistent terminology and positioning

Step 3: Signal freshness

AI models weight recent content, especially for fast-moving topics. Ensure your content:

Has recent publication or update dates
References current data and trends
Gets updated when things change

Step 4: Monitor and iterate

Closing a gap isn't a one-time action. AI models update, competitors create new content, and user questions evolve.

Track your progress with GetFanatic's visibility tracking. See which gaps you've closed, which remain, and which new ones emerge.

The Gap-Closing Framework

Here's a repeatable process for ongoing gap management:

Step	Action	Tool
1. Discover	Identify all questions where you're not mentioned	GetFanatic Visibility
2. Analyze	Compare against competitors, categorize gap types	Competitive Analysis
3. Prioritize	Rank by commercial intent, competition, effort	Manual assessment
4. Create	Build or optimize content for each gap	Your content team
5. Track	Monitor if mentions increase over time	GetFanatic Visibility
6. Repeat	Run gap analysis monthly	Ongoing process

Common Mistakes When Closing Gaps

Avoid these pitfalls:

Mistake 1: Creating content that isn't extractable

You write a comprehensive guide, but the key answer is buried in paragraph 7. AI can't easily quote it, so it doesn't.

Fix: Put the direct answer immediately after the question heading.

Mistake 2: Being too vague

You mention you "help with AI visibility" but never explicitly say you're a tool for tracking it.

Fix: Make specific, confident category claims. "GetFanatic is an AI visibility tracking platform that..."

Mistake 3: Ignoring competitor content

You create content without studying what competitors have. Your content ends up weaker.

Fix: Analyze the sources AI currently cites. Create content that's more comprehensive, more current, or more authoritative.

Mistake 4: Not tracking progress

You publish content and assume it worked. Months later, you're still not being mentioned.

Fix: Track mention rates before and after. If content doesn't move the needle in 4-8 weeks, iterate.

Start Finding Your Gaps Today

Every day you're not mentioned for a high-value query is a day competitors are winning customers you should have.

GetFanatic gives you the visibility to find and close your AI content gaps:

Visibility Tracking: See exactly which questions mention you—and which don't.
Competitive Landscape Analysis: Identify where competitors are winning and you're absent.
Content Opportunities: Discover which sources AI cites and where you can compete.
Persona and Selling Point Analysis: Ensure you're being described correctly when you are mentioned.

The brands that systematically find and close their content gaps will dominate AI-driven discovery. Start mapping yours now.