Why You Can’t Optimize for Prompts (and What to Do Instead)
As AI reshapes how people search, the way we measure and optimize visibility is starting to break down.
Most strategies still focus on prompts. But prompts are inconsistent, unpredictable, and often bear little resemblance to how real users explore, refine and make decisions. The same person won’t ask the same thing twice, and AI systems don’t operate on isolated queries.
The value sits in the conversation.
Users move through multi-step journeys, expanding context, comparing options and redefining intent as they go. Brands may appear early, but disappear as the conversation evolves and decisions become more specific.
In this webinar, Jon Earnshaw and David Sayce move beyond the single-query mindset to explore what it really means to optimize for the full search conversation.
Meet your webinar hosts 👇🏼
Jon Earnshaw
With over two decades of digital expertise, Jon Earnshaw is a pioneering force in SEO and academic research, renowned for coining the term ‘keyword cannibalization.’ A sought-after speaker and commentator on the SEO industry, Jon has headlined brightonSEO, and has featured in leading publications including Search Engine Watch and The Telegraph. As the Chief Product Evangelist and Co-Founder of Pi Datametrics, Jon drives innovation in search intelligence for global brands and agencies.
David Sayce
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One of the questions that followed this webinar was:
“If I shouldn’t optimise for prompts, what should I be tracking instead?”
In his latest article, Jon Earnshaw explores why individual prompts only tell part of the story, how AI search journeys evolve into multi-turn conversations, and how Pi Datametrics maps conversation spaces to understand visibility across the conversations that matter most.
You’ll also learn how conversation mapping, citation doorways and the Conversation Presence Index (CPI) are helping brands measure and improve their presence across AI search.
