People aren’t just Googling anymore; they’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity to make decisions for them. “What’s the best CRM for startups?” “Which landing page builder should I use?”
The challenge is that you can’t see where ChatGPT looks before it picks a winner: the queries it uses to retrieve information and build AI recommendations are completely invisible.
Until now.
A developer named Zack Notes built a Chrome extension that reveals the exact ChatGPT search queries running behind the scenes.
This, in essence, should fundamentally change how you think about AI content strategy. Because when you see what ChatGPT actually searches for, you realize most brands are showing up in all the wrong places.
Table of contents
- The multi-step thinker you didn’t know you were optimizing for
- Why transactional content is now a two-birds-one-stone play
- Digital PR just became table stakes
- Building your own query interceptor
- What this means for your AI content strategy
- AI doesn’t recommend the best brands. It recommends the validated ones.
The multi-step thinker you didn’t know you were optimizing for
Here’s what most people don’t understand about LLM recommendations: one user question triggers multiple background searches.
Ask ChatGPT, “What is the best SEO keyword research tool?” and it doesn’t just search that phrase. It runs:
- “Best SEO keyword research tools 2025”
- “SEO keyword research tool comparison features pricing”
Ask “HubSpot vs Salesforce for startups” and it searches:
- “HubSpot vs Salesforce for startups comparison CRM HubSpot Salesforce benefits for startups”
- “HubSpot & Salesforce features pricing scalability startups”
ChatGPT is validating its recommendation before it gives one.
It’s looking for comparison data, pricing information, feature breakdowns, and proof points across multiple search angles. In other words, if your brand isn’t showing up in these validation searches, you’re not getting recommended. Period.
The AI SEO extension works by intercepting the Fetch API calls between ChatGPT’s frontend and OpenAI’s backend. Think of it as a radio interceptor: you see the final broadcast on screen, but the actual search queries are buried in the raw signal.
The extension ‘listens’ to the data streaming into your browser and scans it for a specific tag called “search_model_queries”. Whenever it spots that tag, it grabs the search terms, cleans them up, and shows them to you in a separate box.
Why transactional content is now a two-birds-one-stone play
This invisible validation process connects directly to something we’ve been seeing in the data: transactional content protects you from two threats at once.
Ahrefs data shows that AI Overviews (the main reason behind declining informational traffic) appear far less frequently on transactional queries.
When someone searches “Salesforce pricing” or “HubSpot vs Pipedrive,” they still click through to actual pages. Google knows AI can’t close that deal.
But here’s the part most marketers miss: those same transactional pages are exactly what ChatGPT searches for when building recommendations.
- Comparison pages;
- Pricing guides;
- Feature breakdowns;
- Third-party reviews;
- Case studies with specific results.
These aren’t just SEO assets anymore; they’re LLM validation sources.
Build them right, and you’re defending against traffic loss from AI Overviews while simultaneously positioning your brand to win AI recommendations.
The inverse is also true.
If you’ve spent years building thin informational content that ranks but doesn’t convert, you’re exposed on both fronts. AI Overviews are eating that traffic, and ChatGPT isn’t finding the proof points it needs to recommend your brand.
Digital PR just became table stakes
The AI SEO extension reveals something else: ChatGPT actively hunts for external validation.
When it’s deciding what to recommend, it doesn’t just look at your website. It searches for third-party mentions, reviews, comparisons published by others, and credible sources discussing your product. This is why Digital PR matters more than it ever did for traditional SEO.
AI doesn’t care about your brand story or your founder’s vision. It cares about proof. Can it find your name in Software Advice reviews? Are you mentioned in G2 comparisons? Did TechCrunch or an industry blog cover your latest feature release?
If the answer is no, you’re invisible to the recommendation layer. ChatGPT won’t risk its credibility by suggesting a product it can’t validate through multiple external sources.
This changes the ROI calculation on PR entirely.
You’re not just earning backlinks or domain authority. You’re creating the external signals that determine whether an AI will ever suggest your product to a potential customer.
Building your own query interceptor
While testing Zack’s extension, we realized it could go further. Seeing the hidden queries is valuable, but what if it could also suggest content pillars and topics based on those queries?
We built that version in 30 minutes. Here’s exactly how.
Step 1: Upload and prompt ChatGPT.
We gave ChatGPT the original extension file and asked it to recreate the functionality while adding an AI-powered feature that generates content suggestions from the extracted queries. Since this requires an API call, we instructed it to integrate our OpenAI API key in the backend.
Step 2: Download and unzip the generated file.
ChatGPT outputs a ZIP file. Extract it locally.
Step 3: Load the extension in Chrome.
Go to chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, click “Load unpacked,” and upload the folder. If you hit an error, copy the message back into ChatGPT and ask it to fix the code. Then repeat the process and upload the updated folder.
Step 4: Generate your OpenAI API key.
Visit platform.openai.com/api-keys, create a new key, and confirm billing is configured so API calls don’t fail.
Step 5: Configure the extension.
Open it from your Chrome toolbar and paste in your API key.
Step 6: Test it live.
When we asked, “What is the best landing page builder?” ChatGPT ran searches for “best landing page builders 2025” and “landing page builder comparison features pricing.” The extension then generated content pillar suggestions based on those exact queries.
The experimental build has some bugs, but it works. You can follow these steps yourself or download our version to test.
What this means for your AI content strategy
ChatGPT is already making recommendations. It’s already deciding which brands get surfaced and which ones don’t.
With this AI SEO extension, you can see exactly what ChatGPT searches for when someone asks about your category.
Here’s what to do next:
- Run queries in your category and map the search patterns. Ask ChatGPT the questions your customers actually ask. “Best [your product category] for [use case].” “Product A vs Product B.” Watch what it searches for in the background. Those are your gaps.
- Audit your transactional content against the query patterns. Do you have real comparison pages that pit you against competitors? Not fluffy “vs” pages with marketing copy: actual feature-by-feature breakdowns with pricing. Do you have detailed case studies with specific results? ChatGPT is looking for proof, not promises.
- Invest in external validation sources. Get your product listed and reviewed on G2, Capterra, and Software Advice. Pursue mentions in industry publications. Earn those third-party signals. An AI won’t recommend what it can’t validate.
- Build the content ChatGPT can’t find about you. If the hidden queries reveal it’s searching “your-brand pricing” or “your-brand review 2025” and those pages don’t exist or are thin, you’re losing recommendations while reading this post.
This isn’t theoretical. Every time someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation in your space, and you’re not in the results, a competitor is gaining that consideration.
AI doesn’t recommend the best brands. It recommends the validated ones.
Although some people still Google, an increasing number are asking AI for recommendations. And AI doesn’t care about your keyword density or meta descriptions. It cares about whether it can validate you through multiple searches across comparison pages, reviews, pricing data, and third-party mentions.
The shift from visibility to credibility isn’t coming. It’s here.
The brands that succeed aren’t the ones with the most content. They’re the ones that show up in the right places when AI is doing its due diligence. The ones that built comparison pages that actually compare, pricing pages that inform, and external validation that really exists.
Building the content infrastructure that wins AI recommendations isn’t a 90-day sprint. It’s a multi-year investment in becoming the most credible, validated, provable option in your category.
Start by wiretapping the recommendation process. Then join the conversation your competitors are already a part of.
Want to learn more about AI-driven discovery? Step into 2026 with CXL’s B2B Marketing and AI training and find out how to optimize for algorithms and LLMs, without doubling your workload.
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