AEO Grounding Query Mapper

Source: github.com/psyduckler/aeo-skills Part of: AEO Skills Suite

Map the exact search queries Gemini 3 Flash fires when answering prompts — with clustering, pattern analysis, and cross-prompt comparison.

Why This Matters

When Gemini 3 Flash generates an AI Overview, it doesn't just answer from memory — it fires real Google Search queries to ground its response. Influence happens at retrieval, not inside the model — you can't edit training data, but you can enter the "candidate set" the model selects from when it searches. Gemini is search-first: it searches before nearly every answer, making it more influenceable than GPT.

Understanding what it searches for reveals the recurring retrieval set — the queries, sources, and themes the model consistently draws from:

• What topics to cover — queries reveal the sub-topics the AI considers essential
• How to phrase content — match the exact language the AI searches for
• Cross-prompt patterns — similar prompts may trigger overlapping queries, revealing core themes
• What content type to create — query intent (informational, commercial, navigational, transactional) tells you what format enters the candidate set

This is an upgraded version of prompt-frequency-analyzer with three key additions:

1. Query clustering — groups similar queries by shared terms
2. Cross-prompt overlap — shows which queries appear across multiple prompts
3. Batch mode — process many prompts from a file in one run

Requirements

• Gemini API key (free) — set as GEMINI_API_KEY env var
• Python 3.9+
• No pip dependencies (stdlib only)

Usage

# Single prompt
GEMINI_API_KEY="$GEMINI_API_KEY" python3 scripts/map_queries.py "best CRM for small business"

# Multiple prompts
GEMINI_API_KEY="$GEMINI_API_KEY" python3 scripts/map_queries.py "best CRM for small business" "CRM vs spreadsheet" "how to choose a CRM"

# Batch mode from file (one prompt per line)
GEMINI_API_KEY="$GEMINI_API_KEY" python3 scripts/map_queries.py --prompts-file prompts.txt

# JSON output
GEMINI_API_KEY="$GEMINI_API_KEY" python3 scripts/map_queries.py "best CRM for small business" --output json

Run from the skill directory. Resolve scripts/map_queries.py relative to this SKILL.md.

Options

Output

Per-Prompt Analysis

For each prompt:

• Query frequency — each unique search query with run count and percentage
• Intent classification — each query classified as informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional
• Intent distribution — percentage breakdown of query intents across all unique queries
• Query clusters — groups of similar queries sharing key terms
• Top sources — domains cited most frequently

Intent Classification

Every search query is automatically classified by intent:

• informational — knowledge-seeking queries ("what is X", "how does X work")
• commercial — evaluation/comparison queries ("best X", "X vs Y", "X review")
• navigational — brand/site-specific queries (contains domain names, "X login")
• transactional — purchase/action queries ("buy X", "X discount", "X free trial")

Cross-Prompt Analysis (when multiple prompts)

• Shared queries — queries that appear across 2+ prompts (core themes)
• Unique queries — queries specific to a single prompt
• Query overlap matrix — which prompt pairs share the most queries

Text Example

Prompt 1: "best CRM for small business"
Model: gemini-3-flash-preview | Runs: 20/20

Query Frequency:
  90% (18/20) [commercial] — best crm for small business
  55% (11/20) [commercial] — small business crm comparison
  40% (8/20)  [transactional] — crm software pricing 2025
  25% (5/20)  [commercial] — hubspot vs salesforce small business

Intent Distribution:
  30% informational, 50% commercial, 10% navigational, 10% transactional

Query Clusters:
  [crm comparison] (3 queries, 75% of runs)
    - small business crm comparison (55%)
    - best crm comparison 2025 (30%)
    - crm software pricing 2025 (40%)
  [specific brands] (2 queries, 45% of runs)
    - hubspot vs salesforce small business (25%)
    - zoho crm review (20%)

──────────────────────────────────────────

Cross-Prompt Overlap:
  "best crm" appears in 3/3 prompts — core theme
  "small business" appears in 2/3 prompts
  "comparison" appears in 2/3 prompts

Tips

• Use batch mode to analyze a set of related prompts and find themes
• High-frequency queries (>60%) are the AI's "go-to" searches — align your content with them
• Low-frequency queries (<20%) reveal edge-case sub-topics the AI sometimes explores
• Cross-prompt overlap reveals core themes you must cover regardless of phrasing
• Pair with aeo-content-free — use discovered queries as section headings and topics

Notes

• Gemini API key in macOS Keychain under google-api-key
• Retries with exponential backoff (up to 5 attempts)
• Keep --concurrency ≤5 to avoid rate limits
• Prompts are processed sequentially (concurrency applies within each prompt's runs)