See what AI engines really do with your query, in 30 seconds, no signup required. When buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude about your category, the engine runs five to thirty searches behind the scenes before answering. This tool shows you that hidden work.
Last updated: June 2026. Built by Astiva AI, the Competitive Intelligence platform for AI Search and Visibility. Brands compete on recommendations, not rankings.
Definition: Query Fan-Out. Query fan-out is the retrieval architecture by which an AI search engine decomposes one user query into multiple synthetic sub-queries, retrieves passages for each in parallel, and synthesizes the results into a single response naming three to five brands. The mechanism is documented in Google patent US20240289407A1, Search with Stateful Chat (August 2024), and implemented in production by ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity.
A single user query no longer maps to a single keyword. AI engines decompose it into a fan of synthetic sub-queries, retrieve passages for each, and synthesize one answer naming three to five brands. If your brand only ranks for the head query but misses the fan, your brand is invisible to the answer the user actually sees. Query fan-out is implemented in production by ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. See the full pillar guide at astiva.ai/blog/query-fanout.
Knowing the sub-query fan is the Detect phase. The Detect, Diagnose, Displace, and Prove Cycle that organizes Astiva AI follows through: Detect maps where AI engines route the fan, Diagnose surfaces which sub-queries your brand is winning or losing across the activated AI platforms, Displace generates citation-ready content closing the identified gaps, and Prove ties the resulting citation lift to GA4 sessions, conversions, and revenue from $249 a month. Full methodology, formulas, and validation cadence are published at astiva.ai/methodology.
Query fan-out is the retrieval architecture by which an AI search engine decomposes one user query into multiple synthetic sub-queries, retrieves passages for each in parallel, and synthesizes the results into a single response naming three to five brands. The mechanism is documented in Google patent US20240289407A1, Search with Stateful Chat (August 2024), and implemented in production by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
Yes, completely. No signup, no email gate, no credit card required. Five fan-outs per hour per IP address, on any query in any category. Three of the five strategic dimensions (Category Authority, Audience-Native, Feature Differentiator) run with no account required at all. Two additional dimensions (Head-to-Head and Buyer Intent) unlock with a free Astiva AI account because they require brand-specific context to generate meaningfully.
The free Query Fan-Out Generator shows you what synthetic sub-queries AI engines would fan a user query into, with a one-line rationale per sub-query. The full Astiva AI platform shows you which brands AI engines are actually citing for each of those sub-queries, tracked daily across ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Grok, Meta AI, DeepSeek, and Mistral AI, with citation gap analysis and GA4 revenue attribution from $249 a month.
Yes. Running a competitor's category query surfaces the sub-queries AI engines fan into for that category, including the Audience-Native variants buyers actually phrase. This reveals the surfaces a competitor is winning and where you have gaps. To see which brand each sub-query currently cites across AI engines, and the source patterns driving those citations, you need the full platform with daily monitoring across all 10 platforms.
Head-to-Head requires your specific competitor list (which brands AI engines should compare you against by name), and Buyer Intent requires your ICP definition (so the sub-queries match how your buyers actually phrase them at peak decision intent). A public preview tool cannot ask for those inputs without becoming a long signup form. Both dimensions unlock with a free account that takes 60 seconds to create, no credit card required.
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Read the full Query Fan-Out pillar guide | Free AI Brand Visibility Analysis | Methodology | Astiva AI Pricing
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