Unowned questions
Questions no brand owns in AI answers, found in your own prompts
Rankry marks the tracked prompts where AI researches hard, names you rarely and gives no competitor the answer. They are labelled “Open field” or “Low competition”, and one click starts a draft in Content Studio.
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how to track ugc brand deals
Open field- Answers that name you1 of 7
- Tracked rivals namedNone
- Unique pages cited38
- StrengthStrong
Sample data
In short
An unowned question is a prompt AI answers without a clear winner: it cites many sources, names you in few answers, and no tracked competitor holds the answer. Rankry finds these in your tracked prompts, labels them “Open field” or “Low competition”, and links each one to a draft in Content Studio.
The labels
What do “Open field” and “Low competition” mean?
Both labels go on prompts that pass the same base test. They differ in who else shows up.
| Label | What AI does today | Your best move |
|---|---|---|
| Open field | Names no tracked competitor. Other brands may appear, but none that you track. | Publish the clearest answer on the web. You are competing with the question, not with a rival. |
| Low competition | Names tracked competitors, but none holds the answer: the strongest is named in at most 40% of answers, or at most two rivals appear and the strongest is named in at most 60%. | Write a better page than the ones being cited, and make your fit for the question obvious. |
| Not an opportunity | You are already named in more than 40% of answers, the prompt has less demand than most of yours, or a rival clearly owns it. | Defend what you have, or treat it as a competitor gap on the Compete page. |
Rivals are your tracked competitors. Labels are calculated from your latest report.
The rules
How does Rankry decide a question is unowned?
The rules are fixed and calculated from your latest report, not guessed by a model. A tracked prompt counts as an opportunity when three things are all true.
First, you are named in 40% of its answers or fewer. The tooltip in the app says “named in at most two of five answers”. If you are named more often than that, the question isn’t open for you; it is yours to defend.
Second, it has demand. Rankry measures demand by how many unique pages AI cites for the prompt, compared with your other prompts. When at least a fifth of your prompts have Google search volume, volume is blended in at 30%. The prompt has to sit at or above the median of your prompts. Many cited pages means AI is researching the question hard and hasn’t settled on one source.
Third, no tracked competitor owns the answer. Either none is named, which makes it an “Open field”, or the strongest rival is named in at most 40% of answers, or no more than two rivals appear and the strongest is named in at most 60%. Those last two cases are “Low competition”.
Each opportunity also gets a strength bar, “Some”, “Good” or “Strong”, so you can start with the best openings.
Content gaps
What are content gaps in AI search?
A content gap in AI search is a question your buyers ask that no page answers well enough for AI to rely on. You can spot one by its symptoms: the engines search widely, cite a long tail of loosely related pages, and name a different mix of brands each time, or none at all.
Content gaps are different from competitor gaps. In a competitor gap a rival already wins: AI names them and cites their pages. In a content gap nobody wins yet. That usually makes content gaps cheaper to close, because you need the best answer, not a better one than an established leader’s.
For UGC Planner, a deal tracker for UGC creators, a content gap might be “how to track brand deals as a UGC creator” or “what to put in a UGC contract”. AI answers those with general advice and no clear tool, which is exactly the opening a focused page can fill.
Where to look
How do I find questions no brand owns?
You don’t have to hunt for them. Once your first report is in, they surface in three places, and the prompt panel shows the evidence.
Prompts page
Opportunities carry an “Open field” or “Low comp.” pill. Use the “Opportunities” filter in the toolbar to list only them; each prompt’s panel has a “Write an article” action.
Opportunities page
The “In your prompts” block lists the top five with their strength and a “Write” button, plus “View all” for the rest.
Action plan
Step 2, “Win open questions”, shows your top five with a “Write” button and a link to see every opportunity.
The prompt panel
Open any prompt to see who wins it, every brand named, the sources each engine used, and the full answer for new runs: everything a winning page has to beat.
Write for it
How do I write for an unowned question?
The “Write” button starts a draft. What goes into it decides whether AI uses it.
- 01
Press “Write”
Rankry creates a “Write article” task and opens Content Studio with the brief pre-filled from that prompt.
- 02
Choose the format
Blog article, FAQ section, comparison page, glossary entry, use case page, or a Reddit or LinkedIn post. Match the format to how the question is asked.
- 03
Answer the brand questions
A short “Brand clarification” quiz asks about your angle, proof points and what to avoid. You can skip it, but answers make the draft specific.
- 04
Edit for quoting
Open with a direct answer in two or three sentences, use the question as a heading, add a table or steps where they help, and add facts only you can give.
- 05
Publish and keep tracking
Export as Markdown, CSV or Word (DOCX) and publish. The prompt stays tracked, so later reports show whether AI starts naming you.
Page checklist
What makes a page AI can cite for an open question?
Open questions are won by the clearest, most specific page. Check yours against this list before you publish.
- A first paragraph that answers the question directly.
- The question, or something close to it, as a heading.
- Concrete specifics: numbers, steps, prices, examples.
- A table when you compare options.
- A clear statement of who your product is for and when it fits.
- Short sections that make sense when quoted alone.
- An author and a visible update date.
- Content in the page HTML, readable without JavaScript.
- Links to it from related pages on your site.
Timing
How fast can a new page get cited for an open question?
There is no fixed timeline. A page has to be found and crawled, and each engine has its own search index and refresh rhythm. Some answers shift within weeks; others take longer. Anyone who promises a date is guessing.
What you can control is measurement. The prompt stays in your tracking and re-runs automatically every day, or every 3 or 7 days if you choose. Every run is kept in the prompt’s history, so you can see the first run where an engine names you or cites your page, and whether it holds.
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Related features
What does “Open field” mean in Rankry?
An “Open field” prompt is one where no tracked competitor is named, you are named in 40% of answers or fewer, and AI cites many sources compared with your other prompts. It doesn’t mean no brand at all is named: brands you don’t track may still appear.
What does “Low competition” mean?
Tracked competitors are named, but none holds the answer: the strongest is named in at most 40% of answers, or no more than two rivals appear and the strongest is named in at most 60%. You still need to be named in 40% of answers or fewer for the prompt to qualify.
Why does Rankry use cited sources to measure demand?
When an engine cites many different pages for a question, it is researching hard and hasn’t settled on a single source. That is where a strong page can become the reference. When enough of your prompts have Google search volume, Rankry blends it in so popular questions rank higher.
Does AI Volume affect which questions are opportunities?
No. The demand rule uses cited sources and Google search volume (the Volume column), not AI Volume. AI Volume is still worth a look on the Prompts page when you decide which opportunity to write for first.
Who counts as a rival?
Only your tracked competitors. Rankry finds them automatically from your first report, and you can add or remove brands in Settings, on the Compete page, or from a prompt with “Add to competitors”. Changing the list changes which prompts count as open.
Are opportunities written by AI?
No. They are calculated from your report data with fixed rules. AI comes in only after you press “Write”, when Content Studio drafts the page.
How many opportunities will I see?
It depends on your prompts and your market. The more prompts you track, the more chances to find open questions. A brand that is already named often will see fewer, which is a good problem to have.
Can I write for an opportunity without Content Studio?
Yes. The prompt panel shows every brand named, the sources cited and, for new runs, the full answer from each engine. That is enough to brief a writer or write the page yourself.
What if a rival starts winning an open question?
Then it stops being an opportunity and becomes a competitor gap. The Compete page shows where rivals beat you, and step 3 of the Action plan, “Beat your competitors”, lists the questions your top rivals win and the moves that can take them back.
Find the questions nobody owns yet
Run your first report and see which of your prompts are open, and how strong each opening is.
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