Free tools / ChatGPT Query Fan-Out
See what ChatGPT searched before it answered
Before answering, ChatGPT runs its own web searches. Type a buyer question and see the real searches it ran, and the sites it cited. Not a simulation.
By Raphaël Aubry, founder of Howseen AI · Updated
Free, no signup. Your result shows right here.
How it works
The tool asks ChatGPT your question with web search on and shows the searches it actually ran before answering, plus the sites it cited. Nothing is simulated or guessed.
“OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT’s search features.”
OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers
Type a buyer question
The way your customer would ask it.
We ask ChatGPT, web search on
A real request, logged with the searches it ran.
Target the searches
The queries and the cited sites are where your brand needs to appear.
FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask most before they run the chatgpt query fan-out, based on what the tool actually checks.
What is query fan-out?+
When an AI assistant answers with web search, it splits the question into several searches (brand comparisons, pricing, official pages) and reads the results. Those searches are the fan-out.
Is this real or simulated?+
Real. The question is sent to ChatGPT with web search on, and we show the searches it actually ran and the sources it cited for that answer.
How do I use the results?+
Each search is a page you need to rank for or be mentioned on. The cited sites show which publishers already shape the answer in your category.
Why do the searches change?+
AI answers are not fixed: the searches and sources can change from one run to the next. Tracking them over time shows which ones keep coming back.
Go further: Why AI recommends your competitors, not you
More free tools
Each free tool answers one question about how AI assistants see your brand. Together they cover visibility, crawling, llms.txt, searches and schema.
Sources
The official documentation this tool follows, from the companies that run the AI crawlers and the standards it checks against.
