Selecting Topics for AI Ads Monitoring

The Mechanism: How Topics Become Prompts

To track competitor activity, we simulate real-world user behavior across AI search engines. We take your chosen business topics and automatically generate a collection of intent-driven prompts—ranging from direct product searches to complex comparison questions—to continuously monitor exactly how these platforms present your brand.

Why Selecting the Right Topics Matters

Because your topics form the foundation of our entire prompt engine, they dictate exactly where our monitoring effort is spent. * Well-chosen topics allow us to generate the right prompts to catch meaningful competitive activity and brand poaching.

• Poorly chosen topics do the opposite—they waste monitoring capacity on low-value areas or leave your most profitable categories completely blind.

Why It Matters

Topics dictate where your monitoring effort and budget are spent. Well-chosen topics capture meaningful competitive activity and brand poaching on AI surfaces. Poorly chosen topics do the opposite—they waste coverage on low-value areas or leave your most profitable categories completely blind to competitor maneuvers.

Step 1: Mine Your Google Ads Account (The 80/20 Rule)

You don't need exhausting workshops or weeks of discovery to build your topic list. Your Google Ads account already outlines exactly where your business spends, converts, and competes. It contains 80% of your AI monitoring roadmap.

Review your account through these five lenses:

• Campaign Structure: Your campaign names naturally map to how you organize your business. These are your ready-made primary topics.
• Spend Distribution: Follow the money. Categories that absorb the most budget are the ones that matter most to your bottom line.
• Conversion Data: High-spend, high-converting categories are your revenue zones. These require immediate protection and are your top monitoring priorities.
• Branded vs. Non-Branded Split: Heavy branded spend in a category signals that competitors are actively trying to hijack your traffic on Google. This is a direct predictor of risk on AI search engines. Where you are defending your brand on traditional search is exactly where you are most exposed on AI surfaces.
• Shopping Feed Categories: If you run eCommerce Shopping campaigns, your product feed offers a ready-made, highly structured taxonomy at the perfect level of detail.

What Makes a "Good" Topic?

Focus your coverage on a small number of high-value topics rather than spreading yourself thinly across dozens of categories. In AI monitoring, depth always beats breadth. A topic is worth monitoring if it meets two criteria:

1. It represents a vital source of revenue or high-margin profit.
2. It suffers from active, aggressive competitor advertising activity.

Getting the Granularity Right

Topics should sit at the exact level you organize your business around. If a topic is too broad, AI Ad prompts become too generic to catch specific ads. If it is too narrow, your coverage fragments.

Use this framework to find the sweet spot:

💡 Rule of thumb: If a category has its own dedicated team, specific budget, distinct reporting line, or its own main navigation section on your website, it’s a great monitoring topic.

Categories to Prioritize First

When launching your monitoring, give immediate priority to these five high-risk, high-reward areas:

• Exclusive or Owned Brand Lines: Where you are the sole provider and have the most to lose from alternative AI suggestions.
• High-Margin Categories: Where losing a single conversion to a competitor hurts the most.
• Value-Add Service Offerings: (e.g., installation, fitting, extended warranties) that differentiate you from baseline competitors.
• Emerging Product Areas: Where market share is still up for grabs and AI recommendations are actively forming.
• Active Battlegrounds: Any category where you know a competitor has recently launched an aggressive conquesting campaign against you.

Keeping Topics Current

Markets are dynamic—priorities shift, and new categories emerge. Treat your topic list as a living document. Review it quarterly to ensure your AI Ads monitoring stays perfectly aligned with where your business is winning (and defending) today.

Next Steps

Ready to transform your ad monitoring?

1. Export your Google Ads campaign structure and spend report
2. Map your top 5 to 10 revenue zones to the "Sweet Spot" granularity framework
3. Send your list of topics to the Adthena Support Team and they'll build out your prompt list for you