Fanout search (Query Fan-out)
Term from the world of AI visibility – explained simply by the GeoStars team.
The additional search queries an AI system runs in the background to answer a question – a single prompt often turns into several web searches.
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How fanout works
For AI Mode, Google describes a process called “Query Fan-out”: the question is broken down into sub-questions, each of which is searched for individually. Other systems with web search work the same way. “Which CRM suits a small agency?” turns, for example, into searches for comparisons, prices and reviews. Which pages rank highest in these sub-searches also helps determine which sources the answer cites.
What fanouts mean for GEO
You're not found for the prompt itself, but for the sub-searches behind it. Knowing them tells you which questions your content is missing. GeoStars shows the fanout searches per prompt on their own page, with text search and CSV export.
More in the Glossary.
RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) · Grounding Page · AI Mode (Google) · Prompt
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