What is Query fan-out?

The query a customer types is no longer the only query that decides who gets cited. Google described the technique when it introduced AI Mode in March 2025: it issues “multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources” — web results plus systems such as the Knowledge Graph and shopping data — then brings the results together. An Ahrefs analysis published in March 2026 found only 38% of pages cited in AI Overviews ranked in Google’s top 10, down from 76% in mid-2025 — a shift Ahrefs put partly down to fan-out and partly to changes in its own measurement.

Why does it matter in 2026?

• Google now documents it for site owners. Its AI optimisation guide (updated July 2026) defines fan-out as “a set of concurrent, related queries generated by the model to request more information and fetch additional relevant search results”.
• Ranking for sub-questions tracks with citations. Surfer’s September 2026 study found a strong correlation (0.77) between the number of fan-out queries a page ranks for and its chance of being cited in AI Overviews. Surfer generated the fan-outs with Gemini and stresses that correlation is not causation.
• It isn’t only Google. OpenAI says ChatGPT search “typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries”. Peec AI found that for non-English prompts, 43% of ChatGPT’s fan-out searches ran in English. It tested European languages, not Indian ones, but it is a reason to keep good English pages alongside Malayalam, Tamil or Gujarati ones.

How does it work?

1. The model reads the question plus context: location, language, earlier turns in the conversation.
2. It writes sub-queries — definitions, costs, comparisons, local options, recent changes, implied needs. Research modes go further: Google says Deep Search “can issue hundreds of searches”.
3. Each sub-query retrieves results, and the system selects the passages that answer each part (passage retrieval).
4. It writes one response and links some of the sources.

The sub-queries shift from run to run. Surfer’s data suggests only around 27% stay consistent across repeated searches for the same prompt, so no tool can give you a definitive list.

How to get it right

1. Map the follow-up questions. For each key service, list what a careful buyer asks next: cost, time, eligibility, risks, alternatives, “near me”. Mine your enquiries, WhatsApp chats, People Also Ask boxes, AI Mode follow-ups and Search Console queries.
2. Answer each in its own passage. A descriptive heading, the answer in the first sentence or two, then specifics. One strong page per topic, not one per phrasing (topical authority).
3. Handle comparisons honestly. Google pitches AI Mode at “complex comparisons”, so answer “X or Y?” questions with clear criteria, not self-praise.
4. Link related pages so crawlers and readers can move between a topic and its sub-topics.
5. Check rankings across the cluster. In Search Console, look at every query a page ranks for, not just the head term. Bing Webmaster Tools’ AI Performance report goes further: it lists the “grounding queries” Microsoft’s AI used to retrieve the pages it cited in Copilot and Bing answers.

Common mistakes

• A page for every fan-out query. Google’s guide warns that creating separate content for every variation of a search, including fan-out queries, primarily to manipulate rankings or AI responses violates its scaled content abuse policy.
• Chopping pages into fragments. Google says there is no requirement to break content into tiny pieces for AI.
• Treating a tool’s fan-out list as fact. Tools estimate sub-queries (Surfer’s study generated them with Gemini); Google does not publish the real ones.

In practice: a Kerala houseboat operator

Someone asks AI Mode, “Is a houseboat trip in Alappuzha worth it during the monsoon with young children?” Behind the scenes, sub-queries might cover monsoon safety, overnight versus day cruises, prices, child-friendly boats and Alappuzha versus Kumarakom. An operator whose site answers each of those plainly — its own safety practices, cruise options, rates and what families should bring — has several chances to be cited, not one.