Search Demand Lab guide

Start with the sample

Open the sample for a freelancer invoicing phrase with two generated checks a week apart. It works offline and shows every view, including Changes.

Add a phrase and check

Add a phrase and turn places on or off under Places to look. Press Check now. The Lab shows the request count and a time estimate first. A probe asked for today is skipped, so checking twice in a day costs nothing extra.

The views

• Question map: a two ring chart. The inner ring is the families found around the phrase (how, what, why, can, best, vs, for, price, near me, alternative, free). The outer ring is the phrases in the family you pick.
• Alphabet grid: letters and modifier families against places, shaded by how many distinct suggestions each probe returned. An empty row shows where the box says nothing. A probe never asked is missing, not zero.
• Intent: a stacked bar per place and overall: learn, compare, price and plans, fix a problem, near me and browse. These are word-list rules, and your AI can refine the tags.
• Keywords: every distinct suggestion with its family, intent tags and how many probes returned it, with a text filter.
• Changes: suggestions that are new since the last check, grouped by family, and those that dropped.

Pin, watch and ask

Pin one suggestion or a whole family to the evidence board, labelled as search suggestions. Turn on the weekly re-check for a phrase (only while Desktop is open). Every action is an MCP tool: see the Search Demand Lab group in the tools reference.