I tested Answer Socrates hands-on to see how it generates question-based keywords and content ideas. In short, Answer Socrates is a web-based SEO keyword research tool that focuses on question formats and makes it easy to surface content angles you might otherwise miss. In this Answer Socrates Review I explain how it works, what I like, and where it needs improvement.
Table of Contents
- How do I start using Answer Socrates for SEO keyword research?
- What types of question-based keyword results does Answer Socrates return?
- What do the intent labels like tofu, mid, and bottom of funnel mean in Answer Socrates?
- What are recursive questions and why do I like them?
- How does Answer Socrates use social media to improve keyword discovery?
- How does clustering work in Answer Socrates and why should I use it?
- Can I export Answer Socrates data to CSV and analyze it elsewhere?
- What are the limitations and what would I like to see improved?
- Does Answer Socrates have a free plan and is there a discount code?
- How I typically use Answer Socrates in a content workflow
- Is Answer Socrates easy to set up and use?
- How many question types does Answer Socrates generate?
- Can I export data from Answer Socrates?
- What does clustering do and how many clusters did it create in my test?
- Is there a free version and is there a discount code?
How do I start using Answer Socrates for SEO keyword research?
Getting started is straightforward. You create an account on the website (they offer a free account with limited daily searches), type a topic into the search field, optionally select a target country and language, and press search. I tested with the topic AI for business. It took around 4 to 5 seconds and returned about 833 initial questions.
The results page shows a few quick items up top such as a Google Trends panel (which sometimes does not display for certain queries) and a People Also Ask section. Below that the tool exposes the real value: multiple sections that generate question-style keyword ideas.
What types of question-based keyword results does Answer Socrates return?
Answer Socrates organizes results into several distinct sections. These are the sections I used most and what they mean in practice:
- Questions – Uses common question starters (can, how, what, why, etc.) to surface question keywords. I saw labels like tofu (top of funnel), mid, and bottom of funnel attached to keywords to indicate intent.
- Recursive questions – This is one of my favorite features. It takes popular questions from the initial results and generates follow-up questions, expanding an 833 set to almost 1,300 in my test.
- Social media questions – Pulls real questions asked on social platforms and appended 21 extra social questions for my topic, giving deeper, conversational keyword ideas.
- Prepositions – Appends prepositions to your seed term (for, with, without, etc.) to find additional long-tail ideas.
- Comparisons – Finds comparison-based queries (vs, better than, vs alternatives) that are great for review-style content.
- In the past – Surfaces past-tense or historical queries; useful for some topical searches but not relevant to every keyword.
- Letters – Appends alphabet letters to generate suggestions (a through z), which is a fast way to discover long-tail fragments.
- Query – Shows related Google query suggestions that can become additional topics.
What do the intent labels like tofu, mid, and bottom of funnel mean in Answer Socrates?
The tool applies labels such as top of funnel (tofu), middle, bottom, long tail, and local. These give a quick sense of intent — for example tofu indicates broad informational queries while bottom of funnel signals conversion-oriented queries.
The labeling is helpful but not perfect. I noted that some long-tail queries were not always flagged as long tail, and local only appears when a city or specific location is detected. From my testing, the tool seems to use regression or heuristics behind the scenes to decide labels, so treat labels as guidance rather than absolute truth.
What are recursive questions and why do I like them?
Recursive questions take a primary question and automatically generate additional related questions. In my test the initial 833 questions grew by another 477 immediately after I triggered recursion, bringing the total close to 1,300. For every main question the tool can generate multiple follow-ups (for example: what is AI, what are types of AI, how to apply AI in business, and so on).
This makes recursive questions especially useful for planning in-depth content or building pillar pages where you want to anticipate the full set of reader questions.
How does Answer Socrates use social media to improve keyword discovery?
Social media questions are pulled from real conversations and often surface more conversational or pain-point focused queries. When I generated social media questions the total count increased and added questions that felt more user-driven and actionable. These often make for strong blog post titles and FAQ sections because they reflect how people actually ask about a topic online.
How does clustering work in Answer Socrates and why should I use it?
Clustering groups related keywords into topic buckets so you can plan content around coherent themes. I ran clustering on a larger set and it clustered 925 keywords out of 1,326 total keywords into about 206 topic groups. Each cluster shows how many keywords it contains plus metrics like cost per click, competition index, and total search volume for the cluster.
Clustering helps me decide whether to create one comprehensive pillar post that covers many related questions or produce several focused posts that target specific clusters. I prefer exporting cluster data to a spreadsheet so I can color-code and filter the clusters further.
Can I export Answer Socrates data to CSV and analyze it elsewhere?
Yes. You can download results as a CSV and open them in a spreadsheet. I exported the clustered data and used my own color-coded system to prioritize topics. From there I either upload to Google Sheets to run further AI-assisted filtering or feed the CSV into an AI tool for more analysis.
What are the limitations and what would I like to see improved?
- I occasionally saw the Google Trends panel not populate for certain queries.
- The grouped view in several sections can feel dense; I would like a table view and more granular filtering (filter by word, include/exclude, etc.).
- Labeling is not always 100 percent accurate, so manual review is still necessary.
Does Answer Socrates have a free plan and is there a discount code?
Answer Socrates offers a free account with limited searches per day so you can try it out. If you want the premium plan, I tested the paid features and used the coupon code ALSTON10 which provides an extra 10 percent off for 3 months.
How I typically use Answer Socrates in a content workflow
- Run a seed search for the main topic and export the initial question set.
- Use recursive and social media questions to expand the list.
- Run clustering to group related questions into topic buckets.
- Export CSV and apply color-coding and filters in a spreadsheet.
- Decide whether to build a pillar post that covers one cluster in depth or to target individual long-tail questions with specific posts.
Is Answer Socrates easy to set up and use?
Yes. It is a web-based tool with no installation required. Create an account, enter a topic, optionally select country and language, and press search. The interface is straightforward.
How many question types does Answer Socrates generate?
It generates multiple question types including Questions, Recursive Questions, Social Media Questions, Prepositions, Comparisons, In the Past, Letters, and Query suggestions. In my test it generated over 1,300 combined questions after recursion and social sources.
Can I export data from Answer Socrates?
Yes. You can download CSV files for any result set, including clustered output, and analyze them in spreadsheets or feed them into AI tools.
What does clustering do and how many clusters did it create in my test?
Clustering groups related keywords into topic clusters so you can build comprehensive or targeted content. In my test it clustered 925 keywords into roughly 206 topic clusters out of 1,326 total keywords.
Is there a free version and is there a discount code?
There is a free account with limited daily searches. For the premium plan you can use the code ALSTON10 to get an additional 10 percent discount for 3 months.
Answer Socrates is a straightforward, web-based tool for question-driven keyword research and content idea discovery. It is particularly strong at expanding question sets through recursion and social media sources and provides useful clustering for topic planning.
