{
  "kind": "fact",
  "studySlug": "query-translation",
  "slug": "average-prompt-to-query-similarity-is-only-twenty-five-percent",
  "title": "Average prompt-to-query similarity is only about 25%",
  "description": "Most of the wording changes substantially before retrieval.",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-01-22",
  "lastTested": "2026-01-22",
  "sourceStudyUrl": "/trakkr-research/query-translation",
  "sourceStudyTitle": "How AI Translates Your Questions",
  "claimIds": [
    "query-translation:similarity",
    "query-translation:pairs"
  ],
  "relatedSlugs": [
    "answer:how-aggressive-are-ai-query-rewrites",
    "answer:does-ai-add-current-year-terms-to-searches",
    "tracker:query-transformation-severity-tracker"
  ],
  "methodologySummary": "Built from 11,521 captured prompt-to-query pairs observed in OpenAI web search calls, with 100% search-query coverage in the sampled dataset.",
  "limitations": [
    "This study reflects captured search-query transformations rather than every hidden retrieval step a model may perform.",
    "Some inserted entities reflect category heuristics or market leaders rather than final recommendation outcomes.",
    "The underlying dataset is concentrated in commercial and research prompts rather than all possible conversational traffic."
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "query translation",
    "AI search rewrites",
    "prompt rewriting",
    "AI retrieval behavior"
  ],
  "schemaHints": {
    "pageType": "Article",
    "includeDataset": true
  },
  "claim": "Average prompt-to-query similarity was 25.24% in the query translation study.",
  "supportingMetrics": [
    {
      "label": "Average similarity",
      "value": "25.24%",
      "detail": "Average Jaccard similarity between prompt and search query."
    },
    {
      "label": "Prompt-query pairs",
      "value": "11,521",
      "detail": "Captured prompt-to-query transformations."
    }
  ],
  "whyItMatters": "It explains why pages built only around the literal prompt phrasing often underperform in AI search.",
  "citationBlock": {
    "quote": "Average prompt-to-query similarity was 25.24% in the query translation study.",
    "attribution": "How AI Translates Your Questions - Trakkr Research",
    "url": "https://trakkr.ai/trakkr-research/query-translation/facts/average-prompt-to-query-similarity-is-only-twenty-five-percent"
  }
}