--- title: "Web research" canonical_url: https://zentrik.ai/docs/integrations/web_research markdown_url: https://zentrik.ai/docs/integrations/web_research.md category: "Integrations" learning_track: null last_reviewed: 2026-09-21 --- # Web research Keep competitor and market evidence current with a research brief that runs on your chosen cadence. ## Overview Web research uses OpenAI to search public sources. A brief can combine several competitor, market, and custom research sections, each with its own questions and scope. No provider credentials are needed. ## Create a research brief 1. Open **Settings → Integrations → Catalog → Web research** and choose **Create research brief**. 2. Add a **Competitor research**, **Market research**, or **Custom research** section. You can add several sections of the same type. 3. Name competitors or a market, describe what you want to learn, and add research questions. 4. Under **Preferred sources**, select G2, Capterra, Reddit, or Trustpilot, or use **Add another website**. Keep **Search other websites too** checked to prioritize your selections while allowing other sources. Uncheck it to search only your selected websites. Open **Scope and exclusions** for geography, audience, languages, and exclusions. 5. Choose a destination product and save the draft. 6. Choose **Test draft** and review the source previews. Tests use workspace AI credits and create no Signals. 7. Activate the tested draft and choose **On demand**, **Daily**, or **Weekly**. Scheduled runs require a plan that includes scheduling. All sections share the same schedule. A brief supports up to five sections. The initial lookback defaults to 30 days and can be set to 1–90 days. Beside **Run now**, choose **Last N days** to search that full lookback or **Since last completed run** to search for recent changes. Scheduled runs search for changes with a three-day overlap. Workspace owners and admins can create, edit, and activate briefs. The section subjects, questions, and scope are sent to OpenAI for research. ## Review sources and Signals New source documents become Signals for the selected product. Each retains a source link, dates, and a research paraphrase. Summaries are AI-generated; company announcements represent the company’s claims. Open a run receipt from **Runs** to review source previews, coverage limitations, and why each candidate was skipped. Repeated source URLs are skipped. Research can return no results when no new sources meet the brief. Search results do not guarantee complete coverage of a market. **Sources per section** is the target number of qualifying source documents. If five candidates produce two valid sources and three rejections, Zentrik searches again for the missing three. Rejected sources and duplicate URLs within the run do not fill the target. Additional searches keep your original questions, date window, and source restrictions. If they cannot fill the target, the run shows how many sources were found and explains the shortfall. Search effort is bounded, so the target is not guaranteed. Zentrik manages search usage and prepares the report from the sources collected. A completed run can show **Limited coverage** when some topics remain unverified. Review those notes alongside the findings; they distinguish gaps in coverage from a researched topic with no new findings. Individual customer reviews can qualify even when their hosting page has no publication date. Review dates stay attached to their observations. A month-only date is kept as a month and qualifies when the entire month is inside the research window. If a section returns no accepted sources because candidates were rejected or coverage was limited, the next run keeps the previous research window. The window is also retained when a section falls short of its source target and coverage remains limited. Change a brief by saving and testing a new draft before activating it. Pause an active brief to stop automatic runs. Pause a brief before archiving it. Archiving preserves its run history and previously captured Signals. ## Troubleshooting ### Limited coverage The run completed with the available sources. Review the coverage notes to see which topics or evidence types remain unverified. ### Failed research or Signal import Retry when a search, report preparation, or Signal save failed. Previously saved Signals are retained. A retry keeps the original run’s dates. To search a fresh full window, return to the brief, select **Last N days**, and choose **Run now**. ### Missing dates Research uses publication dates or individual review dates. Sources with unknown dates are skipped, and Zentrik searches for qualifying replacements. Month-only dates qualify when the whole month falls inside the research window; an exact day is never invented. ### Plan or credit limit Check the workspace’s billing settings. Preview research also uses AI credits. ### No sources from a preferred site Preferred sources guide research but do not guarantee findings from every selected website. Uncheck **Search other websites too** to restrict results to your selections. Sources must still meet the brief’s questions and date window. ## Related guides - [Zentrik + Fathom](https://zentrik.ai/docs/integrations/fathom) - [Zentrik + Fireflies](https://zentrik.ai/docs/integrations/fireflies) - [Zentrik + Linear](https://zentrik.ai/docs/integrations/linear)