Getting Started Overview

You need a website, a few keywords with a rank, and one campaign. The campaign is a plan: mix + horizon + a daily cap from the CTR gap.

Checklist

• Account timezone (hours follow the target market)
• Add the website
• Add 5–15 keywords you already rank for (or want a baseline on)
• Check rankings once
• Create a campaign through the wizard: Query → Location → Mix → Horizon → Review

1. Account

Settings → Account. Set timezone. Plans are credit packs, not “sites + daily clicks” locks.

Trial is 150 credits.

2. Website

Websites → Add. Root domain only (example.com). We pull Domain Authority when Moz is configured.

Start with the property you will actually plan for.

3. Keywords

Under the website, add keywords one per line. Attach a city or ZIP when the query is local.

Good first set:

• Brand + one head term
• Three to eight terms already on page 2–3 (climb)
• Skip “rank #1 for a new domain tomorrow”

4. Baseline rank

Check All Rankings. SearchAPI stores the position. That position picks the situation:

• No rank / >100 → new page (180 days)
• 11–30 → climb (90 days)
• 4–10 → close the gap
• 1–3 → maintain

5. First campaign

Campaigns → New. The wizard is not “name, then dump 200 clicks.”

1. Query (and the rank we just stored)
2. Location: country, city, or ZIP. ZIP is 1.8× credits.
3. Session mix: satisfy / compare / soft miss. Climb defaults to 85 / 0 / 15.
4. Horizon: keep 90 unless it is a new page (180).
5. Review: daily cap, credits, launch

Do not start at 200 sessions/day. The planner will suggest a small daily number. That is the point.

After you launch

Week 1–2: delivery and mix, not rank obsession.

Week 3–4: which queries moved. Raise daily only inside the cap.

Month 2: another keyword, or maintain on anything that reached top 3.

Questions

How long? Local often moves in a few weeks. National head terms take longer. New pages use 180 days on purpose.

How many keywords? 5–15 until you have seen one plan finish a month.

Weekends? Leave them on. Cut hours if the market is weekday-only.

Search Console? Rank is SearchAPI today. GSC connect is later. Do not call this GSC-verified.

Next

• Campaigns (mix, credits, pause/resume)
• Keyword Rankings
• Websites