# RankOut documentation > Complete product documentation for RankOut, an SEO, AEO and GEO platform. Canonical documentation index: https://rankout.app/docs # What RankOut is Source: https://rankout.app/docs/overview RankOut is one platform to research, decide, approve, implement, validate and measure SEO, AEO and GEO work — connected to your real site and search data, with a human sign-off before anything goes live. RankOut turns search optimisation into a single connected pipeline instead of a stack of disconnected tools. It audits your real website and search data, turns what it finds into prioritised opportunities, drafts the exact change for each one, applies it only after you approve, checks that the change actually landed, and then measures whether the metric it targeted moved. ## The pipeline Every feature in RankOut sits on one chain. Knowing where you are on it tells you what to do next. 1. **Research.** Connect the site and your search data, capture a baseline, and run a combined assessment — technical, on-page, content, AI-readiness, plus keyword and connected-source data. 2. **Decide.** Findings become Opportunities: each has evidence with a source and timestamp, why it matters, the affected page or query, an SEO / AEO / GEO label, and an impact / effort / risk / confidence read. 3. **Approve.** Group opportunities into a Strategy, edit the individual actions, and approve it. Approved actions become work items on the Plan & Work board. 4. **Implement.** For each work item RankOut drafts one precise change and shows you the diff. Nothing touches the live site until you approve it. It can apply through the WordPress Connector, open a GitHub pull request, or record a manual change. 5. **Validate.** Straight after a change is applied, RankOut reads the live value back and confirms the change is really there — schema, meta, status, links — and offers a rollback if it isn't. 6. **Measure.** A baseline is captured before the change; RankOut then re-checks the target metric at 7, 14 and 28 days and tells you whether it improved, held, or declined — and recommends the next action. ![RankOut Mission Control showing the pipeline progress bar and the next best action card](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/mission-control.png) _Home / Mission Control — where you are on the pipeline and the single next action._ ## Who it's for - Agencies running SEO / AEO / GEO for many client sites from one place, each with its own project, connections, approval queue and reports. - In-house teams managing one or a handful of sites who want research, implementation and measurement in one tool instead of four. - Anyone who needs a clear audit trail — every approval, live-site change and report sign-off is logged. ## The approval boundary RankOut automates research, drafting and measurement freely. It never changes your live site on its own. Every change that affects a production site is queued as a proposal with a full diff and waits for a person with the right permission to approve it. New here? Follow the quick start to go from a new project to a validated change. [Open the quick start](https://rankout.app/docs/quick-start) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is RankOut only for WordPress? No. WordPress sites get the deepest integration through the RankOut Connector plugin (read the site, apply approved changes, roll back). Codebase-backed sites (Next.js and similar) are supported through the GitHub integration, where RankOut prepares a pull request instead of applying directly. Any site can use the manual path, where RankOut drafts the change and a person applies it. ### Does RankOut replace Search Console and Analytics? No — it connects to them. GSC and GA stay the systems of record. RankOut reads them to build baselines, attribute changes to metrics, and populate reports. --- # Quick start Source: https://rankout.app/docs/quick-start Create a project, connect the essentials, review the baseline, run an assessment, approve one action, and watch RankOut implement and validate it. This walks the whole pipeline once with a single small change — the fastest way to understand how RankOut fits together. Budget about 20 minutes of hands-on time; the assessment and validation run in the background. 1. **Create the project.** From the client switcher choose Add project. Enter the website, a primary goal, the platform, and a contact email. RankOut creates the project and drops you on the Setup page. 2. **Let the baseline run.** On creation RankOut fires a public crawl of the site and snapshots any connected performance data. The Setup page shows a Baseline panel — it moves from Capturing to a crawl score with page counts and top recommendations. 3. **Connect website access.** In the Required section of the Setup checklist, connect the RankOut WordPress Connector (or GitHub for a codebase site). This is the one connection RankOut needs before it can assess or change the site. 4. **Connect Search Console and Analytics.** In the Recommended section, authorise Google and pick the Search Console property and Analytics property. These give you a real performance baseline and let RankOut measure change outcomes later. 5. **Run the analysis.** Open Home / Mission Control and choose Run analysis. RankOut audits the live site and turns the findings into Opportunities. 6. **Pick one opportunity.** Open Opportunities, choose a small, technically-verifiable one — a missing meta description, a schema gap, an internal link — and read its evidence, reasoning and expected outcome. 7. **Build and approve a strategy.** Select the opportunity and create a strategy. Set the implementation method to WordPress Connector on that item, submit the strategy for review, and approve it. The action becomes a work item. 8. **Draft the change.** Open Changes (or the work item on Plan & Work) and let RankOut draft the proposal. It inspects the live page and produces one exact tool call or file change with a diff. 9. **Approve and apply.** Review the diff. Approve it. RankOut applies the change through the connector, reads the value back to validate it, and moves the work item to Done. 10. **Watch Results.** The work item now has a baseline. Over the next four weeks RankOut re-measures the targeted metric and classifies the outcome. From there it recommends the next action and the loop repeats. > **Tip:** For a first run, choose a change with an instantly checkable result — title tag, meta description, schema, alt text, an internal link. Ranking impact takes weeks; a schema fix can be validated in seconds. Each step has its own page with the detail — start with creating a project. [Create a project](https://rankout.app/docs/create-a-project) --- # Create a project Source: https://rankout.app/docs/create-a-project A project is created from just a website and goal, then RankOut runs a guided Setup page and captures a baseline before you connect anything. In RankOut a project (also called a client) is one website you're optimising. Everything else — connections, opportunities, strategies, work, reports — hangs off a project. ## Creating one 1. **Open Add project.** Use the + in the client switcher in the top bar, or Add project on the Clients screen. 2. **Fill the short form.** Project name, website URL, primary goal, website platform, and a primary contact email. That's it — no provider fields, no credentials. 3. **Land on Setup.** RankOut creates the project, sends a portal invitation to the contact email, and opens the Setup page for the new project. ![The new project form with website, goal, platform and contact fields](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/create-project.png) _Project creation is one screen — website and goal to start._ ## The Setup page Setup is the guided Connect stage. It shows every data connection a project can have as a tiered checklist, with a readiness score and a plain statement of what each connection unlocks. | Tier | What it means | Examples | | --- | --- | --- | | Required | Needed before RankOut can assess or change the site. | WordPress Connector, or GitHub for a codebase site | | Recommended | Needed for a real performance baseline and to measure outcomes. | Google Search Console, Google Analytics | | Optional | Adds coverage for a specific channel — connect only what applies. | Google Business Profile, Google Tag Manager, GitHub (if not the main path) | Each row shows a status — Connected, Action needed (for example Google is authorised but no property is chosen yet), or Not connected — and a button that jumps to that project's Connections screen. The readiness score is tier-weighted; a project is ready for a real assessment once website access is connected. ![The Setup page readiness checklist grouped into Required, Recommended and Optional](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/setup-checklist.png) _Setup — one place to see what's connected and what a baseline still needs._ ## The baseline When a project is created RankOut immediately runs a public first-party crawl of the domain and snapshots any performance sources that are connected. This is the honest starting point — captured before you've wired anything up. The Setup page's Baseline panel shows: - A public crawl score out of 100, with page counts (crawled, healthy, broken). - The top recommendations from the crawl audits. - Which performance sources were connected at capture time (usually none at first — that's recorded on purpose). - A Re-capture button to run it again after you connect more, or if the site was unreachable the first time. > **Note:** The crawl baseline is a public, unauthenticated view. The full site audit (see Opportunities) needs the WordPress Connector and produces much deeper findings. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I add a project without a website yet? Yes, but the baseline crawl is skipped until you set a primary domain, and most of the pipeline is blocked until website access is connected. Add the domain on the project's Connections screen and use Re-capture on the Setup page. ### Who can create projects? Anyone with the Manage clients permission. The built-in Owner and Admin roles have it; client-portal users do not. --- # Connect your data Source: https://rankout.app/docs/connect-your-data How to connect the WordPress Connector, Google Search Console and Analytics, Google Business Profile, Google Tag Manager, GitHub, PageSpeed and Jira — and what each one enables. Connections are managed per project. Open the project on the Clients screen and choose Edit, then the Connections tab — or click any Set up button on the Setup page to land there directly. RankOut only ever shows data for connections you've actually made. ## WordPress Connector (recommended for WordPress sites) The RankOut Connector is a WordPress plugin that gives RankOut a scoped, revocable connection to the site. It's the deepest integration: RankOut can read pages and settings, apply approved changes, read the value back to validate them, and roll a change back from WordPress's own revision history. 1. **Install the plugin.** Install and activate the RankOut Connector plugin on the WordPress site. 2. **Start the connection.** On the Connections tab choose Connect next to WordPress Connector. RankOut opens the site's authorisation screen. 3. **Approve on the site.** Sign in to WordPress as a user with the capabilities you want RankOut to act with, and approve. The grant acts as that user — its permissions cap what RankOut can change. 4. **Confirm.** The Connections tab shows Connected, the WordPress user, and the granted scope. > **Warning:** The connector's scope is the WordPress user's own capabilities. If a proposal you approve fails on WordPress's side, it usually means that user can't perform that action — connect as a user with broader capabilities. ### Easy MCP (legacy) Older projects may be connected through the Easy MCP AI plugin instead. It still works as a website-access path, but new projects should use the RankOut Connector — it's the path that supports validation read-back and one-click rollback. ## Google Search Console + Google Analytics One Google authorisation covers both. After authorising you pick which Search Console property and which Analytics property belong to this project. **Search Console unlocks:** Query and page performance history, indexability signals, and per-change measurement — RankOut compares the target query's clicks, impressions, CTR and position before and after a change. **Analytics unlocks:** Sessions, engagement and conversion baselines, used in outcome measurement and in reports. 1. **Authorise Google.** On the Connections tab choose Connect next to Google. Sign in and grant read access. 2. **Pick the Search Console property.** Choose the exact property (domain or URL-prefix) that matches this site. 3. **Pick the Analytics property.** Choose the GA4 property for this site. > **Note:** If Setup shows Search Console or Analytics as Action needed, Google is authorised but the property hasn't been selected — finish it on the Connections tab. ## GitHub For codebase-backed sites, connect GitHub so RankOut can prepare changes as pull requests instead of applying them directly. RankOut browses and reads the repo to draft a change, then opens a PR for a human to review and merge. 1. **Install the GitHub App.** Choose Connect next to GitHub and install the RankOut GitHub App on the repository. 2. **Pick the repository.** If the installation covers more than one repo, select the one for this project. ## Google Business Profile Optional. Connect for local and near-me visibility: ratings, reviews and profile insights feed reports and the local view. Authorise Google Business Profile, then choose which business location to link. ## Google Tag Manager Optional. Provides tag and measurement-configuration evidence. It needs both the container ID and a GTM OAuth credential for this project — add both on the Connections tab. ## PageSpeed API key Optional. A Google PageSpeed Insights API key raises the rate limit for performance checks used in the crawl baseline and the Performance view. Add the key on the Connections tab. ## Jira Optional. Jira is a one-way sync target, never the system of record. Set a Jira project key (and, for API sync, Jira credentials) so work items can be mirrored into a Jira board for teams that run delivery there. ![The Connections tab of a project showing each integration with a Connect or Reconnect button](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/connections-tab.png) _Connections tab — connect, reconnect or disconnect each integration per project._ ## Frequently asked questions ### What permissions does RankOut request from Google? Read-only access to Search Console and Analytics data. It never requests write access to Google properties. Every authorisation is recorded in the project's authorization log. ### Can I disconnect an integration? Yes — each has a Disconnect action on the Connections tab. For the WordPress Connector, disconnecting also revokes the grant on the site's own plugin. --- # Home / Mission Control Source: https://rankout.app/docs/mission-control Mission Control is the project home screen — it answers where you are on the pipeline, what RankOut found, what needs approval, what's in progress, and what to do next. Open Home for any project and Mission Control answers five questions at a glance: 1. Where am I in the workflow? — a pipeline progress bar from Connect to Measure & optimise. 2. What did RankOut find? — the top opportunities, ranked by impact. 3. What needs my approval? — strategies waiting for a decision, and measured recommendations to accept or dismiss. 4. What is RankOut working on? — active work items and recent implementations. 5. What improved, and what next? — validated wins and regressions, and one clear next best action. ![Mission Control with the pipeline bar, next best action, opportunity list and strategy approvals](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/mission-control-full.png) _Mission Control pulls research, approvals, work and results into one screen._ ## The next best action The highlighted card is RankOut's recommendation for the single most useful thing to do right now, based on where the project is: | If… | The next action is | | --- | --- | | Website access isn't connected | Connect the website audit (goes to Setup) | | No opportunities yet | Run your first analysis | | Opportunities are waiting for review | Review the top opportunity and approve an action | | Approved work is in progress | Continue active work | | A measured recommendation is waiting | Review RankOut's optimisation recommendation | ## Running an analysis from here The Run analysis button audits the live site through the connector and converts the findings into opportunities. It's disabled until website access is connected. See Opportunities for what the analysis produces. --- # Opportunities & analysis Source: https://rankout.app/docs/opportunities An analysis audits the live site and turns every finding into a normalised Opportunity with evidence, reasoning, a discipline label and an impact / effort / risk / confidence read. ## Running an analysis From Mission Control or the Opportunities page, choose Run analysis. RankOut runs the site's automated audit through the WordPress Connector (technical, on-page, content, schema, AI-readiness) and an AI pass turns the raw findings into a short summary plus a structured list of issues written for a non-technical reader. Each finding is then synced into an Opportunity. Re-running an analysis keeps the history — you can see how the finding list changed over time. ## What an opportunity contains **What RankOut found:** The issue, in plain language. **Evidence:** The source (site analysis, keyword research, a connected source) and the time it was observed. **Why it matters:** The impact on search or answer-engine visibility. **Affected target:** The page, entity or query the opportunity is about. **Discipline:** SEO, AEO or GEO. **Read:** Impact, confidence, effort and risk — used to rank the backlog and to plan a strategy. **Proposed action:** The recommended fix. **Expected outcome:** The measurable target the action is aiming at. ![An expanded opportunity card showing finding, why it matters, recommendation and expected result](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/opportunity-detail.png) _Every opportunity carries its evidence and a measurable target._ ## Lifecycle - Discovered — new, waiting to be reviewed. - In a strategy — selected into a strategy that's being planned or approved. - In progress — its action is an approved work item being implemented. - Completed — the change was applied and validated. - Dismissed — set aside; it won't clutter the backlog but stays on record. > **Tip:** Keyword research feeds the same Opportunity model. A high-priority keyword cluster with no page targeting it shows up here as an opportunity, not in a separate tool. --- # Keyword research Source: https://rankout.app/docs/keyword-research Start a keyword research run from a plain-language goal; RankOut pulls provider data, clusters it into prioritised opportunity groups, and feeds the strongest clusters into your backlog. 1. **Open Keyword Research.** From the project's Evidence & tools group in the sidebar. 2. **Describe the goal.** Write the outcome in plain language — for example "local SEO for a dental clinic in Colombo". You can list a few angles separated by commas. 3. **Start the run.** RankOut expands the goal into seed terms, pulls volume and difficulty data from the keyword provider, and an AI pass groups the keywords into clusters. Runs happen in the background — you'll see the result when it's ready. ## What you get - A short plain-English overview of the keyword landscape for that goal. - 3–8 clusters, each with a label, intent (research or ready-to-buy), a priority (high / medium / low), a one-line rationale, and the keywords with their volume and difficulty. - Only keywords that were actually in the provider data — nothing invented. ![Keyword research results showing prioritised clusters with intent and rationale](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/keyword-clusters.png) _Clusters are ranked for this project's goal, not just by raw volume._ > **Note:** The latest keyword research is also used elsewhere: it sharpens the target keywords on strategy actions and content assets, so a run pays off across the pipeline. --- # Strategy & approval Source: https://rankout.app/docs/strategy-and-approval A Strategy turns selected opportunities into a small set of concrete actions you can review, edit per-item, and approve as a whole — after which each action becomes a work item. A strategy is the approval-oriented workspace between opportunities and work. The default is a small "next best actions" plan, not dozens of tasks across twelve weeks. ## Building one 1. **Select opportunities.** On Mission Control or Opportunities, tick the opportunities you want to act on and choose Create strategy. 2. **Give it a title and objective.** One line each — what this push is and the outcome it's for. 3. **Review the items.** RankOut drafts one action per opportunity: a planned action, an expected outcome, and an effort / risk read. 4. **Edit per item.** For each item you can adjust the planned action, expected outcome, effort and risk, target date, target URL and target keywords, dependencies, and — importantly — the implementation method. 5. **Set the implementation method.** WordPress Connector, GitHub PR, manual, or content-first. This decides how RankOut will implement that action. 6. **Submit for review.** Submitting moves the strategy to a review state with an optional comment. 7. **Decide.** A reviewer approves, rejects, or requests changes. On approval, every action becomes a work item on the Plan & Work board. ![The strategy builder with a list of editable action items and their implementation methods](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/strategy-builder.png) _Approve the strategy as a whole; edit any individual action first._ **Implementation method: WordPress Connector:** RankOut will draft a precise tool call against the live WordPress site and, on approval, apply and validate it. **Implementation method: GitHub PR:** RankOut will draft a file change and open a pull request for a human to merge. **Implementation method: manual:** RankOut drafts the change and a person applies it, then marks it done. **Content-first:** The action needs a content asset drafted and approved first (see Content Engine); implementation follows once the draft is signed off. > **Warning:** Approval permissions matter here. Submitting a strategy and deciding on a strategy are separate permissions from building one — see Team, roles & permissions. --- # Plan & Work Source: https://rankout.app/docs/plan-and-work Every approved strategy action is a work item on the Plan & Work board, with a status, priority, due date and a link back to the opportunity it came from. Plan & Work is the single source of truth for delivery. There is one work-item system — a work item always descends from an approved strategy action, which descends from an opportunity. Jira, when connected, mirrors these; it never owns them. ## Statuses | Status | Meaning | | --- | --- | | Planned / Ready / To do | Approved, not started. | | In progress | Being worked on. | | Waiting approval | A change proposal has been drafted and is in the Changes queue. | | Validating | The change was applied; RankOut is reading the live value back. | | Done | Applied and validated. | | Blocked | Validation failed or a dependency isn't met. | | Failed | The apply step failed. | ![The Plan & Work board grouped by status with priority and due-date columns](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/plan-and-work.png) _Work items carry a status, priority and due date, and link back to their opportunity._ ## Due dates and reminders Set a due date on a work item and RankOut surfaces it in the notification bell in the top bar: overdue first, then due today, then the next seven days. Done and failed items drop out of the reminders. --- # Changes & implementation Source: https://rankout.app/docs/changes-and-implementation For each work item RankOut drafts exactly one change, shows the diff, and applies it only after you approve — through the WordPress Connector, a GitHub pull request, or a recorded manual change — then validates it. The Changes page is the execution queue. Nothing here touches a live site without an explicit approval. ## How a proposal is drafted When you ask RankOut to draft a change for a work item, it runs a bounded loop: it inspects the live page (read-only), works out the single most targeted change that accomplishes the action, and produces one proposal — a specific tool call or file change, a summary, and an explanation grounded in the action's what / why / how. It never runs a write operation during drafting. 1. **Draft.** From Changes or the work item, choose Draft proposal. RankOut inspects the page and produces a pending proposal. The work item moves to Waiting approval. 2. **Review the diff.** The proposal shows exactly what will change — the before and after values, or the full new file content for a PR. 3. **Approve or reject.** Approve to apply it. Reject to send the work item back to Ready with the proposal recorded as rejected. 4. **Apply.** For the WordPress Connector, RankOut runs the one approved tool call. For GitHub, it opens a pull request. For manual, you apply it and mark it done. 5. **Validate.** For connector changes RankOut immediately reads the affected value back and compares it to what was approved. Pass moves the item to Done; a mismatch moves it to Blocked with the details. ![A change proposal showing the before and after values with approve and reject actions](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/change-proposal-diff.png) _Every proposal is one change, with a diff, waiting for a person to approve it._ ## Rollback For a WordPress Connector change that was applied, RankOut records the WordPress revision it created. If the change needs undoing, Revert restores that revision through the connector and sends the work item back to Ready. GitHub changes are undone by closing or reverting the pull request in GitHub. > **Note:** Validation is not impact. A schema or meta change can be validated in seconds — that only confirms it's live. Whether it moved rankings or citations is measured over weeks on the Results page. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can RankOut apply a change without me approving it? No. The drafting loop is hard-gated to read-only operations. The one write operation only happens in the approve-and-apply step, which requires a person with the Manage implementation permission. ### What if the apply step fails? The proposal is marked failed with the error message, the work item moves to Failed, and nothing partial is left behind — RankOut applies exactly the one approved call and reports the result. --- # Content Engine Source: https://rankout.app/docs/content-engine The Content Engine drafts production-ready content assets — meta, page copy, FAQs, schema, article briefs, AEO answers — with versioning and a review step before they're queued for implementation. Some actions need content written before they can be implemented. The Content Engine is where that content is drafted, reviewed and approved — separately from the change that publishes it. 1. **Create an asset.** Choose a type (SEO meta, page copy, FAQ, schema, internal links, article brief, article draft, AEO answer, GEO entity), give it a title and a brief, and optionally link it to a work item and target URL / keywords. 2. **Draft.** RankOut drafts the asset from your brief and the project's brand context, returning only the fields that make sense for the type. Or paste your own content instead. 3. **Version and edit.** Add new versions while the asset is a draft. Each version keeps a change note. 4. **Submit for review.** Submitting locks editing. A reviewer approves or rejects. 5. **Queue for implementation.** An approved asset can be queued — RankOut drafts a change proposal that publishes it, which then goes through the normal Changes approval and validation. ![A content asset with its versions, review status and queue-for-implementation action](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/content-engine.png) _Content is drafted, versioned and approved before it's queued to publish._ > **Tip:** RankOut marks any factual claims that need checking in the asset's reviewer notes rather than asserting them. Review those before approving. --- # Results & outcomes Source: https://rankout.app/docs/results-and-outcomes Every implemented work item gets a baseline, then RankOut re-measures its target metric at 7, 14 and 28 days, classifies the outcome, and recommends the next action. ## Baselines Before a change is applied, RankOut captures a baseline for that work item — the current values of the metrics the action targets (Search Console clicks / impressions / CTR / position for the target query, Analytics sessions, PageSpeed scores), scoped to the target URL and keywords where possible. ## Measurement windows After the change is validated, RankOut schedules re-measurements at 7, 14 and 28 days. Each one compares the current values to the baseline and produces a classification: | Classification | Meaning | | --- | --- | | Improved | The targeted metrics moved favourably beyond noise. | | Unchanged | No meaningful movement yet. | | Declined | The metrics moved the wrong way — worth investigating. | | Insufficient data | Not enough traffic or history to judge. | | Pending | The window hasn't elapsed yet. | ![An outcome card showing the baseline, the current values and the classification with deltas](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/results-outcome-card.png) _Each action's outcome is measured against its own baseline, not a period summary._ ## The next-best-action loop When a measurement completes, RankOut proposes an optimisation decision — keep and expand, revise the approach, investigate or roll back, or wait for more data — with a rationale. Accepting it creates a new opportunity, which flows back into the pipeline. Dismissing it records the decision. > **Note:** RankOut is careful about correlation versus causation. "Improved after this change" is what it claims; it does not assert the change caused the improvement. --- # Reports & the client portal Source: https://rankout.app/docs/reports-and-portal Generate client reports built from the opportunity → action → change → outcome trace, and give clients a read-only portal to follow progress, approvals and results. ## Reports 1. **Generate a report.** From the Clients screen or the Reports queue, choose Generate report for a project. Generation runs in the background. 2. **Review.** The report queue shows status. Open a finished report to review it before it's shared. 3. **Share.** Reports are shared into the client portal, where the client can read them and leave comments. Reports draw their narrative from the pipeline — which action targeted which metric, when the baseline was captured, whether validation passed, and what the outcome was — alongside the GA / GSC / PageSpeed summaries. ## The client portal Each project has a client-facing portal. When you create a project, the contact email gets a secure invitation — no temporary password. Portal users get a read-only view: - Progress on the pipeline and what's been done. - Reports, with the ability to comment. - Approvals and outcomes in plain language. ![The client portal showing progress, a shared report and a comment thread](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/client-portal.png) _Clients follow the work in a live portal instead of waiting for a monthly PDF._ --- # AEO / GEO visibility Source: https://rankout.app/docs/aeo-geo-visibility Track a set of prompts by discipline, run a visibility scan, and see where your brand is mentioned or cited in answer-engine responses versus competitors. Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) are about showing up in AI answers — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. RankOut tracks this as its own measurement loop. ## Prompts A prompt is a question or query you want to be visible for. RankOut seeds a starter set from the project's name, services and locations; you can add, edit and deactivate prompts, each tagged with a discipline (AEO or GEO) and a topic. ## Scans 1. **Run a scan.** From the AEO/GEO Visibility page, start a scan. It runs in the background across your active prompts. 2. **Read the results.** For each prompt: whether your brand was mentioned, whether it was cited (with the citation URL), the sentiment, an excerpt of the answer, and which competitors were mentioned or cited. 3. **Track the trend.** Repeat scans build a history — share of answer visibility over time, by discipline, and against competitors. ![AEO/GEO visibility results showing prompts, brand and competitor mentions and citations](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/aeo-visibility.png) _Per-prompt visibility: mentioned, cited, sentiment, and competitor share._ > **Note:** Page and entity recommendations that come out of visibility gaps flow into the same Opportunity model as everything else. --- # Ask RankOut & AI memory Source: https://rankout.app/docs/ask-rankout Ask RankOut is a chat copilot with a small set of safe, permissioned tools; it draws on a connected memory layer so it doesn't have to re-derive context every message. ## Ask RankOut Ask RankOut answers questions about a project and can take a few bounded actions on your behalf. It's a copilot for the workflow, not a separate product. - Answer "how is my site doing" from the connected overview. - Run a site analysis or start keyword research. - List open work items and draft an implementation proposal for one — which still lands in the Changes queue for you to approve. > **Note:** Every state-changing tool is either self-contained and safe or gated behind the same human approval as the rest of RankOut. The assistant never publishes anything itself. ## AI memory RankOut keeps a connected memory over the project's history — evidence, decisions, outcomes. When you ask a question, it retrieves the slice of that history that's relevant and grounds the answer in it, rather than replaying the whole conversation. The chat also keeps only a bounded window of recent messages, so long conversations stay fast. The AI Memory page (in Evidence & tools) lets you review and manage what RankOut has retained for the project. ![The Ask RankOut chat panel answering a question with a tool-call summary](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/ask-rankout.png) _Ask RankOut shows which tools it used to answer._ --- # Team, roles & permissions Source: https://rankout.app/docs/team-roles-permissions Manage users and roles from one page; roles are permission sets, and access scope plus client assignment control which projects a user can see. Team and role management live together, reached from the Account Settings menu (the avatar in the top bar). ## Roles A role is a named set of permissions. RankOut ships built-in roles — Owner, Admin, and Client Viewer — and you can create your own. Permissions are grouped: viewing each data source, managing clients, managing strategy / implementation / keyword research / content / visibility / memory, viewing and signing off reports, viewing the audit log, and managing users and roles. | Role kind | Typical use | | --- | --- | | Admin-like | Agency staff — full operational access across assigned projects. | | Sales-like | Prospecting and acquisition; no project delivery access. | | Client-like | The read-only client portal for one project. | ## Access scope and client assignment **Access scope: All:** The user can see every project in the agency. **Client assignment:** For staff without All scope, the specific projects they're assigned to — they see only those. **Client-like users:** Always scoped to exactly one project — their own portal. ![The combined Team & Roles page with the members list and the role editor](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/team-and-roles.png) _Users and roles are managed from one page, opened from Account Settings._ --- # Agencies, audit log & AI usage Source: https://rankout.app/docs/agencies-and-usage Run many projects from one agency workspace, follow every operational action in the audit log, and see AI token usage by feature. ## Multi-client An agency workspace holds many projects. The client switcher in the top bar moves between them; every screen — Mission Control, Opportunities, Changes, Results, Reports — is scoped to the selected project. Each project keeps its own connections, approval queue, audit history and reports. ## Audit log The Audit Log page records every approval, live-site change, report sign-off, and client / user / role action taken in the agency, newest first, with the actor and — where relevant — the IP address. Filter by target type or action. ## AI usage The Audit Log page also shows an AI usage panel: token totals for the last 30 days, the number of AI operations and model calls, and a breakdown by feature — site analysis, Ask RankOut, keyword research, content, AEO/GEO visibility, and change proposals. Every Claude call RankOut makes is recorded. ![The AI usage panel on the Audit Log page with token totals and a per-feature breakdown](https://rankout.app/docs/screenshots/ai-usage-panel.png) _AI spend is tracked per feature so you can see where the tokens go._ --- # AI Connector & MCP tokens Source: https://rankout.app/docs/developer-mcp The AI Connector page lets you mint and revoke your own scoped tokens for connecting RankOut to an external MCP client. The AI Connector page (in Settings) is self-service — you manage your own tokens, no admin needed. A token is scoped to your permissions and the projects you can access. 1. **Create a token.** Give it a name and create it. Copy the value — it's shown once. 2. **Use it.** Configure your MCP client with the token to reach RankOut's tools programmatically, within your access. 3. **Revoke.** Revoke a token at any time from the same page; it stops working immediately. > **Warning:** Treat a token like a password. It carries your access. If one leaks, revoke it. --- # FAQ & troubleshooting Source: https://rankout.app/docs/faq Answers to the questions that come up most when getting started with RankOut. If your question isn't here, check the page for the feature you're using, or contact support from the app. ## Frequently asked questions ### RankOut says it can't run an analysis. Website access isn't connected. Open the project's Setup page and connect the RankOut WordPress Connector (or GitHub for a codebase site) in the Required section. ### The baseline crawl failed. The public crawl couldn't reach the site — a wrong URL, a blocked crawler, or the site was down. Fix the domain on the Connections tab and use Re-capture on the Setup page. ### Search Console / Analytics shows "Action needed". Google is authorised but you haven't chosen a property. Open the Connections tab and select the Search Console property and the Analytics property for this project. ### A change proposal I approved failed to apply. For a WordPress Connector change, the connected WordPress user probably lacks the capability for that action. Reconnect the connector as a user with broader capabilities. The proposal is marked failed and the work item moves to Failed — nothing partial is left behind. ### A change validated as failed / the work item is Blocked. RankOut read the live value back after applying and it didn't match what was approved — often a caching layer or another plugin overwriting the field. Check the page, then re-draft the change or use Revert. ### How do I undo a change? For a WordPress Connector change, use Revert on the proposal — it restores the WordPress revision RankOut created. For a GitHub change, close or revert the pull request in GitHub. ### How long until I see ranking impact? Validation (is the change live?) is immediate. Impact on rankings, clicks or citations is measured over 7, 14 and 28 days on the Results page. Ranking movement genuinely takes weeks. ### Can a client change anything? No. Client-portal users are read-only — they can follow progress, read reports and leave comments. ### Does RankOut work for non-WordPress sites? Yes, through GitHub (RankOut opens pull requests) or the manual path (RankOut drafts, a person applies). WordPress gets the deepest integration because the Connector supports direct apply, validation read-back and rollback. --- # Glossary Source: https://rankout.app/docs/glossary Definitions for the objects and terms that appear across RankOut. **Project (client):** One website you're optimising. Everything else hangs off it. **Baseline:** The starting-point snapshot — a public crawl plus connected-source metrics — captured when a project is created, and per work item before a change is applied. **Opportunity:** A normalised finding with evidence, reasoning, an affected target, a discipline (SEO / AEO / GEO) and an impact / effort / risk / confidence read. **Strategy:** A small set of concrete actions built from selected opportunities, reviewed and approved as a whole. **Strategy item / action:** One action in a strategy — a planned action, an expected outcome, and an implementation method. **Work item:** An approved strategy action on the Plan & Work board. The canonical unit of delivery. **Change proposal:** One precise, human-reviewable change RankOut drafts for a work item — a tool call or a file change, with a diff. **Validation:** Reading the live value back after a change to confirm it's really there. Different from impact. **Outcome measurement:** A re-check of a work item's target metric against its baseline at 7, 14 or 28 days, with a classification. **WordPress Connector:** The RankOut plugin that gives RankOut a scoped, revocable connection to a WordPress site — read, apply, validate, roll back. **SEO / AEO / GEO:** Traditional search optimisation / answer-engine optimisation (being the answer) / generative-engine optimisation (being cited by AI search). **Discipline:** The SEO / AEO / GEO label on an opportunity or prompt. **Agency workspace:** The account that holds many projects, users, roles and the audit log.