Your first analysis: how does onboarding work?

On your first login, ChatSEO runs a guided flow in the chat. It is not a free conversation yet: ChatSEO runs its analyses one after the other and shows you what it finds. You move forward with buttons.

What ChatSEO analyses, in order

1. Your domain. If you do not have a site yet, ChatSEO asks for your domain (see below).
2. Your site as Google sees it. How Google shows you today, your title and meta description tags, and your pages through your sitemap.
3. How you heard about ChatSEO. A quick question, you can answer I'd rather not say.
4. Your positioning. What your site offers, and to whom. If the guess is off, fix it in place, then Save. Otherwise, That's right.
5. Your competitors. The sites ranking ahead of you on Google, with their domain authority. You can edit the list (see below).
6. Search Console. ChatSEO offers to connect it so it can read your real numbers. It is optional.
7. An opportunity. If Search Console is connected, ChatSEO shows you a query where you sit just behind page one, with your real clicks and impressions.
8. What's next. ChatSEO suggests a few work tracks to click, and the message box shows up.

A step with no data is simply skipped. For example, a site with no sitemap: ChatSEO only reads your homepage.

The message box only shows up at the end

That is expected. During the flow, you answer with the buttons on screen. The free message box appears once the flow is done: you can then click a track or write your first message.

Does it cost credits?

No. The guided flow does not use any credits. Credits are charged for the messages you send in the chat afterwards.

Search Console is optional

You can click Later: the flow carries on from your site and public Google rankings. You only lose the "opportunity" step, which needs your numbers.

If you connect it, access is read-only and you can disconnect whenever you want. ChatSEO then links the property that matches your domain. Your site is not in the list? Try another Google account, or click Continue without Search Console.

Editing the competitor list

• Click Remove next to a competitor that does not belong.
• Add a missing one in the Add a competitor I missed… field, then Add. A competitor is entered as a domain, like example.com.
• Confirm with That's the right list.

The list can stay empty: if ChatSEO finds no direct competitor and you do not know any, confirm the empty list. You can edit it later in the site settings. To see how the list is built, read how ChatSEO picks your competitors.

Your domain is not accepted

The message on screen tells you what to fix:

• "That doesn't look like a domain." Enter only the domain, like mydomain.com, with no spaces.
• "The extension is missing. Did you mean …?" Add the .com, .fr or whatever extension your site uses.
• "I can't find any site at this address." Check the spelling, then start the analysis again. The site has to be online.
• "I couldn't verify this domain." Try again in a moment: what you typed is kept.

A marketplace shop or a site in a subfolder? Read which domain to enter for your site.

Not ready to share your domain? Click I'd rather not share it. The flow jumps straight to the end, and you can add your site later from the sidebar.

A step is stuck or an error shows up

• "This step isn't responding right now." Click Try again, or Skip to move on without it.
• "Something went wrong", with "Your analysis is saved". Click Try again: you do not lose what has already been analysed. If that is not enough, reload the page.

If the error keeps coming back, message us from the Need help? button at the top of the screen, with a screenshot and the step you were on.