Playbooks, Routines & Golden Loops

💳 Golden Loop Upgrade Charges and Refunds Explained

📖 What This Article Covers If you recently upgraded to the Golden Loop plan and noticed that you were charged the full plan price instead of a small prorated amount, or that your refund did not reflect a prepaid credit already applied to your account, this article explains what happened, how the correct amounts are calculated, and exactly what to do next. 💳 How a Golden Loop Upgrade Should Be Billed When you accept a Golden Loop offer partway through a billing cycle, you should not pay the full plan price upfront. Instead, the system calculates a prorated charge, which means you only pay for the time you actually use. Here is how it should work: - Time remaining: you are billed only for the days left in your current cycle, which is roughly one month for most upgrades. - Credits applied: any prepaid credit already on your account, such as a Growth plan credit, is deducted before your card is charged. - Future billing: the full plan price starts on your next normal billing date, not at signup. For example, instead of a full charge of $3,351.60, a typical mid-cycle upgrade should produce a much smaller prorated charge of roughly one month of the plan. ⚠️ The Known Billing Issue Some customers who accepted the Golden Loop offer ran into two related problems: - Full charge instead of a prorated charge: the system charged the entire plan price at signup (for example, $3,351.60) rather than a small prorated amount of about one month. - Refund that ignored prepaid credits: the automatic refund issued afterward (for example, $2,005.24) was calculated without including a prepaid credit — such as a $1,179.75 Growth credit — that had already been applied to an earlier purchase, like a June PRO plan payment. Both problems are billing calculation errors on our side. They do not affect your access to Golden Loop features, and they can be corrected once our team reviews your account. 🔍 How to Check Your Charge and Refund Before reaching out, gather these details from your billing history and invoice emails so our team can resolve your case quickly: 1. The date and amount of the Golden Loop charge (for example, $3,351.60). 2. The date and amount of any refund you received (for example, $2,005.24). 3. Any prepaid credit applied to earlier purchases, including the credit amount (for example, $1,179.75) and the month it was used. 4. The invoice numbers or payment references for each transaction. Then compare the numbers. If your upgrade charge equals the full plan price, or if your refund plus the credit already applied does not add up to the amount you overpaid, your account likely needs a manual correction. 🧮 How the Correct Refund Is Calculated A correct adjustment accounts for every dollar already on your account. In simple terms: - Start with the full amount you were charged. - Subtract the correct prorated price you should have paid. - Include any prepaid credit that was applied to earlier purchases, because that credit was your money and must not be lost or double-counted. - The result is the total that should be returned to you as a refund or account credit. If the refund you received is smaller than this total, the difference is still owed to you, and our team will make it right. ✅ What to Do Next If your charge or refund does not match the amounts described above, follow these steps: 1. Collect the billing details listed in the section above. 2. Send them to our team through the in-platform chat so a billing specialist can recalculate your charge and refund. 3. Our team will confirm the correct prorated amount, verify any prepaid credits, and issue any additional refund or account credit owed to you. - Screenshot or save your invoice emails when you make a purchase, especially when a credit is applied. - Check the amount charged on your card right after any upgrade and compare it to the prorated price you expected. - Keep a record of prepaid credits, including the amount and the month they were used, so they are easy to reference if a refund is ever needed. Refunds typically appear on your bank statement within 5 to 10 business days after they are processed, depending on your bank. If a credit is applied to your Search Atlas account instead, it will be visible immediately in your billing summary. 💡 Tips to Avoid Confusion on Future Upgrades 🙋 Still Need Help? Our billing team can review your transactions, verify every credit, and correct any overcharge or under-refunded amount. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Troubleshooting Playbook Page Errors

This article helps you resolve a “page not found” error when opening a playbook in Atlas Agent. 📍 Where to Find It Open Home from the left sidebar, then select Browse all playbooks. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Open Home from the left sidebar. 2. Select Browse all playbooks. 3. Find the affected playbook in the list and open it from there instead of using an older bookmark or direct link. 4. Because switching browsers has already been tried, clear the platform’s saved site data in your current browser. In your browser settings, find the site’s cookies and cached files, remove them, then close and reopen the browser. 5. Sign in again and repeat the verified path: Home → Browse all playbooks → the affected playbook. 6. If only one playbook still fails, copy its current URL and note whether other playbooks open successfully. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked The fix worked when the playbook opens from Browse all playbooks, its page content loads normally, and refreshing the page does not return the “page not found” error. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗺️ How to Navigate to Playbooks in Search Atlas

This article helps you find the Playbooks feature inside Search Atlas when the standard navigation steps are not leading you to the right screen. If you have clicked the Atlas Agent icon or explored the CoWork area without seeing a Playbooks option, the steps below clarify the correct path and what to look for once you arrive. 🔍 Common Causes of Confusion - Atlas Agent vs. Playbooks: Atlas Agent is accessed from the left sidebar by clicking Home (Ask Atlas Ag / Agent Hub) and opens a different tool. Playbooks is a separate section and is not nested inside the Atlas Agent panel. - CoWork area: CoWork contains collaboration features but does not host Playbooks directly. If you are browsing CoWork and not finding Playbooks, you are likely in the wrong section. - Advertiser vs. Publisher context: Playbooks may display differently depending on whether your account is set to an advertiser or publisher role. Confirm which role applies to your account before searching for the feature. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account and make sure you are on the main platform dashboard — not inside a specific tool panel like Atlas Agent. 2. Close or dismiss the Atlas Agent panel if it is open, as Playbooks is accessed from a different area of the platform. 3. From the Home page (Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?), locate Recommended Playbooks to access the Playbooks feature. 4. If your account has both advertiser and publisher roles available, switch between them using the role or account toggle in your settings and check whether Playbooks becomes visible under each role. 5. If you still do not see Playbooks after checking across navigation sections and roles, it is possible the feature is not yet enabled for your account tier — proceed to the confirmation step below to rule this out. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked - You will know you have reached Playbooks when the page heading or section title clearly reads Playbooks and you can see a list of existing playbooks or an option to create a new one. - If you can view, edit, or create a playbook without being redirected or shown an access error, the feature is active and accessible on your account. - If you land on a page that mentions Publication Media or an external domain rather than remaining inside the Search Atlas platform, you may have followed an outdated link — navigate back to the main platform and use the in-app navigation instead of external URLs. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team. Additional Notes Navigate to Home → Agent Hub (Recommended Playbooks section) to find Playbooks.

🗺️ How to Find Playbooks in Atlas Agent

This article explains how to locate Playbooks inside the Atlas Agent on Search Atlas. Several customers have reported opening Atlas Agent and not seeing a Playbooks option — this guide clarifies where to look and how to confirm you have reached the right place. 📍 Where to Find It Atlas Agent is launched directly from the Home section of the platform. Follow this path: 1. In the left sidebar, click Home. 2. On the Home screen, locate the option to browse or access Playbooks. This is listed among the available actions on the Home page. 3. Click the option to open Atlas Agent if you wish to use a playbook within the agent panel. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Navigate to Home using the left sidebar. 2. Once on the Home screen, look for the action that gives you access to the Playbooks library. This option appears directly on the Home page and gives you access to available playbooks without needing to go through Atlas Agent first. 3. To use a playbook within Atlas Agent, use the Atlas Agent launch option on the Home screen to open the agent panel. 4. If you are still unable to locate Playbooks after following these steps, please reach out to our support team with your project name and a description of what you see on your screen so we can investigate further. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked You will know you have reached the right place when: - The Home screen displays an option to browse Playbooks alongside the option to open Atlas Agent. - Clicking the Playbooks option opens a list or gallery of available playbooks you can select and run. - The Atlas Agent panel opens successfully when you use the Atlas Agent launch option. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🧭 Navigate Between Hub and Playbook Interface Pages

🏠 What Are Hub and Playbook? Search Atlas has two main interface views you will work with regularly: - Home — your home page dashboard (accessed via the left sidebar → Home; page title: "Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?"), where you can access your tools and key metrics. - Playbook — a guided workflow view that walks you through SEO tasks step by step. It is possible to move between these two views at any time. If you are having trouble locating the navigation controls to switch between them, the steps below describe the general approach — and our support team can walk you through the exact steps for your current interface. 🔙 How to Return to the Home Page (Home) If you are inside a tool, a report, or the Playbook view and want to return to the home page, go to the left sidebar → Home (page title: "Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?"). The exact label and placement may vary depending on your interface version. Navigating back to Home does not delete your work or reset your Playbook progress. 🔄 How to Switch Between Hub and Playbook To move between the two views, look for Hub and Playbook navigation options within the platform's main navigation area. Clicking the appropriate option will take you to that view, and your previously saved Playbook progress will load automatically so you can continue where you left off. 💡 Troubleshooting Navigation Issues If you are having difficulty locating navigation controls to switch between Home and Playbook, try the following: - Refresh the page and look for Home or Playbook labels in the left sidebar. - Clear your browser cache and reload the platform if navigation controls appear missing or unresponsive. - Check whether you are logged in to the correct account, as navigation options may differ by plan or role. If you still cannot locate the controls, please have the following ready when you contact support: - The name of the view or tool you are currently inside when navigation fails. - A screenshot or description of what you see on screen. - Your browser name and version. - Any error messages displayed. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

💰 Golden Loops Promo Prorated Refund Explained

🔍 Overview If you purchased the Golden Loops promotional offer on top of an existing annual Search Atlas subscription, a prorated refund may have been arranged to account for any overlap or pricing adjustment. This article explains what to expect and what information to have ready when following up on your refund status. 📋 What Is the Golden Loops Promotional Offer? The Golden Loops offer was a limited promotional package available to existing Search Atlas customers, added on top of a current annual plan. In some cases, customers were informed that a prorated refund would be issued to offset the cost difference resulting from adding this promotional offer. 💳 What Is a Prorated Refund? A prorated refund is a partial refund calculated based on the unused portion of a billing period. If you were charged for overlapping services or if your plan value changed as a result of adding the Golden Loops offer, the prorated amount reflects the fair credit or refund owed for that difference. ⏳ Refund Processing Prorated refunds tied to the Golden Loops promotional offer are handled on a case-by-case basis by our billing team. Because this requires a manual backend action, there is no self-serve way to trigger or accelerate the refund — it must be initiated and verified internally. ⚠️ What If My Refund Has Not Arrived? If your prorated refund has not yet appeared on your account or original payment method, please escalate to our support team. To help us locate and action your case as quickly as possible, please have the following ready: - Your account email address and workspace/project name - The date you purchased or were enrolled in the Golden Loops promotional offer - Any confirmation or communication you received regarding the prorated refund (e.g., a message from our team confirming the refund) - Your original payment method (card type and last four digits, if applicable) If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

▶ 📖 Playbooks in Atlas Agent

Playbooks are a foundational feature of Atlas Agent, designed to turn your expertise into standardized, repeatable execution systems. They function as structured workflows that integrate best practices, human judgment, and agency-specific standards directly into AI-driven execution. While Atlas Agent is powered by specialized AI agents, Playbooks exist because expertise still matters. They let you encode how your agency works, define niche-specific behavior, and specify what good execution looks like, at scale. 🎯 Core Purpose of Playbooks Playbooks are built to solve one of the biggest challenges in digital marketing: how to scale quality execution without scaling headcount. They let you solve a process once and apply it everywhere, encoding expertise into the platform, standardizing execution across projects and teams, and reducing manual, multi-step workflows. Playbooks act as Standard Operating Procedures for AI agents. If your agency already has SOPs for how content should be written, reviewed, or published, those instructions can be supplied to a Playbook, and the agent will follow them. This replaces workflows that previously required hours or full days of clicking, setup, and coordination with a single Playbook run and chat interaction. 📈 Scaling Expertise Without Scaling Headcount Once a workflow is defined, Atlas Agent can apply it across every project, enforcing the same standards consistently, with faster execution and fewer errors. This lets agencies scale execution using AI instead of hiring more staff, while preserving quality, judgment, and control. ⚙️ Execution, Customization, and Control Playbooks are executed by specialized agents inside Atlas Agent. Each agent (Auto, Authority, Local, Google Ads, and others) has its own playbooks designed for its domain. Playbooks define control points, moments where your approval is required before the agent makes a critical decision or deploys sensitive changes. Agents are semantic enough to follow nuanced instructions inside a Playbook, such as whether content should auto-publish and how often. Advanced users can create custom Playbooks and chain together end-to-end workflows. For users new to SEO or Search Atlas, the platform includes pre-built Playbooks created by the Search Atlas team, based on workflows executed thousands of times. 🧭 How to Access and Use Playbooks Playbooks are accessed via the left sidebar → Home (Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?) → Recommended Playbooks / Browse all playbooks section. Choose a project and select the relevant agent, then review the Playbook to see the instructions it will follow, what actions it will perform, and how much involvement is required from you. You can then choose to run the entire Playbook, run a custom version, or run one specific task through chat. 📋 Playbook Examples by Agent - Auto Agent: An Onpage Playbook performs a full technical audit and fixes priority issues such as meta descriptions, heading structure, and title tags. - Authority Agent: Playbooks such as a Fast Authority Boost run outreach campaigns, prospect for backlinks, generate press releases, and build cloud stacks without manual setup. - Local Agent: A Full Profile Optimization Playbook executes complete Google Business Profile optimization, including services and attributes deployment, with risk-aware approvals. 🧭 Conditional Control For complex Playbooks, the agent often presents execution options before proceeding, such as running only the first phase, executing the entire Playbook end-to-end, reviewing samples first, or guiding the agent with a custom approach. This ensures you always control how much autonomy you give the system. Playbooks are the bridge between your strategy and AI-scale execution, making it possible to operate systems instead of managing tasks. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗂️ Find Brand Vault and Playbook in Search Atlas

🔍 Overview Search Atlas provides two key features for managing your brand identity and content strategy: Brand Vault (sometimes called brand kit or context) and Playbook. Playbook is accessible from the left sidebar. Brand Vault has two ways to reach it — see below. This article walks you through finding and using each one. 🏷️ What Is Brand Vault? Brand Vault is the central place where you store your brand's identity information — tone of voice, target audience, brand guidelines, and other contextual details. When you add information here, Search Atlas AI tools use it automatically to generate content that aligns with your brand. 📍 How to Find Brand Vault Log in to Search Atlas, then use either method: 1. Method 1 — Top-right menu: Click the More Features icon (grid icon, top-right of the platform, next to your account menu), then select Brand Vault. 2. Method 2 — Left sidebar: Click OTTO SEO in the left sidebar, select All Sites, open your project, then click the Brand Vault button on the project dashboard. If you don’t see Brand Vault in either location, confirm your plan includes it. ✏️ How to Modify Brand Vault Once inside Brand Vault, you can add or update the following: - Brand name and description — your core identity details - Tone of voice — how your brand communicates (e.g., professional, friendly, authoritative) - Target audience — who your content is written for - Brand guidelines — specific rules or preferences for content creation - Keywords and topics — subjects central to your brand After making changes, save your updates. All compatible AI tools in Search Atlas will automatically apply this context when generating content. 📋 What Is the Playbook? The Playbook menu is where you access structured content strategies and workflow templates. It helps you plan and execute content campaigns using predefined processes tailored to your SEO goals. 📍 How to Find the Playbook Menu 1. Log in to Search Atlas. 2. Look at the left sidebar. 3. Playbook is not available as a left sidebar item. The sidebar items are Home, Coworker, OTTO SEO, Site Metrics, AI Visibility, Local, Content, Ads, Keywords, Reports, Authority, Social, and Website Studio. 💡 Tips for Using Both Features Together - Set up your Brand Vault first before running Playbook workflows — this ensures AI-generated content reflects your brand voice from the start. - Return to Brand Vault any time your messaging, audience, or guidelines change. - Use Playbook to structure repeatable content processes without starting from scratch each time. 🛠️ Troubleshooting If you cannot locate Brand Vault via the More Features menu, or Playbook in your sidebar, consider the following: - Plan access: Some features are available only on specific subscription tiers. Check your current plan to confirm both features are included. - Collapsed sidebar: If the sidebar is collapsed, click the expand icon to reveal all menu labels. - Browser cache: Try a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows or Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) or open Search Atlas in a private/incognito window. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 Automate Article Refinement Prompts with Golden Loops

🔍 Overview If you find yourself pasting the same refinement prompt every time you generate a DKN article, Golden Loops is the feature you need. Golden Loops lets you save a custom prompt once and have it run automatically on every article DKN generates — no manual input required before deploying to GoHighLevel or any other destination. 💡 What Is a Golden Loop? A Golden Loop is a reusable, automated prompt sequence attached to your DKN workflow. Once configured, it intercepts each generated article and applies your custom instructions — such as SEO refinements, tone adjustments, or structural rules — before the content is finalised. Think of it as a standing instruction set that runs in the background every time. Common use cases include: - Enforcing a specific content structure or word count - Applying brand voice or style guidelines automatically - Adding SEO optimisations like keyword density checks or meta-description formatting - Removing unwanted patterns (for example, pronoun-led opening sentences) ⚙️ How to Set Up a Golden Loop for DKN Articles 1. Open Content Genius from Content → Content Genius (What are we writing today?) in Search Atlas. 2. Navigate to DKN and open the campaign or project you want to automate. 3. Locate the Golden Loop settings. From the left sidebar, go to Coworker → Golden Loops (/coworker?tab=routines). 4. Write your refinement prompt. Enter the custom instructions you want applied to every article. Be specific — for example: "Rewrite the opening paragraph so it does not begin with a pronoun. Ensure keyword X appears in the first 100 words. Keep the tone professional and concise." 5. Save and activate the loop. Toggle the Golden Loop to Active and save your settings. From this point forward, every article generated within this DKN project will automatically pass through your prompt before it is marked ready. 6. Review a test article. Generate one article to confirm the refinement is being applied as expected. Check the output against your prompt criteria before enabling bulk generation or deployment to GoHighLevel. 📊 Tips for Writing Effective Refinement Prompts The quality of your Golden Loop depends on how clearly your prompt is written. Keep these best practices in mind: - Be explicit, not vague. Instead of "make it SEO-friendly," write "include the primary keyword in the H1, first paragraph, and at least two subheadings." - One instruction per rule. Break complex requirements into separate sentences so the AI can process each one cleanly. - Set a tone benchmark. If brand voice matters, include a one-sentence description: "Write in a confident, jargon-free tone suitable for small business owners." - Avoid contradictions. Conflicting instructions (e.g., "keep it under 500 words" and "cover all five subtopics in depth") will produce inconsistent results. - Test iteratively. Start with two or three rules, review output quality, then add more instructions once the basics are working correctly. 🚀 Deploying Refined Articles to GoHighLevel Once your Golden Loop is active and producing consistent output, your DKN articles will arrive pre-refined and ready for deployment. Before pushing content to GoHighLevel: - Confirm the article passed your Golden Loop by checking the refinement status indicator in the DKN article list. - Spot-check a sample of articles — especially after updating your prompt — to catch any unexpected changes in output. - Use the Content Genius article filter to view only DKN-sourced articles, making it easier to manage your deployment queue. ⚠️ Important Things to Know - Quota usage: Each Golden Loop refinement counts as an additional AI call. Monitor your account quota to avoid generation interruptions. If an article fails silently, quota exhaustion may be the cause — check your usage dashboard first. - Prompt updates apply going forward: Editing your Golden Loop prompt will only affect articles generated after the change. Previously generated articles will not be re-processed automatically. - One active loop per project: Each DKN project supports one active Golden Loop at a time. If you need different prompts for different content types, create separate DKN projects for each. 🛠️ Troubleshooting If your Golden Loop does not appear to be running: - Confirm the loop is toggled to Active in your project settings. - Check that your account has sufficient quota remaining — silent failures are often quota-related. - Try regenerating a single article manually and inspect the output for prompt application. - Ensure your prompt does not contain conflicting instructions that may cause the AI to skip refinement steps. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗺️ How to Find Playbooks in Atlas Brain

This article explains how to reach Playbooks from the Home dashboard. Several customers have had trouble locating Playbooks, often looking in the wrong area of the platform. If you are having trouble finding Playbooks, the steps below reflect what our support team has confirmed helps resolve this navigation confusion. 🛠️ What To Do To locate Playbooks, follow these steps: 1. Navigate to Home in the Search Atlas platform. 2. On the Home dashboard, look for Browse all playbooks or the Recommended Playbooks section. 3. Click to open the Playbooks view. If you do not see Playbooks listed on the Home dashboard, it is possible that the feature needs to be enabled for your account or that your current plan does not include it. ✅ What to Expect Once you have reached the correct Playbooks location, you should see either a list of your saved Playbooks with their names and statuses, or a prompt to create your first Playbook. If you are seeing unrelated options or an empty view, let our support team know — they can verify whether Playbooks are enabled for your account and point you to the right location. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔗 Fix Internal Links Not Added by Content Playbook

🔍 Overview When you run the Content-Build Internal Links playbook, you may receive a completion report but find that no internal links were actually inserted into your target pages. This article explains the most common causes and the steps you can take to fix the issue. ⚠️ Why This Happens The internal links playbook relies on data stored in your BrandVault to identify which URLs to link to. If that data is missing, incomplete, or not yet populated, the agent has nothing to work with and will silently skip the insertion step — even though the task is marked as complete. The most common root causes are: - Empty internal links fields in BrandVault — The agent requires populated URL and anchor-text data. If these fields are blank, no links are inserted. - No valid page paths detected — The playbook needs resolvable page paths. URLs that are missing, malformed, or return errors are ignored. - Article Refinement conflict — If you requested internal links through an Article Refinement step rather than a dedicated internal-links step, the links may not be inserted correctly. - Stale or cached project data — Occasionally, outdated project data causes the playbook to act on old information. 🛠️ How to Fix It 1. Check your BrandVault internal links fields. Navigate to your BrandVault settings and confirm that the internal links section contains valid URLs and corresponding anchor text. Every URL must be a complete, working path. 2. Refresh your project data. Go to Left sidebar → Home → [project] (Executive Summary) and click Refresh Summary. Wait for the refresh to complete before re-running the playbook. 3. Re-run the internal links playbook. After confirming BrandVault data is populated and your project data is fresh, open your playbook and run the Content-Build Internal Links step again. Check the target pages once the completion report appears. 4. Avoid using Article Refinement as a substitute. If you need internal links inserted, use the dedicated internal-links playbook step rather than requesting them through an Article Refinement prompt. These are separate processes and produce different results. 5. Verify page paths are valid. Review the URLs listed in your BrandVault and confirm each one resolves correctly. Remove or correct any broken, redirected, or incomplete paths. ✅ How to Confirm Links Were Added After re-running the playbook, open each target page in the Content Builder and review the body content for inserted anchor links. Do not rely solely on the completion report — always inspect the page content directly to verify the links are present. 🚫 Known Limitations - The agent does not insert links if all internal link fields in BrandVault are empty. There is no partial insertion — it is all or nothing based on available data. - Links requested through Article Refinement follow a different insertion path and may not be added even if BrandVault data is complete. Use the dedicated playbook step instead. - Newly added BrandVault URLs may take a moment to be recognised. Always refresh project data before running the playbook after making BrandVault changes. 💬 Still Need Help? If you have followed all the steps above and internal links are still not being inserted, If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗺️ How to Find Playbooks in Search Atlas

This article helps you find the Playbooks feature when clicking the Atlas Agent icon does not surface it as an expected option. Because Playbooks can be accessed through a different area of the platform than the top-right Atlas Agent shortcut, this guide walks you through exactly where to look and how to confirm you have arrived in the right place. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Start from the main platform view. After logging in to Search Atlas, make sure you are on the home dashboard rather than inside a specific tool. The Atlas Agent, accessed from the left sidebar → Home (Ask Atlas Ag / Agent Hub), is a quick-launch shortcut and may not expose every feature, including Playbooks, directly from that menu. 2. Navigate to Playbooks from the Home dashboard. From the Home page (Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?), locate and select Recommended Playbooks. 3. Open Recommended Playbooks. Click it to open the Playbooks library where you can view, create, or edit playbook workflows. 4. If you do not see Playbooks listed at all, this may indicate the feature is not yet enabled on your account tier, or it is pending rollout. Note your current plan and contact support using the method below so the team can confirm availability for your account. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked You will know you have reached the correct location when you see a screen that displays a list or grid of Playbooks, with options to create a new playbook or open an existing one. If you can click into a playbook and see its steps, triggers, or workflow settings, you are in the right place. If the screen you land on shows only general agent chat or a shortcut menu without any playbook-specific controls, you have likely entered via the Atlas Agent shortcut in the left sidebar → Home (Ask Atlas Ag / Agent Hub) rather than navigating to Home (Hi, CSM. What will we get done today?) → Recommended Playbooks — return to the main navigation and try again from step one above. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔗 Deep-Link to Agent Tabs and Playbooks

Agent navigation now supports deep-linking, making it easier to share and bookmark exact views within the AI Agent experience. ✨ What's New You can now generate and share URLs that link directly to a specific home tab, playbook category, or individual playbook inside the AI Agent. Previously, navigating to a specific section required manually clicking through the interface every time. With deep-link support, the platform reads the relevant parameters from the URL and opens the correct tab and playbook state automatically — making it faster to collaborate, document workflows, and return to frequently used configurations. 🛠️ How to Use It 1. Navigate to the Coworker section of the platform. 2. Select the home tab, playbook category, or specific playbook you want to share. 3. Copy the URL from your browser's address bar — it now reflects your current view. 4. Share or bookmark the URL; anyone with access will land directly on the same tab and playbook state. 📋 What to Expect Deep-link parameters are automatically appended to the URL as you navigate, so no manual configuration is needed. Links will resolve correctly as long as the recipient has access to the AI Agent and the referenced playbook or category still exists. Deleted or renamed playbooks may cause the link to fall back to the default home view. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔒 How Golden Loops Keep Your Account Safe: The Approval Model

🔒 Every Loop Is Routed by an Authority Level Before It Can Act Golden Loops don't make changes to your account without your say. Every loop runs under one of three oversight levels: - Read-only / proposer (most loops): fetches data, analyzes it, and writes a report. It cannot make changes to your account, CRM, website, or listings. - Human-gated write (every action loop): prepares a plan and stops there. A human confirms before anything executes, and a readback afterward verifies the change actually landed as intended. - Bounded autonomy (narrow cases only): a small set of pre-agreed, low-risk actions with explicit thresholds you've defined in advance — this level is never assumed, only used when it's been written down ahead of time. No recommendation is sent automatically until your approval channel is configured. 🚀 The Activation Process Turning on Golden Loops for your account happens in one live session, in five steps: 1. Scope the projects. Confirm exactly which sites, brands, or business units are in scope. 2. Choose the surfaces. Pick which of the 10 Golden Loop surfaces to turn on. Each one is checked for connector readiness first — already connected, needs a login, or needs setup — before it's added. 3. Define the outcomes. You tell your team what "working" looks like for you — pipeline growth, AI-search visibility, approval speed, or whatever matters most. 4. Connect Slack. This is the approval-and-audit layer — every human-gated recommendation lands here for you to approve or decline, and the decision is logged. 5. Leave with a written record. Every project, surface, connector status, outcome, and note gets documented on both sides. ❓ Common Questions Can I pick which surfaces I want, or is it all-or-nothing? You choose. The activation process walks through scoping your projects, then choosing which of the 10 surfaces to turn on — never all-or-nothing. What if I don't have a connector (like HubSpot, GBP, or Slack) connected yet? Each surface is checked for connector readiness first. You can still select it — your team will follow up on getting that connector set up before that specific loop goes live. Will this make changes without me knowing? No. Every loop is routed through the authority levels above — most are read-only, every action loop is human-gated and stops for your approval, and nothing ships until your approval channel is configured. 🧭 Related Reading For what a Golden Loop is and the cycle it runs, see our overview article. For the full list of surfaces and what each one delivers, see our article on Golden Loop surfaces. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

💾 Resume Atlas Brain Playbook Progress Anytime

🧠 Atlas Brain Playbook Progress Saving If you are wondering whether Atlas Brain saves your playbook progress automatically — or how to pick up where you left off after closing your browser — this article explains what to expect and how to get help if your session does not appear to be saving correctly. 🔄 Resuming a Saved Playbook Session Atlas Brain is designed to retain your playbook progress so that you can return to a session after closing your browser or stepping away. To resume a previous session: 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Navigate to Atlas Brain from the main menu. 3. Look for an option to access your previous sessions or session history within the Atlas Brain interface. 4. Select the session you want to continue and pick up from where you left off. If you are unable to locate a previous session or the resume option does not appear in your interface, our support team can help you identify the correct steps for your account. ❓ Common Questions - Will closing my browser lose my progress? Atlas Brain is built to save progress on the platform side rather than in your browser, so closing a tab should not erase your work. If you find that progress has not been retained, please contact our team with your project name and a description of what you were doing so we can investigate. - I cannot find my previous session — what should I do? Try refreshing your browser. If the session still does not appear, reach out to support with your account details and the approximate date and time of the session so we can look into it. 💬 Need More Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

💳 Understanding Golden Loop Upgrade Prorated Billing

🔍 Overview When you upgrade your Search Atlas plan mid-billing cycle, the system calculates a prorated charge based on the remaining days in your current period. Occasionally, customers upgrading to the Golden Loop plan have reported charges that appear higher than expected. This article explains how proration works, why discrepancies can occur, and how to get a resolution quickly. 📊 How Prorated Billing Works Proration ensures you only pay for the portion of a billing cycle you use on a new plan. The standard calculation is: 1. Identify the daily rate of your new plan (annual plan price ÷ 365 days, or monthly plan price ÷ days in the billing month). 2. Multiply the daily rate by the number of days remaining in your current billing cycle. 3. Subtract any unused credit from your previous plan for the same remaining period. 4. The result is your prorated upgrade charge. Example: If the Golden Loop annual plan costs $3,351.60 per year, the monthly equivalent is approximately $279.30 ($3,351.60 ÷ 12). A prorated charge for roughly half a month would therefore be around $139.65 — not a full monthly amount or a lump-sum figure approaching the full plan price. ⚠️ Why Your Charge May Look Higher Than Expected Several billing scenarios can produce a charge that seems disproportionate to the time remaining in your cycle: - Monthly vs. annual rate mismatch: If the system applies a monthly plan rate instead of the annual rate when calculating proration, the daily rate used is higher, resulting in a larger charge. - Unused credit not applied: Credits from your previous plan should offset the upgrade charge. If these are not deducted correctly, you are effectively charged twice for the same period. - Quota or seat accounting errors: Known billing integrity issues have been identified and resolved on our platform. In some cases, quota top-ups or seat changes during an upgrade triggered duplicate or incorrect invoice line items. - Trial-to-paid conversion timing: Upgrades made at the exact moment a trial ends can occasionally cause the proration invoice to be processed incorrectly, resulting in a higher-than-expected amount. 🧮 How to Verify Your Charge Is Correct Before contacting support, you can do a quick manual check: 1. Note the date of your upgrade and the next billing date from your account settings. 2. Calculate the number of days remaining in your cycle at the time of upgrade. 3. Divide your annual Golden Loop plan price by 365 to get the daily rate (or divide the monthly price by the number of days in that month). 4. Multiply the daily rate by the days remaining — this is your expected prorated charge before credits. 5. Check your previous plan's unused credit for the same period and subtract it from the amount above. 6. Compare this figure to the charge on your invoice. If there is a meaningful difference, a billing error may have occurred. 💡 What to Do If You Were Overcharged If your calculated prorated amount is significantly lower than what you were charged, our billing team can review the invoice and issue a correction or credit where applicable. To get this resolved: - Have your invoice number and upgrade date ready. - Note the charge amount and your own calculated expected amount. - Contact our team via the live chat widget (see below) — do not wait, as billing reviews are easier to process close to the charge date. Our team will audit your invoice against the plan rates, proration logic, and any credits owed, then apply a corrective credit or refund as appropriate. 🛠️ Preventing Future Billing Surprises To avoid unexpected charges on future upgrades: - Always upgrade at the start of a new billing cycle when possible — this eliminates proration entirely. - Before confirming an upgrade, review the order summary screen, which shows the prorated amount before you are charged. - If the amount shown on the confirmation screen does not match your own calculation, cancel and contact support before proceeding. 🤝 Need Further Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔄 How to Transfer Golden Loops Access

If your Golden Loops benefit was accidentally added to the wrong account or you no longer have access to your original login email, you may need to transfer your access. Because Golden Loops is a premium VIP benefit, moving it between accounts requires our team to verify ownership on the backend. ⚠️ Why Transfers Require Backend Intervention Currently, there is no self-serve toggle to move Golden Loops or VIP benefits from one account to another. This security measure protects your purchase and prevents unauthorized transfers. If you are seeing an upgrade prompt on your new account, or if your original access link was deleted along with an old support thread, our team can easily fix this for you. 📋 Information Needed for a Transfer To speed up the transfer process, please have the following details ready before reaching out: - Old Account Email: The email address where the Golden Loops benefit is currently sitting. - New Account Email: The email address where you want the benefit moved. - Order or Billing ID: If available, this helps us quickly locate your purchase. 💬 How to Request Your Benefit Transfer To initiate the transfer, you will need to connect with our support team. We will verify your accounts and manually migrate your Golden Loops access. 1. Log into your active Search Atlas account. 2. Look for the chat icon located in the bottom-right corner of the platform. 3. Open the chat widget and provide your old and new account emails. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team. 🔄 Accessing Golden Loops After Transfer Once the transfer is complete, you will be able to view your benefits directly within your Social projects. Navigate to the left sidebar, select Coworker, and click on Golden Loops to verify your access has been restored. You can also check your Pending Approvals and Calendar View to ensure everything is working correctly.

🔍 How to Structure Atlas Brain Playbooks for Competitor Research

Overview Atlas Brain is Search Atlas's AI-powered automation layer that executes multi-step research and optimization workflows through playbooks. When building playbooks specifically for competitor research, users sometimes encounter stalls, incomplete outputs, or unexpected behavior. This article explains common causes of these issues and the steps you can take to resolve them. Common Reasons a Competitor Research Playbook Stalls or Produces Incomplete Results - Prompt is too broad or ambiguous: If the playbook prompt does not clearly define the target competitor, the specific data to collect (e.g., keyword gaps, SERP positions, content topics), or the expected output format, Atlas Brain may not complete the task as intended. - Missing or unclear input variables: Playbooks that rely on variable inputs (such as a competitor domain or target keyword list) will stall or produce generic results if those variables are empty or inconsistently formatted. - Too many steps in a single playbook: Chaining too many research actions in one playbook without intermediate checkpoints can cause the workflow to time out or return partial data. - Conflicting instructions: If the playbook prompt contains contradictory instructions (e.g., asking for both a broad overview and highly specific keyword-level data in the same step), Atlas Brain may only address part of the request. Steps to Troubleshoot Your Competitor Research Playbook 1. Review and sharpen your prompt. Open the playbook and reread the prompt instructions. Make sure the competitor domain or entity is explicitly named, the research goal is specific (e.g., "identify top 20 keywords where competitor ranks in positions 1–10 but my site does not"), and the desired output format is described. 2. Check your input variables. Confirm that all required variables are filled in and formatted correctly before running the playbook. For example, competitor domains should be entered without extra spaces or protocol prefixes if the field does not expect them. 3. Break the playbook into smaller steps. If your playbook attempts to cover keyword gap analysis, SERP analysis, and content strategy recommendations in a single run, try splitting these into separate, focused playbooks and running them in sequence. 4. Remove conflicting instructions. Read through the prompt for any statements that contradict each other or ask Atlas Brain to do two different things at once. Simplify to one clear goal per step. 5. Re-run the playbook after making changes. After adjusting the prompt or variables, save the playbook and run it again to see whether the output improves. What to Have Ready If You Need Support If you have worked through the steps above and your playbook is still stalling, producing incomplete results, or behaving unexpectedly, our support team can investigate your specific configuration. Before reaching out, have the following information ready: - Your project or workspace name - The name or description of the playbook that is not working - A description of what the playbook is supposed to do versus what it is actually doing - Any error messages or unusual outputs you have observed, including approximate timestamps If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🔁 Golden Loops Social Media, Claude MCP, and Option Selection

🌀 What Are Golden Loops? Golden Loops is a Search Atlas automation framework that chains AI-powered tasks together into repeatable workflows. You can use Golden Loops to generate, schedule, and publish content across multiple channels — including social media — with minimal manual effort. 📱 Using Golden Loops with Social Media Golden Loops can integrate with social media publishing as part of your automated content workflows. This allows you to automate content creation and queue posts across your connected social accounts. The exact configuration steps and available options within the Golden Loops interface depend on your account setup. Because the specific UI paths and settings for social media integration are not yet fully documented, we recommend reaching out to our support team directly so they can walk you through the correct setup for your account. Before contacting support, it helps to have the following ready: - The name of the Golden Loop you are working with (or want to create) - The social platforms you want to connect or post to - A description of the behavior you are trying to set up or the error or unexpected result you are seeing 🔌 Connecting Claude MCP to Search Atlas Claude MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a connection method that allows the Claude AI model to interact with Search Atlas tools and data. When integrated with Golden Loops, this can give Claude the context it needs to produce more accurate, platform-aware outputs during content generation. Because the verified configuration steps for connecting Claude MCP within Golden Loops are not yet fully documented, we recommend contacting our support team for guided assistance. When you reach out, please have the following information ready: - Your Search Atlas project name - The specific Golden Loop or workflow you are trying to configure - The exact step where you are getting stuck, or any error message you are seeing (including the full text and any timestamp) - Whether you already have an Anthropic API key or are still setting one up This will allow our team to provide the most accurate and up-to-date guidance for your setup. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🤖 Automate Custom SEO Prompts for DKN Articles

🗺️ Overview The Doorbell Knowledge Network (DKN) content pipeline in Search Atlas lets you generate SEO articles at scale. Before those articles go live in GoHighLevel, you may want to automatically apply a custom refinement prompt — for example, adding an About the Author section, a Contact Us block, or stripping unwanted formatting artifacts. This article explains how to configure that automation so every article is polished and deployment-ready without manual editing. ✅ What You Can Automate A custom refinement prompt can instruct the AI to perform any combination of the following tasks on each generated article before it is pushed to GoHighLevel: - Add a branded About the Author section at the end of the article - Insert a Contact Us call-to-action block - Remove formatting artifacts such as extra line breaks, stray markdown symbols, or duplicate headings - Enforce a consistent tone, reading level, or word count - Append custom disclaimers, schema hints, or internal linking instructions 🛠️ Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your Refinement Prompt 1. Open your DKN project. From the Search Atlas dashboard, navigate to Content and select the DKN project you want to configure. 2. Go to Project Settings. Click the Settings (gear) icon within the project to open the configuration panel. 3. Locate the Content Refinement section. Scroll to the Post-Generation Prompt or Content Refinement field. This is where your custom instructions are entered. 4. Write your refinement prompt. Enter the exact instructions you want the AI to follow on every article. Be specific and use clear directives. See the example prompt below for guidance. 5. Save your settings. Click Save to apply the prompt to the project. All subsequent articles generated in this project will automatically pass through your refinement instructions before deployment. 6. Connect your GoHighLevel destination. If you have not already linked your GoHighLevel account, go to Avatar (top-right) → Settings → Integrations in Search Atlas, authenticate your GoHighLevel workspace, and map it as the publish destination for this DKN project. 7. Run a test article. Generate a single test article and preview the output to confirm the refinement prompt is applying your changes correctly before enabling bulk deployment. ✍️ Example Refinement Prompt Copy and adapt the following prompt to match your brand requirements: Prompt:"After generating the article, perform the following refinements: (1) Remove any stray asterisks, hashtags, or markdown formatting symbols. (2) Add a section titled 'About the Author' immediately before the closing paragraph, using the bio provided in the project settings. (3) Add a 'Contact Us' section at the very end of the article with the following text: [insert your contact copy here]. (4) Ensure the article contains no duplicate headings and that all H2 and H3 tags follow a logical hierarchy. Do not alter the core SEO content or keyword placement." Adjust the numbered instructions to include only the steps relevant to your workflow. ⚙️ Tips for Writing Effective Refinement Prompts - Be explicit. Tell the AI exactly where to place new sections (e.g., "immediately before the last paragraph" rather than "somewhere near the end"). - Use numbered steps. Numbered instructions reduce ambiguity and ensure every task is acted on in order. - Protect your SEO work. Include a line such as "Do not change keyword usage, meta description, or heading structure" to prevent the refinement pass from undoing your optimisation work. - Store reusable copy in Project Settings. If your Author Bio or Contact Us text is long, save it as a project-level variable so the prompt stays concise and easy to maintain. - Test before bulk deployment. Always validate the refined output on one article before scheduling a large batch to GoHighLevel. ❓ Frequently Asked Questions Does the refinement prompt apply to articles already generated? No. The post-generation prompt applies only to articles generated after you save the new settings. To refine previously generated articles, you would need to regenerate them or manually edit them. Will this slow down article generation? There is a small additional processing step, but for most projects the impact on generation time is negligible. Can I use different prompts for different DKN projects? Yes. Each DKN project has its own independent prompt settings, so you can customise the refinement instructions per project or per client. What if my GoHighLevel articles still show formatting issues after the prompt runs? Check that your refinement prompt explicitly names the artifact to remove (e.g., "remove all double asterisks"). Vague instructions like "clean up formatting" may not catch every case. Refine your prompt and run another test article. 💬 Need Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🤖 Automate Custom Prompt Refinements for DKN Articles

🗺️ Overview When using the Digital Knowledge Network (DKN) to generate articles at scale, you may need to apply consistent content refinements to every article — such as adding an About the Author section, inserting contact information, or stripping unwanted formatting tags before articles deploy to GoHighLevel. Instead of applying these changes manually, you can automate them using DKN's custom prompt refinement settings. This article explains how to configure a reusable refinement prompt that runs automatically on every DKN-generated article before deployment. ⚙️ What Is a Custom Prompt Refinement? A custom prompt refinement is an instruction set you define once inside DKN. After an article is generated, DKN passes it through your refinement prompt as a post-processing step — adjusting content, structure, or formatting without you needing to intervene manually each time. Common use cases include: - Appending a standardised About the Author section to every article - Inserting location-specific contact details or calls to action - Removing unwanted HTML or formatting tags produced during generation - Enforcing a consistent tone, disclaimer, or footer block across all sites 🛠️ How to Set Up an Automated Refinement Prompt 1. Open DKN from your Search Atlas dashboard and navigate to the Content Generation settings for your target site or network. 2. Locate the Custom Prompt or Post-Processing Prompt field within the article generation configuration. This is where you define the refinement instructions that will apply to every article. 3. Write your refinement prompt. Be specific and use clear instructions. For example: - "After the final paragraph, add a section titled 'About the Author' followed by [your author bio text]." - "Insert the following contact block at the end of the article: [phone, address, website]." - "Remove all instances of markdown formatting symbols such as **, ##, and — from the article body." 4. Save your prompt configuration. DKN will now apply this prompt automatically to each article generated for this site during the refinement pass. 5. Run a test generation on a single article to confirm the refinement is applied as expected before enabling it across your full network. 6. Once validated, enable the setting for all sites in your DKN network if you want the same refinement applied universally, or configure it per site for tailored outputs. ✅ Best Practices for Reliable Refinement Prompts - Keep instructions atomic. Break each refinement into a clear, single action. Avoid combining too many instructions in one sentence — this reduces the chance of any step being skipped. - Use delimiters for inserted content. When adding blocks like author bios or contact sections, wrap the placeholder text in quotes or brackets so the AI can distinguish your instruction from the content itself. - Avoid conflicting instructions. If your base generation prompt and your refinement prompt give opposing direction (e.g., one adds a section, the other removes all footers), the output may be unpredictable. Review both prompts together. - Test on a staging site first. Before deploying refinements across live GoHighLevel sites, validate outputs on a test site to catch formatting or content issues early. - Version your prompts. Keep a copy of each refinement prompt version in a document. If results change after an update, you can quickly reference what changed. 🚀 Deploying Refined Articles to GoHighLevel Once your refinement prompt is configured and tested, DKN will automatically apply it to every article in the generation queue. Refined articles are then passed to your GoHighLevel deployment pipeline without any additional manual steps required. If you are deploying to multiple GoHighLevel sites, confirm that each DKN site node has the correct refinement prompt assigned — especially if different sites require different author bios or contact details. ⚠️ Troubleshooting Common Issues - Refinement is not applying: Confirm the custom prompt field is saved and that post-processing is enabled for the site. Unsaved changes are a common cause. - Formatting tags still appearing: Make your removal instruction more explicit, specifying the exact tags or symbols to strip (e.g., "Remove all instances of the characters ** and __ from the article text"). - About the Author section is missing: Check that the prompt instruction references the correct position (e.g., "at the end of the article" vs. "after the conclusion heading") and that the bio text is included in the prompt itself. - Generation timeout during refinement: If a refinement step causes a timeout, simplify the prompt. Overly complex or lengthy instructions can exceed processing limits. Split refinements into smaller, focused prompts where possible. 💬 Need More Help? If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Fix OTTO Deployment and Playbook Errors on WordPress

🔍 Overview If your OTTO SEO suggestions are not deploying to your WordPress site, or if the Atlas playbook returns a 403 or 400 error during preview, this article explains what may be happening and what to have ready when you contact our team for assistance. ⚙️ What May Be Causing This OTTO deployment and playbook preview errors on WordPress trial sites can stem from a number of underlying causes, including plugin connectivity issues, caching conflicts, or an incomplete site authorisation. Because these errors often require backend investigation to diagnose correctly, our support team will need to look into the specifics of your setup directly. 📋 What to Have Ready When You Escalate To help our team resolve your issue as quickly as possible, please gather the following before reaching out: - The exact error message you are seeing (e.g., 403 Forbidden, 400 Bad Request, or any other on-screen text). - The name of your WordPress project or trial site as it appears in Search Atlas. - The timestamp of when the error first occurred or the most recent occurrence. - A brief description of the action you were taking when the error appeared (e.g., running a playbook preview, deploying suggestions, scanning the site). - Any caching or third-party plugins you have active on the WordPress site (e.g., WP Rocket, Google Tag Manager). - Screenshots of the error if available. Having this information ready will allow our team to investigate your specific configuration without delays. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

⚡ OTTO Sync to CMS Safe Review Workflow

Overview OTTO SEO generates on-page recommendations and can automatically push approved changes to your CMS. Understanding when to enable or disable Sync to CMS — and following a structured review process before approval — protects your live site from unintended changes. What Does Sync to CMS Do? When Sync to CMS is enabled, OTTO pushes approved recommendations directly to your connected CMS (for example, WordPress) in real time. This streamlines deployment but means changes go live as soon as they are approved. When Sync to CMS is disabled: - OTTO continues to generate and queue recommendations normally. - No changes are written to your CMS, regardless of approval status inside the platform. - You retain full control over when — and whether — any change reaches your live site. Disabling Sync to CMS does not pause OTTO's analysis or stop new recommendations from appearing. It only breaks the automatic write connection to your CMS. Best Practices for Managing SEO Changes - Disable Sync to CMS during high-traffic periods (product launches, campaigns, peak seasons) to prevent accidental live changes. - Review recommendations in batches rather than approving individual items as they appear. Batch review gives you a complete picture of cumulative impact. - Filter recommendations by type, priority, and status before approving anything, so you can assess changes systematically. - Check how pending recommendations affect individual URLs before pushing changes live. - Document your baseline — note current rankings, traffic, and Core Web Vitals before any batch approval so you can measure impact accurately. - Stage changes in small groups — approve a limited set of recommendations at a time, then monitor performance before approving the next batch. Safe OTTO Review Workflow (Step-by-Step) Follow this workflow every time you are ready to review and deploy a new batch of OTTO recommendations. 1. Disable Sync to CMS. Locate the Sync to CMS setting within the OTTO SEO section of the platform and turn it off. This ensures no changes reach your live site while you are reviewing. 2. Refresh your recommendation queue. Trigger a new scan or crawl from within the OTTO SEO section to make sure your recommendation queue reflects the current state of your site. 3. Filter and review pending recommendations. Use the available filters (such as status, type, and priority) to sort through recommendations before approving any. Focus on high-priority items first. 4. Assess URL-level impact. For each recommendation group you plan to approve, review how the changes will affect individual URLs before proceeding. 5. Approve in small batches. Enable Sync to CMS only when you are ready to push a controlled set of approved changes, then disable it again immediately after. 6. Monitor performance. After each batch goes live, track rankings, traffic, and Core Web Vitals before approving the next group. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

⚡ Fix Stuck Payments and Playbook Execution Issues

Overview Two separate issues can sometimes affect your Search Atlas experience at the same time: a payment page that stays stuck on "Processing" without completing, and a playbook that won't execute for a website. This article explains what to expect and what information to have ready when you contact our team for help. Payment Page Stuck on Processing If your payment page has been showing "Processing" for an extended period — in some cases several days — without completing or confirming your transaction, this is a known issue that requires backend investigation by our team. What causes this? The payment may appear unresolved on your end even if a charge has already been applied. Our team needs to manually verify your payment status and unlock your account if needed. What to Do If Your Payment Is Stuck 1. Do not attempt the payment again — submitting a second payment while the first is unresolved may result in a duplicate charge. 2. Check your email inbox for a receipt or confirmation email. If you received one, your payment likely went through successfully. 3. Check your bank or card statement to confirm whether a charge has been applied. 4. Contact our support team with the following information so we can resolve this quickly: - Your account email address - The approximate date and time the payment was initiated - A screenshot of the stuck payment page if available Playbook Not Running for a Website If you are trying to run a playbook for a specific website and it appears to hang or never start, this is a separate known issue that requires investigation by our team — it is not related to your payment or subscription status. What to Do If Your Playbook Is Stuck Because this issue requires backend action to resolve, please contact our support team and have the following ready: - The name of the website or project the playbook is associated with - The exact name of the playbook you are trying to run - The date and time you first noticed the issue - Any error message or status indicator displayed on screen (exact wording if possible) Our team will investigate and take the necessary action to get your playbook running again. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🛠️ Fix Playbook 403 Errors and OTTO Deployment Issues

🔍 Overview Two related issues can interrupt your SEO automation workflow: a 403 permission error when launching a playbook (such as Create Press Release), and OTTO deployment changes not rendering on your WordPress site after the playbook runs. This article explains what these issues look like and what information to have ready so our team can resolve them for you quickly. ⚠️ Understanding the 403 Permission Error A 403 error means the system has blocked an action because it does not recognise you as having the required permission. This error can appear when attempting to run a playbook and will prevent the playbook from starting. Because this is a backend issue, our support team will need to investigate your specific account configuration to identify the cause and apply a fix. When contacting support, please have the following ready: - The exact name of the playbook you were trying to run (e.g. Create Press Release). - The exact error message you received, including any error code shown on screen. - The date and time the error occurred. - Whether this playbook was created by you or shared from another account. 🚀 Why OTTO Changes Are Not Showing on Your WordPress Site After OTTO deploys changes, you may find that those changes do not appear on your live WordPress site. Symptoms can include changes appearing to apply inside Search Atlas but not rendering on the live site, or being prompted repeatedly to approve the same deployment action. Because this is a backend issue, our team will need to review your account and site configuration directly. When contacting support, please have the following ready: - Your project or site name as it appears in Search Atlas. - A description of the specific changes OTTO was deploying (e.g. page type, content type). - The date and time you first noticed the issue. - Any error messages or status indicators shown in the platform. - Confirmation of which WordPress site is affected (URL). ✅ In the Meantime While awaiting a fix, you can take the following steps: - Clear your browser cache and any caching plugin active on your WordPress site, then check your live pages again to rule out a display cache issue. - Verify that the OTTO plugin is active and up to date in your WordPress dashboard under Plugins. - Check that your WordPress connection to Search Atlas has not been interrupted by reviewing your connected sites settings. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

💡 Why Your Playbook Guest Post Cost Changed

🔍 Overview Some customers notice a significant difference between the HDC (Hoth Digital Credits) cost shown during Playbook setup and the amount displayed at checkout. This article explains what is happening and how to get it resolved. 📊 How Guest Post Costs Are Estimated in Playbooks When you configure a guest post order through a Playbook, an early-stage HDC estimate may be displayed during setup. This figure is a preliminary reference and may not reflect the final cost shown at checkout. The discrepancy between the two figures is a known issue that our team is actively investigating. ⚙️ What Is Happening There is a known discrepancy between the HDC cost shown during Playbook guest post setup and the cost presented at checkout. The root cause of this gap is currently under investigation. Because this is an active bug, the specific reason your estimate and checkout price differ may vary, and our team will need to review your account directly to identify what occurred in your case. ✅ What to Have Ready When You Contact Support To help our team investigate and resolve this as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before reaching out: - Your Playbook name — the exact name of the Playbook where the discrepancy appeared. - The HDC estimate you were shown — the cost displayed during Playbook setup. - The HDC amount shown at checkout — the final price presented before purchase. - Whether you completed the purchase — let us know if you confirmed the order or if you stopped at checkout. - Any screenshots you have — images of the estimated cost and the checkout screen are especially helpful. Do not confirm a guest post purchase if the checkout cost is significantly higher than what you expected, until our team has had a chance to review your specific situation. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

🗺️ How to Locate Playbooks in Search Atlas

This article helps you locate the Playbooks feature inside Search Atlas when you cannot find it through your usual navigation path. Because the interface continues to evolve, some menu labels and panel layouts may differ slightly from what you have seen in older guides. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account and make sure you are inside the correct project or workspace — if you have multiple projects, try switching between them, as the option may appear in one project but not another. 2. Look for a Playbooks label or icon in your main navigation. Depending on your account tier and any recent UI updates, this entry point may appear in a different section than you expect — check all primary navigation panels before assuming the feature is missing. 3. If you do not see Playbooks anywhere in the current view, scroll through all available sections of the left-hand or top navigation to ensure you have not overlooked it under a different grouping. 4. If the section still does not appear, your current plan may not include Playbooks, or the feature may need to be activated by your account admin — check with whoever manages your Search Atlas account to confirm your plan includes access. 5. Clear your browser cache and perform a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows or Cmd + Shift + R on Mac), then repeat the steps above — stale cache can sometimes hide newly released navigation items. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked 1. You should be able to see a Playbooks section that lists any existing playbooks or presents a prompt to create your first one — this confirms the feature is accessible on your account. 2. If you successfully open a Playbook, verify that you can view its steps or settings without being redirected back to another area — consistent access means the navigation issue is resolved. 3. If the section still does not appear after completing every step above, please reach out to our support team with your account email, project name, and a screenshot of your current navigation menu so we can identify the correct path for your specific account setup. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.

GBP Project Missing From Local Playbook

Overview When setting up a Local GBP Playbook, you may find that one or more of your Google Business Profile projects do not appear in the project selection dropdown — even though your GBP accounts are already connected. This article explains what to check on your end and what happens when the issue requires backend intervention from our team. Step 1: Verify Your GBP Project Is Connected Before anything else, confirm that the affected Google Business Profile is properly connected inside the platform. 1. Navigate to the GBP Projects section within the Local area of the platform. 2. Review the list of connected projects and confirm that the GBP you expect to appear in the Playbook is listed there. 3. If it is not listed, use the option to connect or add your Google Business Profile account and follow the on-screen prompts. 4. Once connected, return to the Local GBP Playbook and check whether the project now appears in the selector. Step 2: Confirm All Relevant GBPs Are Visible If you manage multiple locations or brands under the same account, make sure you are looking at the correct workspace and that all GBP accounts have been connected — not just some of them. It is possible for one location to appear while another does not if the connection step was only partially completed. - Check that each individual GBP location you need appears as its own entry in the GBP Projects section. - If a location is listed in GBP Projects but still missing from the Playbook selector, the issue is likely a backend configuration problem rather than a missing connection. Step 3: What to Do If the Project Is Connected but Still Missing Based on confirmed cases, a GBP project can be fully connected yet still fail to appear in the Local GBP Playbook selector due to a missing internal project link. This requires a backend fix applied by our support team and cannot be resolved by reconnecting the GBP or adjusting settings on your end. If you have completed Steps 1 and 2 and the project is still not appearing, contact our support team directly so a specialist can identify the missing internal link and apply the necessary backend fix. Once the fix is applied, the project will appear in the Playbook selector without any further action needed on your side. Tips to Avoid This Issue - Always connect a GBP account through the GBP Projects section before attempting to configure a Playbook for that location. - If you are setting up multiple locations, connect and verify each one individually before building out Playbooks. - After connecting a new GBP, allow a few moments for the platform to register the project before navigating to the Playbook selector. Still Not Resolved? If your GBP project is confirmed as connected in GBP Projects but still does not appear in the Local GBP Playbook selector, a backend fix is required. Please reach out to our support team via the chat widget so a specialist can resolve this for you as quickly as possible.

🛠️ Playbook PDF Downloads Incomplete — Fixed

🔍 Overview Some users experienced an issue where PDF documents generated through playbooks were downloading in an incomplete state. This made it impossible to view full reports, and in some cases playbooks appeared to not execute at all. This defect has now been resolved by the Search Atlas engineering team. 📋 Who Was Affected - Users generating PDF reports via AI agent playbooks - Users who downloaded playbook output documents and found them cut off or missing content - Users whose playbooks appeared to not run or produce no reports at all ✅ What Was Fixed The engineering team investigated and resolved the defect causing playbook-generated PDF documents to download incomplete. The fix is live — no action is required on your end to receive it. 🚀 Steps to Verify the Fix 1. Log in to your Search Atlas account. 2. Navigate to the playbook you were using when the issue occurred. 3. Run or re-run the playbook to generate a fresh PDF report. 4. Download the PDF and confirm the document is complete and all sections are present. If you had previously downloaded an incomplete PDF, discard that file and generate a new one — the previously cached or partial output may not reflect the fix. 💡 Tips for Best Results - Always download a fresh PDF after running a playbook rather than re-downloading a previously generated file. - If a document appears to load slowly, allow it to fully complete before downloading. 🆘 Still Experiencing Issues? If your playbook PDFs are still downloading incomplete after following the steps above, or if you are experiencing a different playbook-related issue, our team is ready to help. Please reach out to our support team for further assistance.

🔁 Automating Tasks with Routines

A Routine is a task you ask Atlas to run automatically on a schedule and post the result to Slack. You set it up once in plain language, and Atlas handles everything else. Use Routines to automate anything you currently do by hand on a schedule — daily keyword updates, weekly competitor summaries, hourly ad spend reports, brand monitoring, and more. There is no limit on the number of Routines you can create. ⚙️ Creating a Routine Describe the task and schedule in plain language. You don't need to configure anything in a separate panel — Atlas understands you. Examples: - "Every morning at 9am, search the web for the top AI news and post a summary here." - "Each Monday, pull a rank-tracking update for my top 10 keywords and send it to me in a DM." - "Every hour, post our Google Ads spend and conversion count to #paid-ads." - "Once, tomorrow at 3pm, summarize everything discussed in #product-team this week." - "Every weekday at 7am, check our site health score and DM me if it drops below 80." After you describe the Routine, Atlas shows you a confirmation summary — the task, the schedule, and where it will post results. Review it carefully before approving. Once you confirm, Atlas saves the Routine and runs it on schedule automatically, even when you're offline. 🗓️ Schedule Types | Type | How to say it | Examples | | --- | --- | --- | | Interval | "every X minutes / hours" | "every 30 minutes," "every 2 hours" | | Daily | "every day at [time]" | "every day at 9am," "daily at noon" | | Weekly | "every [day] at [time]" | "every Monday at 8am," "every Friday at 5pm" | | Weekdays only | "every weekday at [time]" | "every weekday at 7am" | | One-time | "once, on [date/time]" | "once, tomorrow at 3pm," "on Friday at 5pm" | 🌐 Timezone Atlas automatically uses your timezone — the timezone of the account that created the Routine. When you say "9am," Atlas schedules it for 9am in your local time. You do not need to specify a timezone. 📬 Where Results Are Delivered Results post to the channel or DM where you created the Routine, by default. You can specify a different destination in your request: - "...and post it to #marketing-updates" - "...send it to me in a DM" - "...post it here" (the channel you're messaging in) 👤 Personal vs. Workspace Routines Routines you create are Personal by default — only you can see and manage them. Workspace admins have visibility into all Routines across the workspace and can manage any of them from the Admin panel. 🛠️ Managing Your Routines All Routine management works in plain language — just tell Atlas what you want: | What you want to do | How to say it | | --- | --- | | See your active Routines | "List my routines" — Atlas shows name, schedule, and creator for each | | Pause a single Routine | "Pause my Monday keyword update routine" | | Pause all Routines | "Pause all routines" — stops all your active Routines immediately | | Resume a Routine | "Resume my keyword update routine" | | Edit an existing Routine | "Change my daily news summary to run at 8am instead of 9am" or "Update my Monday routine to also include Meta Ads data" | | Delete a Routine | "Delete my daily news summary routine" | You can also view and manage Routines from the Automations area of your Search Atlas dashboard. ⚠️ Known Limitation: Routine Fires More Than Once In rare cases, a Routine may fire more than once in a single scheduled window. If this happens: 1. Tell Atlas: "Pause all routines." 2. Delete the affected Routine. 3. Recreate it from scratch. If the problem repeats after recreating, contact support with a Slack thread link to the Routine's output. 💡 Tips for Reliable Routines 1. Be specific about the task. "Summarize our top 10 keyword rankings and flag any drops" is better than "do my SEO stuff." 2. One goal per Routine keeps results clean and easy to read. If you want two different reports, create two Routines. 3. Review Atlas's confirmation before approving — it shows you exactly what it understood about the task and schedule. 4. Use one-time Routines for ad-hoc tasks. If you need something done once at a specific time, say "once, on [date] at [time]" — Atlas won't repeat it. 5. Edit instead of delete and recreate. If you want to tweak a Routine's schedule or task, just ask Atlas to update it — you don't need to start over. Once a Routine is set up, it runs on its own — so the recurring work you used to do by hand happens automatically and lands right where your team already works in Slack. Start with one clear, single-goal Routine, review Atlas's confirmation before approving, and adjust it anytime in plain language. From there, you can build out as many Routines as you need to keep your reporting, monitoring, and updates running on schedule without lifting a finger.

⚡ Search Atlas Resolution Playbook (Action Layer)

This guide tells you exactly: - What to do - How to fix it - How to prevent it This is your execution layer. ⚡ QUICK FIX MATRIX 🧠 If AI is not working 🔴 Likely Cause Gemini quota exceeded (429) ✅ Action - Retry later - Use fallback model - Reduce request volume 📊 If data is missing 🔴 Likely Cause External service failure (SEMRush, ClickHouse) ✅ Action - Refresh data - Wait for recovery - Check service health 🔄 If tasks are stuck 🔴 Likely Cause Celery / queue issue ✅ Action - Re-trigger process - Re-run crawl - Restart workflow 🕷️ If crawl is stuck 🔴 Likely Cause Timeout on large site ✅ Action - Reset crawl - Re-run - Break into smaller batches ⚠️ If dashboard not loading 🔴 Likely Cause Database or Redis issue ✅ Action - Refresh - Retry after 30–60 seconds - Check system status 🖥️ If UI is broken 🔴 Likely Cause Frontend rendering issue ✅ Action - Hard refresh - Clear cache - Reload session 🧩 ADVANCED RESOLUTION PATTERNS 🔧 Pattern 1 — Retry with Backoff Used when: - API calls fail - External services unstable 👉 Always retry before escalating 🔄 Pattern 2 — Fallback Systems Used when: - AI model unavailable - Data provider fails 👉 Switch provider instead of blocking 🧠 Pattern 3 — Graceful Degradation Used when: - Partial data available 👉 Show partial results instead of failing ⚙️ Pattern 4 — Queue Recovery Used when: - Jobs stuck 👉 Re-trigger instead of waiting 💣 Pattern 5 — Scale Adjustment Used when: - Memory / limits hit 👉 Reduce load or increase capacity 🛡️ PREVENTION LAYER 🚨 Add Monitoring For: - DB connections > 80% - Queue depth spikes - API rate limits - AI quota usage 🔄 Always Implement: - Retry logic - Circuit breakers - Async processing - Idempotent actions 🧠 Design Principle 👉 Systems should fail gracefully, not completely 🎯 FINAL TAKEAWAY There are only 3 real failure modes: 1. System overloaded 2. Dependency unavailable 3. Process stuck 💡 Operational Insight If you fix: - Retries - Queues - Fallbacks 👉 You eliminate 80% of production issues