Your First Week

Once your licence is in and Google is connected, you're ready to let Cleo get to know your site. This page walks through what to do in your first week, and where to look once things start happening.

The Getting Started List

You don't need to remember any of this, because your WordPress Dashboard shows a Getting Started list that walks you through it. It shows how far you've got (Getting Started · X Of Y) and disappears on its own once every step is done.

If a step doesn't apply to you, press Skip. If you'd rather not see the list for now, press Hide.

The Steps

1. Connect Search Console And Google Analytics

If you've followed Connecting Google, this one is already ticked.

2. Fill In Your Knowledgebase

This is the most important step, and the one worth spending a little time on. The Knowledgebase is everything Cleo knows about your business: what you do, where you do it, who your customers are, and how you like to sound. Every article, page and search description she writes is based on it.

You don't have to start from a blank page. Press Let Cleo Fill It In and she'll read your own website and draft the empty fields for you. Read through what she's written and correct anything that's off. You know your business better than any website does.

The step ticks itself off once the Knowledgebase is mostly complete.

3. See What Cleo Found On Your Site

Open Cleo HQ to see the results of her first look round your site. There's more on this below.

4. Plan Your First Month Of Articles

Open the Blog Calendar and let Cleo plan a month of articles. She works from your Knowledgebase, so the topics fit what you actually do.

Planning is free. Each article she writes costs credits, and you always see the cost before you agree to it.

Steps That Only Appear When They Apply

A few extra steps show up only if your site needs them:

• importing your titles and descriptions from an old SEO plugin, so nothing is lost when you switch;
• removing old files that would otherwise override Presstack;
• checking your sitemap and submitting it to Search Console;
• installing Elementor (Theme only).

When You're Ready

Underneath, a When You're Ready group has a few optional steps, such as choosing which jobs Cleo can do by herself and checking which pages are protected from changes. There's no rush with these.

Your First Scan

Cleo checks your whole site every day, looking for problems such as broken links and missing search descriptions. You don't have to wait until tomorrow for the first one, though.

Go to Cleo → Cleo HQ and press Scan My Site. When it's done, the results appear on the Site Health tab, and HQ Home shows three counts: the issues found, how many Cleo can fix for you, and how many need you.

Looking and checking are always free. You only spend credits when Cleo writes something new.

Where Things Go After That

Once Cleo is up and running, three screens are worth getting to know:

• Cleo → To Do is one list of everything waiting for your decision, with the most important at the top and the cost of each, if there is one. If you only look at one screen, make it this one.
• Cleo → History lists every change made to your site, newest first, with the date and who made it. Changes to pages, posts, products and images can be put back with Put Back for 30 days.
• Cleo → Autonomy is where you decide what Cleo may do without asking. The jobs that touch your site start on Ask Me, new blog posts start as drafts, and your pages always need your approval.

Credits

Credits are only used when Cleo creates something new: writing articles, building new pages and making images. Everything else, including all the SEO work, the daily checks and the fixes, is part of your plan.

Your balance is shown in the top bar. Click it to open Credits, where Buy Credits tops you up when you need more.