How to add your website and get it working

This guide takes one site from nothing to verified, audited and one fix better. It takes about an hour, and most of that is waiting for a DNS record to spread.

Step 1: Sign up and pick the audit

1. Go to /register and sign up with an email and password, or with Google.
2. On Get started, choose Grow my traffic with SEO and a blog. It is already selected unless you came through an invitation for something else.

Step 2: Add the site and check what it read

1. On Which website should we use?, fill in What's the site called? and Its web address. With or without https:// is fine.
2. Later, check what Rankbench knows about the site under General in its Settings: what it is about, its main audience, its language and its topics. Adding audience and topics is one of the steps on your setup card.

Step 3: Verify with a method you won't undo

Verification is re-checked, not passed once. If the proof disappears, the site drops back to unverified and everything that depends on it stops. So choose the proof you are least likely to delete by accident.

1. If the domain is already in your Google Search Console, press Continue with Google and pick the Google account that has it. Otherwise, open Add a DNS record under Other ways to verify.
2. For the DNS record, add it, close the tab, and come back later. An empty first check only means DNS is slow, and Check my site is there whenever you are ready.

When the check passes, the panel names the proof it found. Write that down so nobody removes it later.

Step 4: Run the first audit

Press Start the audit. Rankbench opens your pages one by one and follows the links between them. Nothing on your site changes. It takes a few minutes and you can leave the tab.

Step 5: Read three things and leave the rest

Note down Site health. It scores structural checks out of 100 and says nothing about traffic or rankings, so it is only useful against itself next time. Glance at Fixes to do and don't worry about the size: the list is ordered by what each item costs you, so only the top matters. Then go to Recommended next.

Competitors, authority and the map can wait until next week.

Step 6: Take one fix all the way

1. Open the first item under Recommended next.
2. Press Add to my fix list.
3. If it's a wording fix, press Copy AI prompt, paste it into the assistant you use, and edit what comes back.
4. Make the change in your own CMS and publish it. Rankbench never edits your site.
5. Come back and mark it done.

Step 7: Check it landed, then see what's next

Run the audit again once your change is live. The line comparing the two runs tells you whether the work landed. If the fix is still reported, the change was usually made in a preview and never published.

Then open Website overview. The setup card at the top shows how far the site has got and the next step, with a button for it.

What to do next

• How to run your first site audit and ship the fixes
• How to connect Search Console and win more clicks
• How to plan and publish a month of content