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Getting Started

Your First Article: Quick Start Guide

Welcome to Outrank! This guide will walk you through the process of generating, reviewing, and publishing your very first SEO-optimized article. Our AI-powered system is designed to help you create high-quality content that ranks, all in just a few minutes.

Before you begin, ensure you have an active subscription and have configured your product details (business name, description, and target audience) in your account settings. This helps our AI tailor the content to your specific brand.

Step 1: Choose Your Generation Mode

Navigate to the New Article page in your dashboard. You'll see two primary ways to create content:

  • Ideas Mode: Best for when you have a general topic or keyword in mind but need help brainstorming specific titles and outlines.

  • Outrank Mode: Best for when you want to create content that competes directly with an existing blog post or specific text.

Step 2: Configure Your Content Preferences

Before generating, it's a good idea to review your output settings. Click the Settings icon (gear icon) to open the preferences drawer. Here you can customize:

  • Language: Choose from dozens of supported languages.

  • Tone & Style: Select a voice that matches your brand (e.g., Professional, Casual, Authoritative).

  • Image Type: Decide if you want Photographic, Digital Art, or other visual styles for your featured images.

You can also set "Not Included Words" to ensure the AI avoids specific jargon or competitor names you don't want in your articles.

Step 3: Generate Your First Article (Ideas Mode)

For your first article, we recommend starting with Ideas Mode. It's the fastest way to see the power of the platform.

  1. Enter a Keyword: Type a keyword or theme into the input field (e.g., "sustainable gardening").

  2. Generate Ideas: Click the Generate 5 Ideas button. The AI will suggest five unique topic angles.

  3. Select and Refine: Check the box next to the idea you like best.

  4. Review the Outline: Click Generate Outline. A modal will appear showing the proposed structure. You can edit the headings or add your own instructions here.

  5. Start Generation: Click the Generate Articles button in the footer.

Your article will now show a "Creating" status. This process typically takes a few minutes as the AI performs real-time research and writes the content section-by-section.

Step 4: Review and Edit

Once the status changes to Completed, click on the article title to open the editor. Here you can:

  • Preview: See how the article looks with its generated images and formatting.

  • Edit: Make manual adjustments to the text, headings, or links.

  • SEO Check: Review the auto-generated meta description and keyword distribution.

Step 5: Publish Your Content

When you're happy with the result, it's time to go live. You have two main options for publishing:

Manual Publishing

Click the Publish or Sync button within the article editor. This will push the content to your connected CMS (like WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, or Framer).

Auto-Publishing

If you want to save even more time, you can enable Auto-publish in your Article Settings. When enabled, every article that reaches the "Completed" state will be automatically sent to your CMS without manual intervention.

If you are using a CMS integration, ensure your API keys or plugins are correctly configured in the Integrations tab before attempting to publish.

Next Steps

Now that you've published your first article, consider setting up Autopilot to automate your entire content calendar, or connect Google Search Console to track how your new content is ranking in real-time.