From first crawl to AI citations, in ten steps

The ten steps

1. 1. Create your workspace and add a site

   2 min

   Sign up with your work email, then add the domain you want to optimise. Orion detects your CMS, sitemap and page count automatically.

   • Enter your domain (e.g. example.com) — no www or trailing slash needed.
   • Confirm the detected sitemap. If none is found, paste your sitemap URL manually.
   • Set your primary market and language so keyword and AI data are localised.

   You end up with: A site record with a verified sitemap and an estimated page count, ready to crawl.

2. 2. Connect Google Search Console

   1 min

   GSC gives Orion your real queries, impressions, clicks and positions — the ground truth behind every recommendation.

   • Click Connect Google and pick the account that owns the property.
   • Select the exact property (domain properties are preferred over URL prefixes).
   • Import your top queries to seed the keyword universe.

   You end up with: Live ranking and query data flowing into the dashboard, keywords and reports.

3. 3. Connect GA4 (optional but recommended)

   1 min

   Analytics lets Orion attribute traffic and conversions to the pages it optimises, so you can prove impact.

   • Authorise Google Analytics and choose the property + data stream.
   • Pick the conversion events that matter (form submit, purchase, signup).

   You end up with: Traffic and conversion trends alongside ranking movement.

4. 4. Add competitors

   2 min

   Competitors power gap analysis, share-of-voice in AI answers, and benchmark scoring. Orion suggests likely rivals from your SERP overlap.

   • Accept the auto-suggested competitors or add up to five domains manually.
   • Prioritise the two you actually lose deals to — they get weighted higher.

   You end up with: Gap keywords, competitor GEO scores and benchmark comparisons.

5. 5. Run your first audit

   5–15 min

   Orion crawls your site, checks 120+ technical and content signals, pulls Core Web Vitals, and validates structured data on every page.

   • Start the audit and leave the tab — you get an email and in-app alert when it finishes.
   • Review the prioritised issue list: critical first, then high, medium, low.
   • Open any issue to see the affected URLs and the exact fix.

   You end up with: A site health score, a ranked issue list, and per-page schema validity.

6. 6. Read your plan

   5 min

   Orion turns the audit into a sequenced plan: what to fix, what to write, what to schema, and in which order for fastest impact.

   • Scan the plan for the top three quick wins — usually titles, metas and H1s.
   • Assign owners: developer items go to the handoff PDF, content items to the calendar.

   You end up with: An agreed backlog with effort and impact attached to every item.

7. 7. Run Autopilot in batches

   10 min per batch

   Autopilot works through your site in batches of 75 pages. For each page it validates SEO, content and GEO signals, generates a concrete copy-paste fix, and compiles a Developer Handoff PDF.

   • Pick a batch (pages 1–75, 76–150, and so on). Failing pages are prioritised first.
   • Run the batch. You get in-app and email notification when the PDF is ready.
   • Send the Developer Handoff PDF to your dev or agency — every fix is copy-paste ready.
   • After the fixes ship, re-run the same batch to verify. Green means done.

   You end up with: A verifiable, batch-by-batch trail of fixes with before/after evidence.

8. 8. Improve AI visibility (GEO)

   Ongoing

   GEO is how you get cited inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews — not just ranked in blue links.

   • Add the questions your buyers actually ask AI tools. Orion runs them weekly.
   • Generate JSON-LD (FAQ, Article, Product, Organisation) for your key pages.
   • Register your brand, people and products as entities and check knowledge panel strength.
   • Track share-of-voice against competitors in AI answers.

   You end up with: Rising mention rate and citation share across the AI engines.

9. 9. Publish content that scores

   Ongoing

   The Content hub scores every page for E-E-A-T and SEO as you write, closes competitor gaps, and can publish straight into your CMS.

   • Turn a gap keyword into a draft in one click — brief, intent and competitors pre-filled.
   • Write in the editor and watch the live E-E-A-T and SEO scores; aim for 80+.
   • Schedule on the calendar, then publish to WordPress, Shopify or Webflow.

   You end up with: A steady publishing cadence tied to measurable ranking movement.

10. 10. Report and stay ahead

    Weekly

    Scheduled digests, white-label PDFs and custom dashboards keep stakeholders informed without you building slides.

    • Turn on the weekly digest for yourself and your stakeholders.
    • Build a custom dashboard with the widgets your client cares about.
    • Add your logo and colours for white-label client reporting.

    You end up with: Reporting that runs itself, plus anomaly alerts when things move.

The Autopilot loop

Autopilot is deliberately finite. It works a batch of 75 pages at a time so every run is fast, every document is readable, and progress is provable.

1. 01

   Pick a batch

   Choose pages 1–75, 76–150, and so on. Failing pages are queued first.

2. 02

   Run

   Orion re-fetches each page live and validates SEO, content and GEO signals.

3. 03

   Generate

   Every issue gets a concrete, copy-paste fix that respects character limits.

4. 04

   Hand off

   A Developer Handoff PDF is produced and emailed to you.

5. 05

   Ship

   Your developer or agency applies the fixes exactly as written.

6. 06

   Verify

   Re-run the same batch. Items that now pass drop off the list for good.

Module reference

Every plan includes every module. Here is what each one does and how to get the most from it.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a first audit take?

Most sites finish in 5–15 minutes. Very large sites are crawled progressively and you are notified when each stage completes.

Why does Autopilot work in batches of 75 pages?

Batches keep runs fast and reliable, and keep the Developer Handoff PDF short enough for any parser or reviewer. You choose which batch to run or re-run.

What is in the Developer Handoff PDF?

Per-page copy-paste fixes for titles, metas, H1s, internal links, schema and content, plus a shared catalogue of how-to-fix instructions so nothing is repeated page by page.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO gets you ranked in Google's results. GEO gets your brand quoted inside AI answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews. Orion runs both from the same data.

Do you need access to my CMS?

No. Orion works read-only by default. A CMS connection is optional and only used if you want to publish content directly from the editor.

Can I re-run a batch after my developers ship the fixes?

Yes — that is the intended loop. Re-running the same batch re-checks the live pages and shows what is now passing.

How accurate are the crawl results?

Very accurate with Firecrawl configured, because pages are rendered like a browser. Without it, JavaScript-rendered content may be under-detected and Orion warns you in Site Health.

Who owns the data and content?

You do. Reports, drafts and exports are yours to keep and can be white-labelled on Agency and Enterprise plans.