What is Domain Planner?
Domain Planner is a Surfer Legacy tool that helps you organize the content optimization process for your domain based on Google Search Console and Surfer content data. It audits your domain and finds pages that require content optimization and you can get Content Scores for multiple pages from your domain.
If you are still subscribed to a Surfer Legacy Plan (subscribed before May 2023), then this tool is available for you.
How to use the Domain Planner
1. Pick Domain Planner from the toolbar on the left.
2. Connect your Google Search Console (GSC) - This step is optional but it will provide you with much more accurate data for your site.
If you choose to create a Content Planner for the domain without GSC, the data will be provided from Surfer’s own database.
Click the “Google Search Console is not connected” button and Sign In with Google. It does not have to be the same e-mail you are using to log in to Surfer.
You will have to go through the Google authentication process and give Surfer all permission to see your Search Console data.
You can disconnect your Google account any time you want here.
3. Pick your domain and country.
You can either type/paste in the domain URL or you can click the URL bar to see the list of your Google Search Console domains.
Next, choose the country you want to run the planner for.
Finally, click “Create Domain Planner.”
4. Analyse the data for your 100 best-performing pages.
You can now analyze multiple different points for your pages: user intent, the presence of featured snippets, impressions, position, traffic, and monthly search volume.
Expanding each result will give you a list of keywords that your page is currently ranking for.
If you want to see this list for all the results instead of expanding one by one, just choose the “advanced view” option.
You can also easily create a Content Editor for each page and start improving your content right now.
Suggestions in Domain Planner
Domain Planner highlights search terms that you rank for but don't use in the content.
Add these terms to your content to get a quick boost in rankings, especially for keywords ranking on the second page of Google. Here are the results you should see in days:
👉 IMPORTANT NOTE: Surfer won't check if you added the keyword automatically, for now, take notes internally or create a new planner.
How to analyze featured snippet opportunities?
Domain Planner allows you to figure out whether your page is considered for a featured snippet for a given keyword. Once you created a query in the Planner, you’ll notice that all pages have “featured snippet” information:
Next to each page result, you can see information about your featured snippet status:
“No featured snippet” means that there is no featured snippet in the main keyword’s SERP. This means there’s no option for you (or anyone) to overtake the “0” position.
“Featured snippet with the red X” means that there is a featured snippet in the main keyword’s SERP, but you do not own it and you are not in the queue for the “0” position. This could mean your page ranks too low to be considered for the snippet, or your content is not in line with what Google wants.
“Featured snippet with the green checkmark” means that your page owns the featured snippet for the main keyword.
“Featured snippet with the yellow wrench” means that you’re very close to getting the featured snippet, and with some optimization, you can dethrone the current snippet owner.
Troubleshooting: Google Search Console integration
Since Surfer relies on the connection with your Google Search Console Domain Planner, the possible failure reasons are most likely related to issues with data fetching. Here are the most common issues that you may encounter when running a query.
Finalizing the Google Search Console connection error. How to resolve it:
Head over to the security section of your Google account
Click on the 'Manage third-party access' button; it's at the bottom of the 'Third-party apps with account access' section
You'll find Surfer along with any other third-party apps or sites you've given access to some of your Google account data
Click the blue 'REMOVE ACCESS' button, then return to the Surfer Dashboard and try connecting your Google Search Console again! Make sure to give Surfer proper permissions:
Learn more about how to manage third-party apps & services with access to your Google account here.
Restricted access to the domain. This can be because:
a) The domain is not verified within Google Search Console - Please check if you have that domain/page verified correctly in the Google Search Console. You might have it added but not verified yet, and therefore we can’t access any data. Learn more about verifying your domain in the Search Console.
b) There is not enough permissions given - There are several levels of access you can set within the Google Search Console. For the integration to run on Surfer, you need to have the highest level of ownership so we can fetch the data for you. Learn more about owners, permissions, and users in the Search Console.
No data from Google Search Console. Reasons include:
a) New domains - If your domain is new, it could be that the Google Search Console does not have any data for it yet.
b) A wrong country selected - If you’ve chosen a location you don’t have any visits from while running the query, Surfer won’t get any data from your Search Console, and therefore we won’t be able to set up the Domain Planner.
Not enough data from Google Search Console - If your domain is new or you’re just starting to get visitors from a specific location, it could be that we’re able to fetch the data, but it’s not sufficient to provide you with clusters.
💡 TIP: Should you still experience any problems, we highly recommend disconnecting your Google Search Console from Surfer and then connecting it again. Sometimes, the simplest turn-off-turn-on can work wonders!
Do you still need help? Don't worry! You can contact us at [email protected] or via live chat by clicking the icon in the bottom-right corner.