Connect Search Console and set a publishing schedule

Connect Google Search Console so the SEO Tool can see which of your pages rank and which keywords are worth writing. Then set a brand's weekly publishing schedule: how many articles to plan and what the planner may do on its own.

Before you start

• Set up the SEO Tool and add your store as a brand. See Set up the SEO Tool.
• Have access to the Google account that owns your Search Console properties.

Connect Search Console with a service account

A service account is a robot Google user that you create once and give access to your properties. It takes a few minutes. You connect once per workspace.

1. In the sidebar, click SEO Tool.

2. At the top, click Settings, or open Settings directly.

3. Scroll to Google Search Console. Until you connect, it shows not connected.

   

4. Click the link the Search Console API page in Google Cloud. Sign in with the Google account that owns your Search Console. Create a project if asked (any name), then click Enable.

5. Click the link Service accounts. Click Create service account, give it a name such as pinned, and click Done. No roles are needed.

6. Click the new account, open the Keys tab, click Add key, then Create new key, and choose JSON. A file downloads.

7. Back in Pinned, under Service account key file, choose the downloaded file. Or open Or paste the file's contents and paste the file's text there.

8. Click Save key. The key is stored encrypted.

9. In Search Console, open each property, then Settings, then Users and permissions. Click Add user, paste the service account's email (it ends in .iam.gserviceaccount.com), and give it Full permission.

10. Reload the Settings page. The section now shows connected and lists the properties the account can see.

To swap in a different key later, use the same form. Once you're connected, its heading reads Replace the connection with a Google service account. To remove the connection, click Disconnect Google.

Sign in with your own Google account instead

If you'd rather not create a service account, open Advanced: sign in with your own Google account instead and click Connect Google. Pinned asks for read-only access to Search Console, and you pick the Google account that owns the properties. If you're already connected, the button reads Reconnect Google.

If you don't see a Connect Google button there, use the service account method above.

Pick a Search Console property for a brand

Once Google is connected, choose a property for each brand.

1. In the SEO Tool, click your brand under Brands.

2. Click the Schedule tab.

   

3. Under Search Console and cadence, open the Search Console property list and choose the property for this brand's site. Each option shows your permission level in brackets.

4. Click Save.

If Google isn't connected, the field reads Google is not connected. Connect it in Settings first. Use that link, then come back. Choose Not set to clear the property. A property you chose earlier that the connected account can no longer see stays in the list, marked as not visible to the connected account. Once a property has synced, the field shows when it was last synced.

Read the publishing calendar

The Calendar at the top of the Schedule tab shows one month for this brand. Use the arrow buttons on either side of the month name to move between months. When you're on another month, a Today link takes you back.

The counts above the grid match the colored entries in it:

Click an entry that has a link to open its article. All dates are UTC.

Set the weekly cadence

These settings sit under Search Console and cadence.

1. In Slots per week, enter how many pieces of work the planner can set up each week, from 0 to 14.
2. In Of which new articles, enter how many of those slots are new articles, from 0 to 14. The hint reads: The rest are refreshes of pages already ranking 8 to 20.
3. In Backpressure limit, enter how many articles can wait on you before planning stops. The smallest value is 1. The hint reads: Stop planning while more than this many articles wait on you.
4. Select Scheduling enabled for this brand to turn the weekly plan on for this brand.
5. Click Save.

The planner runs every Monday. You can also run it yourself, as described below.

If posts are already scheduled for this brand, a line under the checkbox says how many there are and when the last one goes live. Those posts count as new articles, so the weekly plan starts writing new ones after the last of them and keeps refreshing pages until then.

Choose what the playbook may do

The Playbook switches decide what the weekly planner may do on its own. Refreshes still land in your review queue. Every action is recorded and measured later. Select the ones you want, then click Save.

• Refresh striking-distance pages. Targets pages ranking 8 to 20 with weak click-through. This is the first source of refreshes.
• Refresh decaying pages. Targets pages whose clicks are down more than 30% over the last two months.
• Convert impressions into clicks. Targets pages with 100+ impressions in 28 days and a click-through rate under 3% that is also under half your brand average. They get a snippet-only refresh: title, meta description and FAQ. The body stays untouched. The switch also lists the pages that qualify right now.
• Localize the best pages into every enabled locale. Each week, your top published articles by clicks that lack an edition in an enabled language get one, spread across languages. Set how many per week, from 0 to 10, in the box beside it. Pick languages on the Translations tab. Localizations still get a parity review and a 10% sample check. See Translate your store automatically.
• Win the AI answers. Prompts with search impressions that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google AI Overviews answer without citing you become tickets: a refresh of the page that ranks for the query, or a new article for the keyword. Set how many per week, from 0 to 10. See Track search and AI visibility.

For Pinned's own blog and for websites built from a repository, the localization switch doesn't appear. Those blogs are translated in full by auto-translate instead, which you set up on the Translations tab.

Plan and queue the week's work

The buttons under the form run the work. Each one is greyed out until it can do something.

Beside the buttons, a count such as 0 waiting on you (limit 6) shows how many articles are waiting on you and your limit. Search Console also syncs daily without you clicking anything.

Queued work runs in the background, usually within a minute, one job at a time per workspace. Follow progress on Need approval, where you can queue a failed job again. To review and publish drafts, see Write, review and publish blog posts.

See what was planned and how it did

Further down the Schedule tab:

• Playbook actions and results counts every automatic action by type: Striking distance refresh, Decay refresh, Snippet refresh (CTR gap), Localization and AI answer gap (GEO). The table lists each action with the page's clicks in the 28 days before it and, eight weeks later, the 28 days after. Improved means clicks up at least 10%. Declined means down at least 10%. Until an action is measured, its row shows the date it will be. Measuring runs with the nightly Search Console sync.
• The Week of section lists this week's slots with their kind, keyword, article, status and a note. Until a plan exists, it says no slots are planned yet and points you to Plan this week.
• Striking distance lists pages ranking 8 to 20 with weak click-through.
• Next greenfield keywords lists unused keywords from your bank, with their priority. Add more on the Keywords tab. See Manage your SEO keywords.

Troubleshooting

Search Console is connected but shows no properties

Settings says Connected, but this account can see no Search Console properties yet. With a service account, open each property in Search Console, add the service account's email under Users and permissions with Full permission, then reload Settings.

Settings says Search Console refused the connection

The message starts with Connected, but Search Console refused, followed by the reason Google gave. Check that you enabled the Search Console API for the project, then replace the key or reconnect Google.

The property list on the Schedule tab shows an error

The field reads Could not list properties, followed by the reason Google gave. Open Settings and check the connection. If it still fails, replace the key or reconnect Google.

Sync Search Console now is greyed out

Connect Google in Settings, then choose a property on the brand's Schedule tab and click Save.

Plan this week is greyed out

Select Scheduling enabled for this brand and click Save.

Queue this week's localizations is greyed out

Select Localize the best pages into every enabled locale., enable at least one language on the Translations tab, and click Save.

The planner isn't adding new slots

Planning stops while more articles wait on you than your Backpressure limit. Review or publish waiting drafts, or raise the limit. It also writes no new articles while posts you already scheduled are still going live.

Striking distance is empty

The list fills from Search Console data. Make sure a property is chosen, click Sync Search Console now, and check that your existing posts are imported. See Set up the SEO Tool.