Settings reference
Every SEO Command Center setting for a website, in the four groups they appear in, with what each one changes and which ones save on click.
Pick a website in the Command Center, then open Settings. It has four groups — Automation & budget, Content & page rules, Data & tracking and Reporting & client — and this page lists what is in each of them.
Saving is not uniform, and it catches people out. Lane switches and client visibility save the moment you flip them. Cadence fields need Save automation settings. Content and page rules commit with one Save all. The market locations picker saves on its own, and the report day saves when you leave the field.
Before you start
Budget, cadence and the owner-only rows need owner or admin rights. A website excluded from the Command Center keeps its Builder SEO surfaces but does not run automation, and the Settings tab says so.
Automation & budget
The four lanes at the top decide what runs without you. The header pill shows how many are running, for example 3/4 running.
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Pause everything | Pauses autoblog, fixes, evidence refresh and reports together. Resuming restores whatever was on before. | — |
| Autoblog | Scheduled blog pipelines. Resuming re-enables only the pipelines that were on. | — |
| Fixes | Pauses auto-apply and desktop auto-dispatch. Per-fix buttons keep working. | — |
| Evidence refresh | The recurring research and evidence pulls — setup, Google evidence, paid research and the visibility panels. | — |
| Reports | Pauses monthly report generation. The reporting mode is remembered and restored on resume. | — |
| Monthly SEO budget | The monthly cap that automated paid research and autopilot drafting run against. Blank means paid research is paused entirely. | Blank |
| Auto-send fixes to the desktop agent | Sends fixes with no instant patcher to your open desktop app, by priority — Off, P0 only, or P0 and P1. | Off |
| Bluehost deploy after fix commits | FTP-deploys fix commits on Bluehost-hosted sites. Account owner only, and dormant until the terminal service and tenant credentials are in place. | Off |
Paid research cadence (Advanced)
How often Zyan refreshes paid search evidence by itself. The panel shows a live monthly estimate as you choose.
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Off | No automatic paid research. The preview reads Off, $0 a month. | Default for every mode except Full Autopilot |
| Weekly | Every 7 days, roughly $8.70 a month at the $2 per-run estimate. | — |
| Every 2 weeks | Every 14 days, roughly $4.35 a month. | — |
| Monthly | Every 30 days, roughly $2.03 a month. | Inherited default under Full Autopilot |
| Quarterly | Every 90 days, roughly $0.68 a month. | — |
Optional content lanes (Advanced)
All five are off by default.
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh stale posts | A daily refresh brief for posts whose Search Console clicks fell more than 40% against their 90-day pace. Free, maximum two a day. | Off |
| Internal-linking sweep | Adds up to three links to each new post from older posts on its keyword, through the live-fix lane. | Off |
| Service-area page proposals | Briefs a service-area page when a grid keyword underperforms on two scans. Maximum two a day, and it never drafts or publishes. | Off |
| Promote audit errors automatically | Adds error-tier checks from a completed site audit to the Technical queue. Free, errors only. | Off |
Two lanes have their own requirements
Arming FAQ / PAA expansion requires a fresh desktop runner advertising that capability. Bluehost deploy after fix commits is account-owner only and stays inert without the terminal service and tenant FTP credentials.
Content & page rules
What the AI may write, where it may write it, and what it must not touch.
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Pages the AI must never edit | Protected paths, one per line, that the writer and fix agents must leave alone. | — |
| Country | The country preset research runs against. A non-country code here breaks research-target creation. | — |
| Local market locations | The towns and areas local research and Map Pack tracking measure. This picker saves separately from the section. | — |
| Writer model | The model the blog writer uses. Left empty on the desktop lane, the signed-in subscription's default model runs. | — |
| Content guidelines | Extra writing direction handed to the writer on every run. | — |
| Effort | Reasoning effort for the writer. | — |
| Max turns | Maximum agent turns per writing run. | — |
| Timeout minutes | The run time limit. Local runs can be saved up to 240 minutes. | — |
| Prefer desktop runner for blog drafts | Drafts run on an open, bound desktop's Claude subscription with no API spend. | On |
| Cloud fallback for waiting drafts | After a few minutes with no desktop, sends the draft to the cloud writer using your API credits. | Off |
| Additional content paths | Extra directories the blog writer may edit, one path per line. Advanced. | — |
| Language code | The research result language. Advanced. | en |
| Who this website is for | Shows the stored target audience. Read-only here — it is edited on the Research brief. | — |
| Image style notes | A style hint for manual image generation and edits only. Autoblog sources its own images and ignores this. | — |
One Save all commits this section. The market locations picker is the exception and saves on its own.
The target audience has exactly one editor
It is the Research brief, under StrategyResearchBrief. This panel shows it read-only with a link across, so two copies can never disagree.
Data & tracking
Connections, freshness and run health.
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Connection readiness | A traffic-light list of Search Console, Analytics, research evidence, the Google connection, the research brief, site knowledge and the reporting baseline, each with its own fix button. | — |
| Baseline start date | The month reporting comparisons start from. It cannot be in the future, and it cannot be re-locked from here afterwards. | — |
| Capture baseline | Locks the reporting baseline snapshot. | — |
| Map Pack tracking | The local rank grid — listing, grid size, keywords, cadence and monthly budget. | — |
| AI provider keys | Reports whether the writer and review providers are configured. Platform-level. Advanced. | — |
| Index coverage | Indexing state for the website's pages. Advanced. | — |
| Run health | Named problems such as a research provider fault, a stale autoblog run, not-generated reports, a scheduler problem, or no tracked keywords. Advanced. | — |
| Scheduler job history | Recent scheduled runs. It loads on demand — use Refresh inside the panel. Advanced. | — |
SEO cron-step history reads Not available for workspace logins. That is expected; it is platform-operator diagnostic data, not something missing from your workspace.
Reporting & client
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly report autopilot | Off, Draft for review, or Auto-attach after QA. Auto-attach is account-owner only to arm. | Off |
| Generate on day of month | The day, 1 to 28, the monthly report is generated. Saves when you leave the field. | Off until set |
| Active SEO | Shows SEO as an active service in the client's portal. Nothing SEO-related reaches the client until this is on. | — |
| Live SEO dashboard | Lets the client open the live daily dashboard, independently of report delivery. | — |
| Map Pack results | Shows Map Pack scan results in the client's portal. | — |
| Domain is a generic service term | Allows generic service words from the domain in reports and rank checks. Business-name keywords stay excluded. Owner only. | — |
The three client-visibility switches save immediately. The report day saves when you leave the field, and an invalid day is never written — the field snaps back and explains why.
What saves how
| Control | Saves |
|---|---|
| The four automation lanes | On click |
| Client visibility switches | On click |
| Paid research cadence and budget fields | With Save automation settings |
| Content & page rules | With Save all |
| Local market locations | Separately, from its own picker |
| Generate on day of month | When you leave the field, or on Enter |
| Map Pack tracking panel | With its own Save, except client visibility |
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A cadence change did not stick | Cadence fields need the section's save button | Click Save automation settings |
| A content rule did not stick | The section commits together | Click Save all |
| Paid research is blocked everywhere | The monthly SEO budget is blank | Enter a positive number |
| Scheduled research and drafting have paused | The monthly budget is reached | Wait for next month, raise it, or run it yourself as an owner and accept the overrun |
| A member cannot arm auto-attach or the generic-domain rule | Both are owner-only | Ask the account owner |
| Cron-step history says it is not available | It is not exposed to workspace logins | Use Run health and Scheduler job history instead |
| Bluehost deploy after fix commits does nothing | It is owner-only and needs terminal wiring plus FTP credentials | Confirm both with your platform operator before relying on it |