How to Use Outranking Step by Step — 2026 Tutorial

by Fahim Joharder | Last updated Aug 25, 2026

Quick Start

This guide covers every Outranking feature:

Getting Started — Create your account and connect your tools
How to Use AI-Powered SEO — Scan top ranking pages before you write a single line
How to Use AI SEO Writing — Turn a bare outline into a full draft without losing search intent
How to Use SEO Briefs — Create content briefs that lock structure before writing content begins
How to Use Content Strategy — Group keyword research into clusters that build topical authority
How to Use Plagiarism Removal — Check originality before any ai generated content reaches your site
How to Use Factual First Draft — Generate a whole article grounded in sources rather than invented claims
How to Use On-Page Optimization — Fix existing content without rebuilding the whole page from scratch
How to Use Google Search Console Integration — Spot pages sitting just below page one and fix them first
How to Use Reports and Analytics — Show content teams how every document has moved over time

Time needed: 5 minutes per feature

Also in this guide: Pro Tips | Common Mistakes | Troubleshooting | Pricing | Alternatives

Why Trust This Guide

I’ve used Outranking for eight months and tested every feature covered here.

This tutorial comes from real hands-on work, not vendor screenshots.

Outranking is an ai powered seo tool built around live search data.

Most people only touch the ai writing side and skip the scoring engine.

This guide shows you how to use outranking from research to published page.

Follow it once and you can create seo friendly content on repeat.

Outranking Tutorial

This How to Use Outranking tutorial walks the full content workflow, from first login to on page optimization on live pages.

Outranking

Outranking builds seo optimized content from live SERP data instead of guesswork. It scores your draft against on page seo elements while you write, then pushes the finished page to WordPress. Plans start at $19 a month.

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Getting Started with Outranking

Before touching any feature, finish this one-time setup.

It takes about three minutes.

Here is the workspace in action first:

Is Outranking.io the Ultimate AI SEO Tool? Here’s My Experience!

Now let’s walk through each step.

Step 1: Create Your Account

Go to the Outranking website and click Sign Up.

Enter your email and set a password.

✓ Checkpoint: A confirmation email lands in your inbox.

Step 2: Open the Dashboard

Outranking runs in the browser, so there is nothing to download.

Here’s what the dashboard looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: You land on the projects screen with a New Document button.

Step 3: Complete Initial Setup

Set your country, language, and default writing style.

Then link google search console so seo performance data flows in automatically.

✅ Done: You’re ready to use any feature below.

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How to Use Outranking AI-Powered SEO

AI-Powered SEO lets you scan top ranking pages before you write a single line.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Open a Document

Outranking keeps everything in seo documents, so open a new one and enter your target keyword.

Step 2: Run the SERP Scan

Run serp analysis to see the headings, questions, and related keywords rivals already rank for.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: A live seo score panel appears beside your editor.

Step 3: Save the Research

Save the report so your briefs and drafts inherit the same research.

✅ Result: You know exactly what search engines love about the current top ten.

💡 Pro Tip: Sort the questions tab by volume, then answer the top three to create featured snippets.

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How to Use Outranking AI SEO Writer

AI SEO Writing lets you turn a bare outline into a full draft without losing search intent.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Pick a Section

Highlight an outline heading, then open the ai writing tool from the sidebar.

Step 2: Set Tone and Depth

Choose length, tone, and how closely the draft should follow your brief.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: Generated content lands inline and the score updates as you go.

Step 3: Edit Before Accepting

Read every paragraph and cut anything that reads like filler.

✅ Result: A finished section from an ai writing assistant anchored in real serp data.

💡 Pro Tip: Regenerate weak paragraphs only. Full rewrites burn credits and flatten your writing style.

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How to Use Outranking SEO Briefs

SEO Briefs lets you create content briefs that lock structure before writing content begins.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Start a Brief

Click Briefs, paste your keyword, and pick the country you want to rank in.

Step 2: Choose Competitors

Select which top ranking URLs Outranking should model the outline on.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: Your seo content briefs list headings, entities, and word targets.

Step 3: Hand It Off

Share the brief by link or push it straight to google docs for writers.

✅ Result: Every writer starts from the same seo content plan instead of a blank page.

💡 Pro Tip: Delete overlapping headings. Bloated briefs push writers straight into keyword stuffing.

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How to Use Outranking Content Strategist

Content Strategy lets you group keyword research into clusters that build topical authority.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Import Keywords

Open Strategy and upload a keyword list or pull terms from your search data.

Step 2: Cluster by Intent

Let Outranking sort terms by difficulty, volume, and search intent.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: Clusters appear as pillar pages with supporting blog posts underneath.

Step 3: Assign and Schedule

Give each cluster an owner and a publish date.

✅ Result: A quarter of blog content mapped to real demand instead of guesses.

💡 Pro Tip: Start with long-tail terms. Easy wins compound into higher organic traffic much faster.

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How to Use Outranking Plagiarism Remover

Plagiarism Removal lets you check originality before any ai generated content reaches your site.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Run the Scan

Open the document and click the plagiarism checker in the top toolbar.

Step 2: Review Each Match

Check every flagged sentence against the source URL it matched.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: Matched passages highlight in red with a similarity percentage.

Step 3: Rewrite and Rescan

Reword the flagged lines, then run the scan again until it clears.

✅ Result: Clean copy with no duplicate content risk hanging over the page.

💡 Pro Tip: Scan before adding internal links. Rewrites often break anchor text you just placed.

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How to Use Outranking Factual First Draft

Factual First Draft lets you generate a whole article grounded in sources rather than invented claims.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Load Your Sources

Choose Factual Draft, attach your brief, and paste three reference URLs.

Step 2: Select Sections

Pick which headings the ai content generation tool should expand first.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: Each claim carries a source link you can click and verify.

Step 3: Verify Every Claim

Read the draft end to end and delete anything the sources do not support.

✅ Result: A first pass of high quality content you can edit instead of rewrite.

💡 Pro Tip: Feed it strong references. Thin sources produce thin ai content every single time.

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How to Use Outranking On-Page Optimizer

On-Page Optimization lets you fix existing content without rebuilding the whole page from scratch.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Import the URL

Paste a live URL into the seo content editor to pull a baseline score.

Step 2: Work the Checklist

Clear the suggestions for meta title, meta description, headings, and body terms.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: The seo content checker turns green as each item clears.

Step 3: Push It Live

Send the update to your site through the wordpress plugin.

✅ Result: An old post rebuilt into seo friendly content in under thirty minutes.

💡 Pro Tip: Add two external links to authoritative sources. It lifts perceived content quality.

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How to Use Outranking Google Search Console Integration

Google Search Console Integration lets you spot pages sitting just below page one and fix them first.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Authorize the Property

Open Settings and connect your google search console account.

Step 2: Filter the Losers

Filter for queries ranking between positions eight and twenty.

Here’s what this looks like:

Outranking Google Search Console Integration

✓ Checkpoint: Each page shows clicks, impressions, and current content rank.

Step 3: Queue the Refresh

Send the weakest performers straight into the editor as a refresh list.

✅ Result: A refresh queue ordered by upside instead of gut feel.

💡 Pro Tip: Repeat this quarterly. Search rankings drift as rivals update their own posts.

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How to Use Outranking Reports and Analytics

Reports and Analytics lets you show content teams how every document has moved over time.

Here’s how to use it step by step.

Step 1: Open Reports

Go to Reports and choose the date range you want to review.

Step 2: Compare the Curves

Line up seo score changes against traffic for the same window.

Here’s what this looks like:

✓ Checkpoint: You see a chart per project with a per-writer breakdown.

Step 3: Export the Data

Download the report as CSV for your monthly review deck.

✅ Result: Proof that content optimization work moved search engine rankings.

💡 Pro Tip: Watch the lag. Most refreshed pages need six weeks before results show.

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Outranking Pro Tips and Shortcuts

After eight months inside the editor, these are the habits that saved me the most time.

Here is my own workspace after a few hundred documents:

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Bold text	Ctrl + B
Italic text	Ctrl + I
Insert link	Ctrl + K
Undo last edit	Ctrl + Z

Hidden Features Most People Miss

Bulk Scoring: runs on page optimization across a whole folder, a lifesaver for seo managers with big inventories.
Concept Map: shows entity gaps that natural language processing finds in the top ten results.
Version History: rolls a document back when an ai content creation run goes sideways.

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Outranking Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake #1: Writing for the score instead of the reader

❌ Wrong: Padding paragraphs with terms until the seo score hits ninety.

✅ Right: Write genuinely helpful content first, then close the gaps the editor flags.

Mistake #2: Publishing ai generated drafts untouched

❌ Wrong: Accepting the whole draft and hitting publish the same hour.

✅ Right: Fact-check every claim and rewrite the intro in your own voice.

Mistake #3: Ignoring pages you already published

❌ Wrong: Only using the tool to create content from scratch.

✅ Right: Import old URLs and optimize content that already earns impressions.

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Outranking Troubleshooting

Problem: The SEO score will not update

Cause: The document lost its keyword link after a browser refresh.

Fix: Reopen the document, re-enter the target keyword, and rerun the scan.

Problem: The draft reads generic

Cause: The brief was thin, so the ai tools had almost nothing to work with.

Fix: Rebuild the brief with competitor URLs, then regenerate section by section.

Problem: WordPress export loses formatting

Cause: Custom theme blocks do not map to standard HTML tags.

Fix: Export to google docs instead, then paste into the block editor.

📌 Note: If none of these fix your issue, contact Outranking support.

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What is Outranking?

Outranking is an ai powered seo tool that helps you create seo optimized content from live search data.

Think of it as a research analyst and a writer sharing one screen.

Watch this quick overview:

It includes these key features:

AI-Powered SEO: Scans the SERP so your seo strategy starts from data.
AI SEO Writing: An ai writing engine that drafts inside the scored editor.
SEO Briefs: Turns raw research into briefs writers can actually follow.
Content Strategy: Maps clusters so content marketing effort compounds.
Plagiarism Removal: Checks originality before anything goes live.
Factual First Draft: Grounds ai seo drafts in sources you supply.
On-Page Optimization: A content optimization tool for pages already published.
Google Search Console Integration: Pulls real query data into the workspace.
Reports and Analytics: Shows what your content creation process actually returned.

For a full review, see our Outranking review.

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Outranking Pricing

Here’s what Outranking costs in 2026:

Plan	Price	Best For
Starter	$19	A solo seo writer testing seo content writing
SEO Writing	$79	Freelancers generating seo content every week
SEO Wizard	$159	Teams that need advanced features and automation
Custom Plan	Custom Plan	Agencies with large page inventories

Free trial: Outranking runs trials and live demos, though terms change often. Check the pricing page before you buy.

Money-back guarantee: Not publicly advertised. Confirm refund terms with support first.

💰 Best Value: SEO Wizard at $159 — the full seo wizard workflow plus automation for content teams.

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Outranking vs Alternatives

How does Outranking compare? Here’s the landscape in 2026:

Tool	Best For	Price	Rating
Outranking	Research to draft in one tool	$19/mo	⭐ 4
Surfer	Fast on-page scoring	$99/mo	⭐ 4.6
NeuronWriter	Budget scoring	$23/mo	⭐ 4.4
MarketMuse	Enterprise planning	$149/mo	⭐ 4.3
Frase	Quick briefs	$45/mo	⭐ 4.5
Scalenut	All-in-one drafting	$39/mo	⭐ 4.4
SE Ranking	Full SEO suite	$65/mo	⭐ 4.5
Page Optimizer Pro	Precision scoring	$27/mo	⭐ 4.2

Quick picks:

Best overall: Outranking — briefs, drafting, and scoring live in one place
Best budget: Neuronwriter — solid scoring at the lowest monthly cost
Best for beginners: Frase — the shortest learning curve of the group
Best for large libraries: MarketMuse — planning depth for hundreds of pages

🎯 Outranking Alternatives

Looking for Outranking alternatives? Here are the options worth testing:

🚀 Surfer: surfer seo grades drafts against live SERP averages and remains the fastest editor for one-off pages.
💰 Neuronwriter: Cheapest serious scoring engine. Strong entity coverage for solo bloggers watching every dollar.
🏢 MarketMuse: Planning depth built for large libraries. Best when strategy matters more than drafting.
⚡ Frase: Briefs in minutes with the shortest setup. Ideal for agencies juggling many clients.
🧠 Scalenut: Pairs cluster planning with drafting at a low monthly price.
📊 SE Ranking: Rank tracking, audits, and content scoring inside one dashboard.
🔧 Page Optimizer Pro: Term-level precision for people who like tuning every variable themselves.
🎯 Dashword: Simple scoring plus content monitoring that flags pages losing ground.
🔒 WriterZen: Keyword discovery and topic clustering with a one-time licence option.
💼 Content Harmony: Brief quality first. Built for teams handing work to outside writers.
👶 Rytr: Cheap general drafting for short copy. No serious SEO scoring.
⭐ GetGenie: Lives inside WordPress, so drafting and publishing never leave your admin.
🌟 Rankwell: Automated article generation aimed at volume publishers.

For the full list, see our Outranking alternatives guide.

⚔️ Outranking Compared

Here is how Outranking stacks up head to head:

Outranking vs Surfer: Surfer wins on editor speed. Outranking wins on briefs, drafting, and reporting inside one workflow.
Outranking vs Neuronwriter: Neuronwriter costs less. Outranking gives you sourced drafts and cluster planning it cannot match.
Outranking vs MarketMuse: MarketMuse plans deeper. Outranking takes you from plan to published draft without a second tool.
Outranking vs Frase: Frase is quicker to learn. Outranking scores harder and handles bigger content operations.
Outranking vs Scalenut: Scalenut is cheaper per seat. Outranking has stricter scoring and better source grounding.
Outranking vs SE Ranking: SE Ranking covers technical SEO too. Outranking is the stronger writing environment.
Outranking vs Page Optimizer Pro: POP tunes single pages tightly. Outranking manages the whole pipeline instead.
Outranking vs Dashword: Dashword is simpler. Outranking adds briefs, drafting, and Search Console data.
Outranking vs WriterZen: WriterZen leads on keyword discovery. Outranking leads on turning those terms into pages.
Outranking vs Content Harmony: Content Harmony builds better briefs by hand. Outranking automates more of the same job.
Outranking vs Rytr: Rytr writes faster and cheaper. Outranking writes with SERP context behind every line.
Outranking vs GetGenie: GetGenie is easier for WordPress-only teams. Outranking scales past a single site.
Outranking vs Rankwell: Rankwell chases volume. Outranking chases accuracy and editorial control.

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Start Using Outranking Now

You learned how to use every major Outranking feature:

✅ AI-Powered SEO
✅ AI SEO Writing
✅ SEO Briefs
✅ Content Strategy
✅ Plagiarism Removal
✅ Factual First Draft
✅ On-Page Optimization
✅ Google Search Console Integration
✅ Reports and Analytics

Next step: pick one feature and try it today.

Most people start with AI-Powered SEO.

It takes less than five minutes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Outranking used for?

Outranking is an AI SEO platform for planning, drafting, and scoring articles. It pairs SERP research with an editor that grades on-page factors while you write.

Is Outranking better than Surfer SEO?

Outranking goes further into briefs and drafting. Surfer wins on editor speed. Choose Outranking if you want research, writing, and scoring in one place.

How much does Outranking cost?

Plans start at $19 for Starter, $79 for SEO Writing, and $159 for SEO Wizard. A Custom Plan is available for larger teams.

Does Outranking write full articles?

Yes. Factual First Draft builds a complete article from your brief and reference sources. You still need a human editing pass before publishing.

Can Outranking improve pages I already published?

Yes. Import a live URL, read the baseline score, then apply the fixes it suggests for headings, meta tags, and linking.