Research
A report on where your site stands and what to write next - built from your own pages and your own Google Search Console data, with every line showing the check behind it.
Research answers the question that comes before every article: what should this site write next? It reads your site and your Google Search Console data, and gives you a report you can act on - what is working, what is holding the site back, and what to cover next.
Open it from Research in the left rail.
On this page
What the report contains
The report is called Where you stand. For each domain it gives:
- A verdict - how the site is doing, in plain words.
- What is working - the pages and subjects earning their place.
- What is holding it back - dead pages, thin pages, undated or future-dated pages, placeholder pages.
- What to watch - things that are not a problem yet.
- What to write next - a ranked list of subjects worth covering.
Every line cites the check that produced it - your own pages, or your own Search Console data. A claim with no check behind it is dropped before the report is stored. A measure that could not run is shown as "not measured", never as a pass and never as zero.
What it needs
- A paid plan - Starter, Growth or Pro.
- Google Search Console connected to the domain. The report quotes your own search data, so it needs the connection. You can connect Search Console right from the Research page, without leaving it.
A CMS connection is not needed. In Mastheads, your CMS connection is for publishing only; Search Console is what proves the site is yours for anything that reads it.
Your own data, not a keyword vendor's
Mastheads buys no keyword data, so the report shows no search volumes and no keyword difficulty scores - and it will not estimate them either, because an estimate would be a number nobody measured.
What it uses instead is your own Search Console: the searches people already find you for. That has a limit worth knowing - Search Console only lists searches you already appear for - so a subject you have never covered shows up as a gap in your coverage, not as a volume number. Name the sites you compete with, and the report reads their pages to show what they cover that you do not.
A report, not an action
The report tells you what it found. It does not change anything. If it says a page is broken, fixing it is yours. If it suggests a subject, writing it is a normal article request - nothing is written or spent from inside the report.
Search Console, safely
Connecting Search Console gives Mastheads read-only access. Your search data is read live when you look, not stored between visits. Disconnecting revokes the access on Google's side too.
With Search Console connected you can also see the domain's search traffic - searches, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and position.
How many reports you get
| Plan | Reports per billing period |
|---|---|
| Starter | 10 |
| Growth | 50 |
| Pro | 100 |
The count is per account, across all your domains, and separate from your article allowance. The trial and pay as you go do not include Research.
One report a month comes free for a domain with its autonomous newsroom switched on and Search Console connected: it runs in the background, never touches your report allowance, and its "what to write next" list feeds the newsroom's story ideas.
Research, Find sources, or Ideas?
- Research - "Where does my site stand, and what should it cover next?"
- Find sources - "What would an article on this subject be written from?"
- Ideas - "What is happening in my field today?"
Related: Quorl - the whole-site audit · Find sources · Plans and your article pool