Set up the SEO Tool

The SEO Tool writes search-ranking articles for your Shopify blog, checks them against your rules, and publishes them only after you approve. Follow these steps once, in order, to get it ready.

Before you start

• A Shopify store you own, connected to Pinned. See Connect your Shopify store.
• An AI model key. You can connect one on the Connections page (see Connect your own AI model), or add one in the SEO Tool's settings (see Choose a language model below).

On the Free and Creator plans the SEO Tool shows a lock and an upgrade prompt. See Choose a plan and upgrade.

Create your SEO workspace

A workspace holds your Shopify stores, their keywords and rulebooks, your drafts and your Search Console data. The first time you open the SEO Tool, you create it. Until you do, nothing else in the tool is available.

1. In the sidebar, click SEO Tool.

   

2. Under Set up your SEO workspace, optionally type a name in Workspace name. The hint shows your name followed by SEO workspace.

3. Click Create workspace.

You can rename the workspace later in Settings: under Workspace, change the Name and click Rename.

How workspaces work

The SEO Tool follows the workspace selected at the top of the sidebar. Personal (all accounts) is your own workspace. Each of your other Pinned workspaces has its own SEO Tool, with its own stores, keywords and drafts. Switch workspaces in the sidebar, or with the Workspace switcher at the top right of the SEO Tool. See Work with workspaces and teams.

The workspace owner's plan decides whether the SEO Tool is available. A teammate whose workspace owner isn't on the Business plan sees a message asking them to have the owner upgrade.

Connect your Shopify store to Pinned

The SEO Tool uses a store you already connected on the Connections page. You don't paste anything into the SEO Tool. Follow Connect your Shopify store if you haven't done this yet.

The store must have granted Pinned these permissions:

• read_content, write_content and read_products, for the SEO Tool itself.
• read_locales, read_translations, write_translations and read_markets, for translations.

If you connected the store before Pinned asked for these, reconnect it on the Connections page. Reconnecting keeps everything else about the connection as it is.

Add your store as a brand

In the SEO Tool, a brand is one of your Shopify stores plus the blog the tool writes to. Adding a brand unlocks its keywords, rulebook, schedule, catalog, links, translations and AI visibility pages.

1. In the SEO Tool, find the Brands row under the navigation and click Connect a store.

   

2. In Store, choose the store. A store can be connected to a workspace once.

3. Optional: in Brand name (optional), type how the store should appear in the SEO Tool. The hint reads Defaults to the store's name.

4. Optional: in Public site URL (optional), type your site's address. Leave it blank to use the store's public domain. Pinned uses it to tell internal links from external ones.

5. Optional: in Blog ID (optional), type the number at the end of your blog's address in Shopify admin (the part after admin/blogs/). Every article the SEO Tool writes goes only to this blog. Leave it blank to use the store's only blog.

6. Click Verify and connect. The button reads Checking with Shopify… while Pinned verifies the store.

7. If the store has several blogs, Pinned asks which one to use. Choose it in Blog, then click Confirm blog and connect.

Your store now appears as a button in the Brands row. Click it to open the brand.

If no store is connected, this page shows You have no Shopify store connected to Pinned yet. and a Connect a Shopify store button that takes you to the Connections page. In a team workspace, only stores added to that team are offered, and they belong to the workspace owner, so ask them to connect or add one.

The same page also has an Or connect a website from GitHub section, for a site built from a GitHub repository instead of a Shopify store.

Choose a language model

The language model writes your drafts. You have two options:

• Connect a model in the AI model section of the Connections page. The SEO Tool uses it automatically.
• Add a key in the SEO Tool, to use a different model for this workspace's articles.

To add a key in the SEO Tool:

1. In the SEO Tool navigation, click Settings.

2. Under Language model, choose a Provider: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, Google (Gemini) or xAI (Grok).

   

3. Optional: in Generator model, type a model name. Leave it blank to use the default shown in the hint.

4. Paste your key into API key.

5. Click Save.

Once a key is saved, the page shows which provider and model it's using. Saving a new key replaces the stored one. To keep the stored key, leave API key blank.

You can also set a reviewer under Reviewer (optional, used for localization parity checks). Choose a Reviewer provider and a Reviewer model. The reviewer should be a different model family from the generator, so their blind spots don't overlap. If the reviewer uses a different provider, a Reviewer API key field appears. Leave the provider at Not set if you don't want a reviewer.

Before the tool can write a draft, the brand also needs an approved source list in its rulebook. See Set your SEO rulebook and style guides.

Connect Google Search Console

Search Console gives the SEO Tool your clicks, impressions and positions, and the searches Google already shows your store for. This step is optional, but the dashboard's search figures and keyword suggestions need it.

1. In Settings, scroll to Google Search Console.
2. Under Connect with a Google service account, follow the steps listed on the page. Then upload the key file in Service account key file, or click Or paste the file's contents, and click Save key.
3. Or click Advanced: sign in with your own Google account instead.
4. Open the brand and pick its Search Console property on its Schedule tab.

The full steps are in Connect Search Console and set a publishing schedule.

Import your existing posts

Import the posts already on your blog so the tool never writes about something twice.

1. Open the SEO Tool Dashboard. A brand with no articles shows a card headed Import existing posts first, with the brand's name as a link.
2. Click the brand's name.
3. On the brand's page, click Import.

The card disappears once the brand has articles.

Find your way around

The SEO Tool has its own navigation across the top.

For Members, API usage and the Audit log, see Manage SEO Tool members, usage and the audit log.

When the tool is busy, a button next to these shows how many jobs are working in the background. The Brands row lists each connected store. Once a brand is open, its pages cover keywords, rulebook, schedule, catalog, links, translations and AI visibility. Start with Manage your SEO keywords.

Troubleshooting

The SEO Tool is locked

The SEO Tool needs the Business plan. Use the upgrade prompt, or see Choose a plan and upgrade. If you're a teammate and the message says the workspace's owner needs the Business plan, ask the owner to upgrade.

The store I want isn't in the Store list

Only stores connected to Pinned on the Connections page appear. Connect it there first. In a team workspace, the store must also be added to the team on the Connections page. Ask the workspace owner to do this, then come back.

Pinned says permissions are missing

Reconnect the store on the Connections page so it grants the permissions listed above.

I see a Setup needed screen

This means the SEO Tool can't start yet. Contact support@pinned.gg and include what the screen says.