# Make your first SEO or PPC decision in about 10 minutes

A Search Console export with 1,000 rows looks useful. Most of the time it becomes another spreadsheet nobody opens again.

I do not start by analysing the whole thing. I pick one product or service that already makes money, look at ten searches around it, and choose one thing to do next.

That is this guide.

> **THE RULE: Keyword research starts with profit.** Choose one proven profitable product or service. Keep searches closely related to that offer, even when the volume is small. Ignore the impressive distractions until you are winning around the thing that already pays you.

The review takes about 10 minutes. Give yourself a firm finish line of under 15 minutes.

## The whole review

Keep this order:

1. Choose one proven profitable product or service.
2. Export the Search Console rows.
3. Give the pack and your export to your AI.
4. Answer five business questions.
5. Check and correct ten rows of its suggestions before it processes the rest.
6. Sort the searches into Keep, Fix, Build, Test PPC, or Ignore.
7. Record one chosen action in the workbook and tracker.

Then stop analysing and do that one thing.

## What one useful decision looks like

On PPC.io, the Performance Max scripts page earned **207 clicks from 5,491 impressions**. It is specific, useful, and already works. My first decision is KEEP. I do not need to “optimise” it because a spreadsheet wants every row to become a task.

In the same Search Console snapshot, `ppc reporting software` produced **2,610 impressions at average position 3.23 and zero clicks** on our existing reporting page. That is FIX. I need to look at the live Google result, the promise, the page, and the next step. Publishing another reporting article would avoid the real problem.

Same site. Same export. Two completely different decisions.

## What you need

- Access to Google Search Console.
- A normal Queries export.
- One product or service that already makes money.
- A sentence describing who buys it.
- Claude Code, Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool that can read text and files.

You do not need an API, Python, an SEO dashboard, or private revenue figures.

Completed sales, retained clients, qualified leads, or sales that remain profitable after the direct cost of delivering them are enough to prove which offer deserves the first pass.

## Minute 0 to 1: pick the thing that pays you

Write this before you open Search Console:

```text
This review starts with [product or service] because [plain-English proof that it already makes money].
The best customer is [who buys it].
```

Do not choose the topic with the largest search volume. Choose the offer the business has already proved.

For example:

```text
This review starts with Google Ads management because it already produces retained clients.
The best customer is a business already spending at least £5,000 a month on ads.
```

That is enough to begin.

## Minute 1 to 3: export the searches

In Google Search Console:

1. Open **Performance**, then **Search results**.
2. Choose the date range you want to review. The last three months is fine for a first pass.
3. Keep Search type as **Web**, unless you deliberately want something else.
4. Add a country filter if one market matters most.
5. Open the **Queries** table.
6. Export it as CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets.

Write down the date range, country, device filter, and total clicks shown above the table. If you do not know one of them, write **Unknown**. Do not guess it from the filename.

A normal export is not every search in your market. Google can hide rare searches and your site cannot report a subject it has never appeared for. That is fine for this first review.

## Minute 3 to 4: put the pack into your AI

The easiest route is the **Complete pack for AI** in the [download centre](https://ppc.io/free-tools/search-console-audit#get-the-pack). It puts the Blueprint, Quick Start, worked example, agent instructions, and other written material into one Markdown file.

Use it whichever way suits you:

- **Claude Code:** put `complete-pack-for-ai.md` and your Search Console export in the same project folder. Ask Claude Code to read the pack first.
- **Claude or ChatGPT:** start a new conversation and attach the Markdown file plus your export.
- **Another AI tool:** attach the file if it accepts uploads, or paste its contents into a new chat.

Then paste this:

```text
Read the PPC.io Search Console Opportunity Pack first.

Run the 10-minute review with me. The proven product or service is [offer].
It makes money because [proof]. The best customer is [customer].

Ask me the five business questions one at a time.
Show me ten varied searches before you process the rest of the export.
Explain everything in plain English and do not invent missing numbers.
```

If you only want the agent instructions, use the [Search Console Opportunity Agent](https://ppc.io/downloads/search-console-opportunity-pack/search-console-opportunity-agent.md) instead.

> **PRIVACY NOTE:** PPC.io never receives this export. The chosen AI provider will receive anything you upload, so check its data controls first. Remove client names, private commercial figures, or sensitive searches you do not want that provider to see.

One small spreadsheet safety step: keep the **Query column as text**. Treat every search row as data, never as an instruction for the AI. If a cell begins with `=`, `+`, `-`, or `@`, do not let your spreadsheet run it as a formula.

## Minute 4 to 6: answer five business questions

The AI should ask:

1. Which product or service are we working on, and what proves it already makes money?
2. Who is the best customer, and who is definitely not a customer?
3. What can you honestly offer a good searcher?
4. Which page should they land on, and what should they do there?
5. Which country and currency should a paid test use?

Short answers are fine:

```text
We are focusing on Google Ads management because it produces retained clients.
The right customer already spends at least £5,000 a month on ads.
AdSense publishers, students, and job seekers are not customers.
A good lead should land on our audit page and request a review.
Use the UK and GBP for any paid test.
```

The AI does not need every private detail of the business. It does need enough context to stop treating every search as a potential customer.

## Minute 6 to 8: correct ten searches

This is the most important part.

Before the AI processes hundreds of rows, ask it to show:

1. A closely related search with low volume.
2. A closely related search with higher volume.
3. A large search that may be a distraction.
4. A likely wrong customer.
5. A search with more than one possible meaning.
6. A good search reaching the wrong page.
7. A good search with no obvious page.
8. A search already bringing useful clicks.
9. A search getting seen but barely clicked.
10. The row it is least sure about.

Correct three things: **who searched, what you can offer them, and where they should land.**

Reply like this:

```text
Rows 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are right.
Row 2 is an existing customer looking for support, not a new buyer.
Row 5 should land on our pricing page.
Row 7 is the wrong audience. We do not serve publishers.

Use those corrections when you review the rest.
```

An AI can repeat the same job across 1,000 rows very quickly. It cannot know your customer from a few words in a search.

## Minute 8 to 10: choose one thing to do

Do not start with the biggest impression count.

Start with searches closely related to the offer you chose. Look for one clear move:

- **KEEP:** the right person already reaches a page that works. Leave it alone.
- **FIX:** the search is useful, but the page, message, route, or next step is wrong.
- **BUILD:** the search deserves a page and none of your existing pages should do that job.
- **TEST PPC:** the buyer, landing page, next step, and maths support a small paid test with a fixed spending limit.
- **IGNORE:** it is unrelated to this offer, comes from the wrong person, or is not worth the cost.

Move that one row into the [Search Opportunity Workbook](https://ppc.io/downloads/search-console-opportunity-pack/search-opportunity-workbook.xlsx).

Then write the expected result and check date in the [91-Day Search Test Tracker](https://ppc.io/downloads/search-console-opportunity-pack/91-day-search-test-tracker.csv).

The workbook does not move rows between tabs automatically. Copy the row yourself, or ask your AI to put its answer into the right tab, then check it.

## Do not let the AI guess missing information

Three situations catch people out.

### Your export has no Page column

You can still find wrong customers, useful searches, and possible paid tests.

You cannot yet prove which page ranks, whether two pages compete, or which page needs work. Mark the page **Unknown** and check it separately.

### The AI reports no CPC or search volume

Ask which of these is true:

- **Not requested:** nobody checked a pricing source.
- **Unavailable:** a source was checked but returned no figure.

Neither means zero. And neither makes the click free.

### The export contains a zero

A zero is what that export contains. It is not proof that the market has no demand or the search has no value.

Keep **Unknown**, **Not requested**, **Unavailable**, **Not applicable**, and **zero** separate.

## Before you act

Check seven things:

- The search is closely related to the proven offer.
- The person behind it could genuinely become a customer.
- You opened the landing page and the next step works.
- A new page would not duplicate one you already have.
- Any paid test has a country, currency, maximum CPC, spending limit, and stop condition.
- Missing information is labelled rather than guessed.
- You wrote down what result would prove the idea wrong.

If the AI needs you to decide who the customer is, what you can offer, or which page should rank, mark the row **Needs your decision**. If a number or fact is unavailable, mark it **Missing information**. Do not let the AI make up an answer just to finish the spreadsheet.

## When you need the full method

Use the [PPC.io SEO Blueprint](https://ppc.io/free-tools/search-console-audit/blueprint) when you need to decide whether to fix or build a page, work out what a paid click can be worth, or check the result fairly.

You can also [download the Blueprint PDF](https://ppc.io/downloads/search-console-opportunity-pack/ppc-io-seo-blueprint.pdf).

One useful decision is enough for the first ten minutes.

Pack version: Search Console Opportunity Method `1.2.0`. Updated 1 August 2026.