Add rank-tracking keywords
How do I add keywords and generate their first grid report?
Open Marketing → SEO, choose a location and select Add Keyword. Type the searches you want to track, set how far apart the grid points sit, read the credit budget in the dialog, and select Generate report. Synup checks your rank for each keyword from 49 points around the location, in the background, and tells you when the report is ready. You are charged per grid point, so the dialog shows what the scan will use before you spend anything.
Key facts
| Where it lives | Marketing → SEO, Add Keyword at the top right of a location. On a location with no keywords it is Add your first keyword |
| How many at once | Up to 25 keywords per add. Keywords you already track are skipped |
| The grid | 49 points (7 × 7). The dialog does not offer a smaller grid |
| Spacing | Distance between points, in miles or kilometres. The slider runs from 0.25 to 5 miles and starts at 1 mile, which is a 6-mile-wide grid |
| What it costs | Credits per grid point, so about 118 credits for one keyword at the default rate. The dialog shows your actual figure |
| Points you turn off | Not scanned and not charged. Points over water start turned off |
| How long it takes | It runs in the background and takes about 5 minutes. You are notified when the report is ready |
Why this matters
Credits are spent when the scan runs, so check the budget before you select Generate report. The dialog shows how many credits the scan needs, how many you have left and what a monthly rescan will use, and it stops you adding more keywords than your credits cover.
Steps
Open Marketing → SEO, choose a client and a single location, and select Add Keyword. The dialog is called Add keywords.
Under Keywords, type a search and press Enter, or separate several with commas, or paste a list. Each becomes a chip, and the counter in the corner shows how many of 25 you have used.
Write the phrase a customer would actually type. Synup runs the same phrase from every point on the grid, so the grid, not a place name in the keyword, decides where the search is "from". A keyword you already track is marked · tracked and is not added again.
Set Distance between points. Choose mi or km, then drag the slider. The line beside it says how wide the whole grid is, for example 6 mi across at 1 mile. A wider spacing covers a whole metro area but shows less detail about which neighbourhoods you lose. A tighter spacing shows street-level detail over a small area.
Check Grid preview on the right. It shows the 49 points on a map. Select a point to turn it off, and select it again to turn it back on. A point that is off is not scanned and not charged, and the line under the map shows how many are active, for example 49 of 49 points. Your own location cannot be turned off, and at least one point must stay on.
Read the budget block. It shows the size of the scan, for example 2 keywords × 49 points, the credits the scan needs, Credits left with what remains after the scan, and Rescanned every month: about 236 credits a month. Credits that are already reserved for scans in progress are not counted as left.
Select Generate report. The dialog changes to Checking your rank at 49 points, lists your keywords, and tells you the scan runs in the background and takes about 5 minutes. Select Got it and carry on working.
When your credits do not cover the scan
The dialog checks your balance as you type and tells you what will happen, before anything is saved.
- Enough credits. The budget shows what you will have left and Generate report is available.
- Credits for some of the keywords. A notice reads You have credits for 1 of these 2 keywords and the button changes to Generate report for first 1. The ones that do not fit are not added, and the dialog tells you afterwards how many were skipped. Add the rest when you have more credits.
- Not enough for any. The notice reads Not enough credits for this scan and says how many credits it needs and how many you have. The button can turn into Upgrade plan.
- Trial ended or account inactive. The dialog says Your trial has ended or Your account is inactive and offers an upgrade instead of a scan.
If the server cannot afford the scan when you submit, it refuses before saving anything, so you are never left with half a batch.
What you'll see when it's done
- The keyword in the Added keywords list on Overview, marked as checking while the scan runs
- A notification in the app when the keyword reports are ready
- The map filling in and the Top 3, Top 10 and Avg Rank figures appearing once at least one point returns
- A monthly rescan on your schedule, which uses credits again
Watch out for
- The budget is a price, not a promise of results. A keyword you do not rank for comes back as 20+ at every point. That is a real answer, but pick your first keywords from searches you have a genuine chance on.
- The monthly line is a worst case. Rescanned every month assumes your current choices repeat each month. Your location's schedule may be weekly, quarterly or Never, which you can change from Manage schedule on the Overview. With the schedule on Never, keywords you add are saved but not scanned until you refresh the location yourself.
- A point is recorded once per keyword per month. Charges are keyed to the keyword, the month and the point's position in the grid, so repeating a scan in the same month does not charge the same position twice, even if you change the spacing. A new month charges again.
- Turning points off lowers the cost, and the figures too. Points you turn off are missing from that report, so its averages cover only the points that were scanned.
- A failed scan shows a warning. If Synup cannot check a keyword, a strip names it and says the next update will try again.
- Credits can run out between months. If a monthly refresh needs more credits than you have, a strip on the Overview says so and the keywords that do not fit are paused with Paused - no credits until you add credits.
- Organic website keywords are separate. This dialog sets up map-pack grid tracking only. Website keywords are added under Organic rankings.
Questions people ask
Can I choose a 3 × 3 or 5 × 5 grid?
Not in this dialog. It always uses 49 points. You can cut the cost by turning points off in the preview.
Is the cost doubled for two keywords?
Yes. The budget shows keywords × points, and each keyword gets its own grid. Two keywords on the full grid need twice what one does.
Why is the preview map missing?
The grid preview needs a map. If it cannot load, the dialog still lets you add keywords with all 49 points; you just cannot turn points off.
Can I add more than 25 keywords?
Add 25, let them scan, then add more. The limit is per add, not per location.
Where do I find suggestions for keywords?
Open Sydekick insight. Its keyword finder suggests searches you are not tracking; see read the Sydekick insight.