My agents are on but nothing is happening
Updated
The most common cause is that your website is not connected: agents can find problems but cannot change a page. The next most common is work waiting for your approval in the Needs you column. Look at the top of your dashboard and your AI Agents board, then match what you see to the table below.
Match what you see#
Work down this table. It starts with the most common causes.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A banner: Your agent can't publish yet. The board says "Connect your site so your agents can work", or names your platform. | Your website is not connected. Agents cannot change your pages, so they propose at most 3 requests to send pages to search engines, or a technical check. | Click Connect CMS on the banner. See connect your website. |
| Cards in the Needs you column, and "need you" with a number at the top of the board. | Work is waiting for your approval. In Approval mode nothing runs until you say yes. In the other modes, cards that can be undone go live on their own within a short while, and the rest waits for you. | Open a card and approve it, or click the button such as Approve 3 (the number varies) at the top of the column to approve the small fixes that wait for your yes. See approve, dismiss or undo a task. |
| "Your agents are finding your first work" | Your agents are on their first run. | Wait a few minutes. The first proposals usually land on the board within a few minutes. |
| "That first run hit a snag" | The first run failed. Nothing changed on your site. | Click Try again. If it fails again, email contact@seomatic.ai. |
| An empty board with "Nothing here right now" in its columns. On a wide screen, next to the switch: "Runs automatically every Monday" (or "today" or "tomorrow"). | Agents plan new work once a week, on Mondays. Nothing new is planned between runs, and nothing is planned while your list of open work is already full. | Wait for Monday, or ask for work now: click New campaign, or ask SEO Copilot for a fix. |
| A banner: "You're on the Free plan. SEO Copilot and your data are still here - the agents that act on your site pause until you upgrade." Or a lock icon next to AI Agents. | Agents do not act on the Free plan. | Click Upgrade. See what the Free plan includes and pricing. |
| A banner: "Your agents stopped: this trial's AI credits are used up" or "Your agents stopped: this period's AI credits are used up" | Your credits for this period are spent. | Click Start your plan now (trial) or Get more credits. Otherwise work restarts when your credits renew. See out of credits. |
| A banner (Auto mode): "Your agents paused for today after using this workspace’s daily budget" | Agents reached the daily credit limit. Approved work resumes on its own tomorrow. | Wait for tomorrow, or raise Daily credit cap in Settings > AI Agents > Agent Settings. |
| A banner: "Your agent can only see part of the picture. Connect Google Search Console so it can plan from your real search traffic." | Without Search Console, agents cannot plan from your real search traffic or measure clicks. | Click Connect Search Console. See connect Google Search Console. |
| Cards with a Cannot run yet badge and no Approve button. | The agent cannot run these as they are. The card says why. | Click Connect or Retarget if shown, or Hide to clear the card. |
| A billing banner, such as "Payment Failed - Access Blocked" or "Subscription Paused". | Agents stop when your plan is not active. | The account owner opens Settings > Billing Details. See your payment failed. |
| A banner: "Part of our system is down since" a time. | A problem on our side. Approved work waits, and nothing is lost. | Nothing. Work starts again when the system is back. |
| The switch at the top of the board reads Agents off. | Your agents are paused. Nothing runs, new or in progress. | Turn the switch on. Read the warning below first. |
| Cards in In flight or Measuring that never seem to finish. | Approved work is queued, held or being measured. | Open the card and read its status line. See I approved a fix but nothing changed. |
The board switch always turns on Auto mode
Turning on the switch at the top of the board sets your agents to Auto, even if you chose Approval or Assisted before. In Auto, changes that can be undone go live without asking you, as in Assisted. To choose a mode, use Settings > AI Agents > Agent Settings instead, then click Save. See approval modes.
See what your agents are doing#
Your agents may be working even when the board looks quiet. Here is where to look.
- In the sidebar, click AI Agents. The line at the top shows how many tasks are done today and how many need you.
- Click Live feed. The panel lists everything your agents did, newest first. The summary at the top covers the last two days, for example "In the last two days I shipped 3 changes".
- Scroll to the Live on your site column. Every change we opened your page and saw is listed there, with See it live to open the page.
- Click the bell in the top bar. It lists the decisions blocking your agents, across all your workspaces.
Measuring means the work is done
A card in Measuring is finished work waiting for its result. Results come from your Search Console clicks and take from about a week to about 3 months, depending on the fix. See when will I see results.
- I connected Search Console. Isn't that enough?
- No. Search Console only lets your agents read your Google data. Connecting your website is what lets them change pages. Without it, they propose at most 3 requests to send pages to search engines, or a technical check instead.
- Can I make my agents start right now instead of Monday?
- Yes. Click New campaign on the board and say what you want, or ask SEO Copilot for a specific fix. Either way, the agent proposes the work first, and it lands on your board.
- Why does the bell show a different number from the board?
- The bell groups things. Proposals blocked by the same problem show as one row, and a proposed campaign counts once. The board counts every card.
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Still need help?Email contact@seomatic.ai with your site address and a screenshot. A person replies, usually within one business day.