Start your AI agents: what happens when you click Start agents
Updated
Start your agents#
- In the sidebar, click Dashboard.
- In Getting started, find the step Start your AI agents.
- Click Start agents. You land on your AI Agents board.
- Wait a few minutes while the board says Your agents are finding your first work. The first proposals appear on the board as cards.
Connect your website first
Agents can only change pages on a connected website. Without one, they propose at most 3 requests to send pages to search engines, or a technical check. If the step Connect your site is not done yet, start there: see connect your website. Connecting Google Search Console lets them plan from your real clicks.
What happens in the first minutes#
| When | What you see | What is happening |
|---|---|---|
| Right after you click | Your agents are finding your first work, then Analyzing your data now | Your agents read your site, your Search Console data and your competitors, then choose the work most worth doing. |
| Usually within a few minutes | Cards on the board, often starting with Your first fix is ready | The first proposals. A small change you can check first, such as a new page title or structured data for your business. See approve your first fix. |
| Within the hour | An email when your first fixes are ready to approve | Your dashboard already shows Setup done in place of Getting started. That line stays for a week, or until you click Dismiss. |
| Every Monday after that | New cards on the board | Your agents plan new work once a week. Nothing new is planned between runs, or while your list of open work is full. |
"That first run hit a snag"
The first run failed and nothing changed on your site. Click Try again. If it fails again, email contact@seomatic.ai.
What your agents may do without asking#
Your agents run in the mode you picked during setup, at How should your agents work?. Starting them again never changes it. If nobody picked one, for example in a workspace added after setup, they run in Assisted: changes that can be undone, such as titles, descriptions, links and structured data, go live on their own once our checks pass, with a daily email and one-click Undo. Bigger changes, such as redirects, page removals and bulk campaigns, always wait for your approval.
Want to approve everything first?
Before or after you start them, open Settings > AI Agents > Agent Settings, choose Approval and click Save. Nothing is then written to your site until someone on your team approves that exact task. See approval modes.
If Start agents does not start them#
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A window asking you to upgrade | Your workspace is on the Free plan, or your plan is no longer active. Agents do not act on the Free plan. | Pick a plan in the window. Your agents start on their own once it is active, in the mode you picked during setup. See what the Free plan includes. |
| A Waiting for an owner badge instead of the button | Only an Owner or Admin can start the agents. We emailed your workspace owner, once, that you are waiting. | Ask your owner to click Start agents, or to make you an Admin. See invite teammates. |
| "Only an owner or admin can start the agents." | Your role does not allow it. It may have changed since the page loaded. | Reload the page, or ask your owner. |
| "Could not start the agents. Try again." | Something failed on our side. Nothing changed. | Click Start agents again. If it keeps failing, email contact@seomatic.ai. |
- Does starting my agents cost anything?
- No. Starting them uses no credits. Credits are used when work runs, for example when a fix is written or an article is generated. See how credits work.
- Is the switch on the AI Agents board the same thing?
- Yes. Both turn your agents on, and both keep the mode you picked. A workspace that never picked one starts in Assisted either way.
- How do I stop my agents later?
- Turn off the switch at the top of your AI Agents board. Nothing runs, new or in progress, while it reads Agents off.
- I started them, but nothing appeared after an hour.
- See my agents are on but nothing is happening. The most common cause is a website that is not connected.
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