ILO User Manual

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started
  2. Adding a New Project
  3. Importing GSC Data
  4. Analyzing Traffic
  5. Classifying Query Intent
  6. Tagging Queries and Pages
  7. Rank Potential Analysis
  8. CTR Potential Analysis
  9. Page Discovery
  10. Citation Mining
  11. Snippet Optimization
  12. Exporting Data
  13. Sharing Work with Other Users

Getting Started

Logging In

  1. Open ILO in your browser.
  2. Enter your Username and Password in the login form.
  3. Click Login.

If you receive an error, verify your credentials with your administrator.

Navigation

After logging in, the sidebar on the left contains the main navigation tabs:

TabPurpose
TrafficImport GSC data and view traffic analytics
Rank PotentialIdentify ranking opportunities
CTR PotentialFind click-through rate improvement opportunities
TaggerCreate and assign tags to queries and pages
IntentClassify queries by user intent using AI
Page DiscoveryDiscover URLs from sitemaps
Citation MiningDetect brand citations across search results
Context OptimizerOptimize page snippets for better CTR
ExportDownload data in CSV, Excel, or JSON

To log out, click the Log Out button at the bottom of the sidebar.

Adding a New Project

A “project” in ILO corresponds to a Google Search Console property.

  1. At the top of the interface, click the property selector dropdown.
  2. Browse the list of available GSC properties (sorted alphabetically).
  3. Select the property you want to work with.

The property is now your active project. All tabs and features will operate against this property’s data.

Recent Projects

After you’ve worked with properties, ILO displays a Recent Projects grid below the selector showing up to 20 recently accessed properties. Click any property in the grid to switch to it quickly.

Importing GSC Data

Before you can analyze anything, you need to import data from Google Search Console.

  1. Select your property from the dropdown.
  2. Navigate to the Traffic tab.
  3. Click the Import button (for a new property) or Update (if data already exists and newer data is available).
  4. Monitor the import progress:
  • A progress bar shows completion percentage.
  • Metrics display the success rate and estimated time remaining.
  1. Once complete, ILO automatically computes primary URL mappings for your queries.

The import button is disabled when your data is already up to date (within the last 3 days).

Choosing a Time Period

Use the Period Selector to control the date range for displayed data:

  • Last 30 days
  • Last 90 days
  • Last 180 days
  • All time

Analyzing Traffic

With data imported, the Traffic tab displays:

  • Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Average Position broken down by date, country, and device.
  • Algorithm changes timeline showing SERP flux data from Algoroo.
  • Google Search status events for context on any anomalies.

Use the period selector and filters to narrow down the view.

Classifying Query Intent

The Intent tab uses AI to classify your queries into intent categories (e.g., Informational, Transactional, Navigational).

Step 1: Create a Label Set

  1. Go to the Intent tab.
  2. Enter a Label set name (e.g., “Standard Intent”).
  3. Add labels with descriptions. For example:
  • “Informational” — User is looking for information.
  • “Transactional” — User intends to make a purchase.
  • “Navigational” — User is looking for a specific website.
  1. Save the label set.

Step 2: Run Classification

  1. Set a minimum clicks threshold to focus on queries that matter.
  2. Toggle Unclassified only to skip already-classified queries.
  3. Click Classify (X unclassified) to start.
  4. Queries are classified in batches of 100. Progress is shown in real time.

Step 3: Review Results

  • View results in a table showing Query, Primary Label, Score, and All Labels.
  • Adjust score thresholds per label to fine-tune assignments.
  • Filter by label to explore specific intent groups.

Tagging Queries and Pages

The Tagger tab lets you manually organize queries and pages with custom tags.

Creating Tags

  1. Go to the Manage Tags section.
  2. Enter a Tag name (e.g., “Brand Terms”) and an optional Description.
  3. Click Add Tag.

Tagging Queries

  1. Go to the Tag Queries section.
  2. Enter a search term in the Search queries field.
  3. Optionally enable:
  • Fuzzy matching — catches misspellings (adjustable score threshold).
  • Substring match — matches within longer query strings.
  1. Click Search.
  2. Select tags for each query from the multi-select dropdown.
  3. Click Apply Tags.

Tagging Pages

The Tag Pages section follows the same workflow but operates on page URLs.

Rank Potential Analysis

The Rank Potential tab helps you identify keywords with room for improvement.

Filters

  • Country — Multi-select dropdown.
  • Device — Desktop, Mobile, or Tablet.
  • Date Range — Calendar selector.
  • Tag filters — Include or exclude queries by tag.
  • Intent filters — Include or exclude queries by intent label.

What You See

  • Total ranking queries and pages.
  • Queries and pages with clicks.
  • Position distribution analysis.
  • Historical trend charts.
  • Page-level ranking summaries.

CTR Potential Analysis

The CTR Potential tab identifies queries where your click-through rate is below your site average, representing traffic you’re leaving on the table.

Creating a CTR Snapshot

  1. Go to the CTR Potential tab.
  2. Configure your snapshot:
  • Name (optional) — for easy reference later.
  • Date range, Country, Device.
  • Minimum clicks threshold.
  • Calculation mode — “All positions” or “Top 3 only”.
  • Tag/Intent filters to narrow scope.
  1. Click to generate the snapshot.

Reading Results

  • Total current clicks vs. Total opportunity clicks.
  • Opportunity percentage — how much more traffic you could capture.
  • Breakdowns by position, effort level (quick wins vs. strategic), and page.
  • Per-query table: Query, Position, Current CTR, Site Average CTR, Delta, Opportunity Clicks.

Saving Snapshots

Click Save CTR Snapshot to store the snapshot. You can revisit saved snapshots to track progress over time.

Page Discovery

The Page Discovery tab imports URLs from your sitemaps into ILO for analysis.

  1. Enter your Sitemap URL (e.g., https://example.com/sitemap.xml).
  2. Click Start Discovery.
  3. ILO crawls the sitemap, extracts all page URLs, and imports them.
  4. Progress displays:
  • Pages downloaded.
  • URLs extracted.
  • New pages added.
  • Any failed URLs.

Discovered pages become available across all analysis tabs.

Citation Mining

The Citation Mining tab detects where your brand (or competitors) appear in AI-generated search results.

Step 1: Create a Run

  1. Click to create a new run.
  2. Fill in:
  • Run Name (e.g., “Q1 2026 Audit”).
  • Target Brand — select an existing brand or create a new one.
  • Location and Language (optional).
  • Prompts per Entity — 10, 50, or 100.
  1. Click Create Run.

Step 2: Set Entities

Define the entities (companies, brands, people, products) you want to mine citations for.

Step 3: Generate Prompts

ILO generates search prompts for each entity. Preview and adjust before proceeding.

Step 4: Mine Citations

Click to execute the mining queries. ILO calls the API, resolves URLs, and extracts citation data in real time.

Step 5: Review Results

  • Citation Stats — Analytics dashboard with entity performance, citation distribution, and positioning data.
  • View Responses — Raw API results.
  • Raw Data — JSON export for further analysis.
  • Export — Structured data download.

Snippet Optimization

The Context Optimizer tab helps you craft better titles and descriptions for improved CTR.

Phase 1: Builder

  1. Select a query and target URL.
  2. ILO generates initial snippet variations and scrapes current SERP context.
  3. Review candidate URLs and competitor snippets.

Phase 2: Optimizer

  1. ILO runs iterative optimization, testing hypotheses and ranking variations.
  2. Review results:
  • Best and worst performing snippets.
  • Estimated CTR impact.
  • Implementation difficulty.
  • Traffic impact estimate.
  1. Export your optimized snippets for implementation.

Exporting Data

The Export tab provides structured downloads of your data.

Export Types

TypeContents
GSC DataQuery, Page, Country, Device, Date, Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Position
Intent ClassificationsQuery, Label Set, Label, Score, Model, Threshold
Tagged QueriesQuery, Tags, Primary Intent, Clicks
Combined ReportAll of the above merged into one file

How to Export

  1. Select an export type.
  2. Configure filters (date range, country, minimum clicks).
  3. Choose a format: CSV, Excel, or JSON.
  4. Download the file.

Sharing Work with Other Users

ILO is a shared platform. All data, tags, classifications, snapshots, and runs are stored centrally and visible to all users with access to the same property.

What Is Shared Automatically

When you work on a property, the following is available to other users who access the same property:

  • Imported GSC data — One user imports, everyone benefits.
  • Tags — Tags created on queries and pages are visible to all users on that property.
  • Intent classifications — Label sets and classification results are shared.
  • CTR snapshots — Saved snapshots are available to all users for comparison and tracking.
  • Citation mining runs — Runs, entities, prompts, and results are shared. Runs track the creator via created_by.
  • Snippet optimization runs — Optimization sessions and results are shared across users.
  • Discovered pages — Pages imported via sitemap discovery are available to all.

Sharing Workflow

  1. Import data on the property you want to collaborate on.
  2. Tag, classify, and analyze as needed — your work is saved to the shared database.
  3. Create named snapshots and runs with clear names (e.g., “Q1 2026 CTR Audit”) so other users can find and understand your work.
  4. Export reports and share the downloaded files directly with stakeholders who don’t have ILO access.

Best Practices

  • Use descriptive names for label sets, tags, snapshots, and runs so other users understand their purpose.
  • Coordinate on tag naming conventions to avoid duplicates (e.g., agree on “Brand” vs. “Branded” vs. “Brand Terms”).
  • Check existing intent label sets before creating new ones — another user may have already created what you need.
  • Review saved CTR snapshots before creating a new one to track progress against previous analyses.
  • When exporting for external stakeholders, use the Combined Report option for a comprehensive view.