Your setup guide
The five steps on your dashboard that get a new ProjectHQ project working: read and publish your first article, try your assistant, add it to your site and connect Google.
Every new project comes with a short setup guide on its Dashboard: five steps that take you from "account created" to "ProjectHQ is working on my site". ProjectHQ ticks each step off by itself as soon as it's done — even when you do it somewhere else, like on your own website or in Google.
Open the guide
While you have steps left, the dashboard shows how far you are and what comes next:
Click the card or Continue setup. The guide opens at the bottom of the screen with the next step ready:
- The coloured bar shows your progress: green steps are done, blue is the one you're on.
- Click a segment of the bar to open any step.
- Click ⌄ to fold the guide into a small pill (Setup 2/5 · Next: …) that stays out of your way. Click the pill to open it again.
- Click × to hide the guide. It isn't lost — click Resume setup on the dashboard card to bring it back.
The five steps
| Step | Why it matters | What to click |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Read your first article | ProjectHQ has already written an article from your site, aimed at a real search your customers make. How articles are written | Open it |
| 2. Publish your first article | Put it live on your own site — WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, PrestaShop, a webhook or our API — or copy it over by hand. Publish to your website | Publish it |
| 3. Try your AI assistant | Your assistant is already trained on your website. Ask it something a customer would ask. Set up your AI assistant | Ask it a question |
| 4. Add the assistant to your site | One line of code puts the chat on your site — and starts your analytics too. Install the tracking script | Add it to my site |
| 5. Connect Google | See the searches that already bring people to your site. Connect Google Search Console | Connect Google |
If your first article is still being written when you open the guide, steps 1 and 2 show how far the writer has got. It usually takes a few minutes.
Let the guide show you the way
Instead of dropping you on a page, most steps walk you there — so you learn where things live. Click the step's button and ProjectHQ highlights the next thing to click, with a short note:
Follow the highlights until the step is done. To stop the walkthrough, click × on the note or press Esc.
Skip what you don't need
Two steps are optional:
- Try your AI assistant — click Skip for now.
- Connect Google — click I don't use Search Console.
A skipped step is set aside, not done. To pick it up again, open it from the progress bar and click Skipped · undo.
When you're done
When every step is done or skipped, the guide and the dashboard card disappear. From then on, the dashboard shows what needs your attention instead.