# Frequently asked questions

> The questions marketing leads ask most about Audience, answered plainly, with links to the pages that go deeper.

Short answers to the questions people ask in their first weeks with Audience. Each links to the page that covers the subject properly.

## Why is my queue empty?

Three common reasons. Setup has not finished: Home shows a build-in-progress panel until it has, and the first scan runs once your site is crawled. Everything Scout found is flagged: the queue then says so and offers a button to the flagged pile. Or Search Console is not connected and your competitors are not confirmed, in which case Scout has little to work from. The empty state on the queue tells you which. See [Reading the queue](/opportunities/reading-the-queue).

## Why is everything flagged?

Because every topic Scout found failed a guardrail, most often fit with what you sell. That usually means the topics your market's search data produced are not about your business, and Scout is being honest about it. Open the **Flagged** filter to read each reason, use **Do it anyway** on any you want, and use **Research a topic** to hand Scout topics you know matter. If the profile Scout built is wrong, fix it and every topic is judged again. See [Guardrails and flagged topics](/opportunities/guardrails-and-flagged-topics).

## Why does a score component say "not measured"?

Scout had no data for it: Search Console is not connected, no competitors are confirmed, or a provider did not return a figure. Rather than counting it as zero, Scout moves that component's weight to the ones it could measure and says so. The score is still out of 100; it rests on less. See [The score](/opportunities/the-score).

## Can Scout publish for me?

Not in this release. An approved article leaves Audience as a Markdown download and you put it live in your own CMS. The Publishing settings page says publishing straight to a CMS is off. Nothing Scout writes becomes public without a person doing it. See [Publishing and Markdown](/content/publishing-and-markdown).

## Why did my opportunities change after I edited the company profile?

Every open topic is judged against the profile. When the profile or the direction changes, Scout re-judges every open topic against the new version, so scores move and some topics change status. Decided topics are left alone: anything approved, rejected or in progress keeps the score it was judged on. See [Direction and re-judging](/opportunities/direction-and-re-judging).

## How do I stop Scout proposing a theme?

Reject one topic of that kind with **Not worth it**, tick **Keep topics like this out from now on**, and choose how to match: exactly this keyword, anything mentioning it, or anything about this theme. Matching open topics leave the queue at once and the rule appears in the playbook under **Topics Scout won't propose**, with a count of what it removed. See [Topics Scout won't propose](/playbook/topics-scout-wont-propose).

## Why is Search Console "strongly recommended"?

It is the single strongest signal Scout has and it costs nothing. It tells Scout which queries already bring people to you, which pages are slipping and which are nearly on page one. Without it, Scout reasons from market data alone, part of every score is marked not measured, and the Reports overview has nothing to report. See [Connect Search Console](/setup/connect-search-console).

## What does "one sample" mean on AI visibility?

Each time the prompt panel runs, every question is asked of each assistant once. Answer engines do not repeat themselves exactly, so a single answer is one reading, not the truth. Read the pattern across runs rather than any one line; the trend appears once there are two weeks of readings. See [Where you stand](/ai-visibility/where-you-stand).

## How much does the AI visibility panel cost?

The panel screen shows what it costs in the only terms that matter: how much of this workspace's monthly AI budget is spent, against the ceiling. Near the ceiling the line turns amber and warns that the panel stops asking once it is reached, and reports the shorter sample it took rather than counting unasked questions as misses. Nothing is asked or paid for until you confirm the panel. See [Costs and cadence](/ai-visibility/costs-and-cadence).

## Can I undo a rejection?

Not in this release. A rejected topic stays under the **Not worth it** filter with the reason you gave, and Scout never reverses a decision a person made. If you created an exclusion rule at the same time, removing the rule in the playbook stops it applying to new topics, but the ones it already removed stay where they are. See [Deciding](/opportunities/deciding).

## Why does a draft say "Blocked"?

A finding with blocker severity is stopping approval, most often claims that could not be traced to a source Scout read. The routing line names the blocking flag and it opens itself in the findings rail. Apply the suggestion, dismiss it with a reason, or tick it and send the draft back. See [Flags, comments and sources](/content/flags-comments-and-sources).

## Does Scout change my draft when it finds a problem?

No. Scout reports what it found and why, and nothing else happens until you decide. Applying a finding is your action; dismissing one with a reason teaches Scout to stop raising it. See [Draft review](/content/draft-review).

## What happens to my edits?

They are saved as a new version, marked with your name, alongside Scout's. Nothing is overwritten, and the approved version is the one marked approved. See [Versions and approval](/content/versions-and-approval).

## Scout re-read my site. Did it change my profile?

No. A re-read writes a proposal that shows every field it would change, before and after. Nothing moves until you press **Accept as version N**; **Keep mine** discards it. See [Your company profile](/playbook/your-company-profile).

## What does Scout do on its own?

Scores refresh daily against new search data. The full rebuild runs on the cadence you set for the workspace. The prompt panel, once confirmed, runs every morning. Once a week Scout proposes rules it has learned from your edits. Everything else that spends against your budget is a button. See [What runs when](/automation/what-runs-when).

## Why can I approve a draft but not publish it?

Because those are different decisions with different weight. Editors decide topics and drafts; putting something live belongs to owners and admins. In this release that act is the Markdown download. See [Who does what](/start-here/who-does-what).

## Why does the queue say Scout set aside some topics?

Before judging, Scout removes candidates that are plainly not about your business, so search volume alone cannot fill the queue with topics that have nothing to do with you. The queue shows how many, and the most searched examples, so you can check. If one belongs to you, research it by name and Scout will judge it properly. See [Topics Scout set aside](/opportunities/topics-scout-set-aside).

## Can I add my own topics?

Yes. **Research a topic** takes a topic, a search term, a pasted list of keywords, or a competitor's domain, and Scout finds what people search around it. The results are judged and scored like everything else. Editors and above can start research, because it spends against the workspace budget. See [Research a topic](/opportunities/research-a-topic).

## Why is Analytics optional if Search Console is not?

Search Console is how Scout finds work. Analytics is how it reports what the work produced: sessions, key events and revenue instead of clicks. Without it, Reports say outcomes are not measured yet and Home invites you to connect it. It is worth connecting, but Scout can find topics without it. See [Connect Google Analytics](/setup/connect-google-analytics).

## Where do I see what Scout is doing right now?

The sidebar indicator turns into a live card whenever anything runs, and the Activity page has every run and every agent call. A run that stopped early shows a **Retry** button. See [Activity](/automation/activity).