Pro features

Pro This page tells you how to use the Pro features of Vantage SEO: redirects, the 404 monitor, the site audit, Google Search Console, the AI assistant, local business schema and license activation.

What Pro adds

Pro is a separate plugin zip with the same plugin id as the free edition. It adds these tabs to SEO Settings: Schema Builder, Redirects, Audit, Search Console, AI, Connections and License. Pricing is announced at launch.

• MCP server for AI agents: MCP server.
• Up to 10 focus keywords with a per-keyword breakdown: Focus keywords.
• Facebook and X share previews in the editor: Social share previews.
• Schema builder with 20 types: Schema builder.
• The features on this page.

In the free edition, Pro features appear locked in place, with one line that tells you what Pro adds. The free edition shows no ads.

Redirects

Add a rule

1. Open SEO Settings, Redirects tab.
2. Under Add rule, enter the From path, for example /old-menu.
3. Select the status: 301 permanent, 302 temporary or 410 gone.
4. For 301 and 302, enter the To path or URL. A 410 rule has no target.
5. For a pattern, turn on Regular expression. A regex target can use the captures $1 to $9.
6. Add a Note if you want, then click Add rule.

You can store up to 1,000 rules. The tab warns you about redirect loops.

Export the rules for your proxy

Under Export for your proxy, download the enabled rules in one of four formats:

The nginx and Caddy exports also contain the rewrite rules for /sitemap.xml, /llms.txt and /indexnow-key.txt. See Serve the files at the root of your site. If two rules have the same source path, the export keeps the newest one.

Import rules

Under Import CSV, select a CSV file. The tab shows a preview and the lines with errors. Confirm to import. The import is all or nothing: if one rule fails, the plugin imports no rules.

Forward visitors from the 404 page

While Pro is active, the plugin adds a small script to your 404 page. When a visitor lands on a missing address, the script asks the plugin if a rule covers that address. If a rule matches, the script sends the visitor to the target. This works with no proxy setup.

• Your site needs a Not found (404) template. Publish it after you activate Pro.
• The server still answers 404. Search engines see a real 301 only after you install an export on your proxy.
• Exact rules win over regex rules. Disabled rules and 410 rules do not forward.

404 monitor

The 404 monitor on the Redirects tab lists the paths that returned 404, with the hit count and the last day. Click Create redirect next to a path to fill the Add rule form with that path. The monitor needs the first-party analytics counter on. See Analytics.

Host URL changes

The Host URL changes list shows the slug changes that the plugin recorded. Instatic does not redirect the old addresses. Add a rule for each old address that you want to keep.

Site audit

The site audit checks all published pages and gives a health score from 0 to 100. Open SEO Settings, Audit tab.

• The audit runs one time each day while Pro is active. Click Run audit now to run it at once.
• The audit does not crawl your live site. It uses facts that the plugin records when each page is published. Publish your changes before you run the audit.
• Results appear on the Audit tab only. The plugin sends no email and no webhook.

The score starts at 100. Each critical finding subtracts 25. Each warning type subtracts 5, and each notice type subtracts 1. The score does not go below 0.

Internal link checks

The broken internal link and orphan page findings come from the internal links on each page. The plugin reads up to 200 internal links per page. It checks internal links only. The Instatic sandbox lets the plugin contact a fixed list of hosts, so it cannot check links to other sites.

Google Search Console

The plugin connects to Search Console with a Google OAuth refresh token. Service-account keys do not work, because the Instatic sandbox cannot sign them.

1. In Google Cloud Console, create a project or use one you have. Enable the Google Search Console API, set up the OAuth consent screen, and create an OAuth client ID of type Web application.
2. Get a refresh token. For example, use the Google OAuth 2.0 Playground with your own client ID and secret, and authorize the scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.
3. In the Instatic admin, open Plugins and open the settings of the plugin. Enter the OAuth client ID, the client secret, the refresh token and your Search Console property, for example sc-domain:harborandpine.coffee or https://harborandpine.coffee/.
4. Open SEO Settings, Search Console tab. Click Test connection, then Sync now.

• Instatic stores the client secret and the refresh token encrypted. The plugin never shows them again.
• The plugin syncs one time each day. Each sync gets up to 500 pages with clicks, impressions, CTR and average position for the last 28 days.
• Submit sitemap sends the sitemap address in the runtime path to Search Console. This needs the full webmasters scope. A read-only token can read data but cannot submit a sitemap.

AI assistant

The AI assistant writes suggestions for titles and meta descriptions. It uses your own API key, so each call is billed to your provider account.

Providers

• Anthropic
• OpenAI
• OpenRouter

Set up the provider

1. In the Instatic admin, open Plugins and open the settings of the plugin.
2. Select the AI provider and enter the AI provider API key. You can also enter a model. If you leave the model empty, the plugin uses a default model for the provider.
3. Open SEO Settings, AI tab. Click Test connection.
4. To pick a model from a list, click Load models, search the list, and click Use this model. Clear choice goes back to the setting or the default.

Instatic stores the API key encrypted. The plugin never shows it again.

Suggestions in the editor

In the SEO panel, use the suggest button under the SEO title or the meta description. The plugin asks the provider for three suggestions. Select one to fill the field, then click Save. Nothing is saved until you click Save.

Bulk meta descriptions

On the AI tab, click Generate missing meta descriptions. The plugin writes a description for published pages that have no description of their own. A site default description does not count.

• One job handles up to 100 pages. It makes one provider call per page.
• The job runs in the background, two pages each 15 minutes. The AI tab shows the progress.
• The job saves the descriptions without review. It never replaces a description that a page already has.

Local business schema

For a local business, create a schema template of type LocalBusiness on the Schema Builder tab. Select the business type from 15 types, for example Restaurant, Store or ProfessionalService. The template has fields for the name, telephone, street address, city, region, postal code, country, price range, latitude, longitude and opening hours.

Only one template can be enabled for pages, so the template describes one location. For more locations, add custom JSON-LD to each location page with the MCP tool seo_set_entry_schema.

Not in the current version

These items are not in the current plugin code:

• Video sitemaps and news sitemaps. The schema builder has a VideoObject type.
• White label options.
• Automatic image alt text.
• Email or webhook alerts for the site audit.

Activate a license

1. Install the Pro zip. See Upgrade from free to Pro.
2. Open SEO Settings, License tab.
3. Paste the key into License key. The key has the form VSEO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Dashes and letter case do not matter.
4. Click Activate.

The License tab then shows the masked key, the plan, the expiry date, the last check and whether Pro is unlocked. The activation request includes your saved site URL, if you saved one.

License checks

• The plugin checks the license with the license server one time each day. Click Re-check now to check at once.
• If a check fails, for example because the license server cannot be reached, Pro stays unlocked for a 14-day grace period. The License tab shows a warning with the days left.
• After the expiry date, Pro stays unlocked for 14 more days, then locks.
• A revoked license locks at once, with no grace period.

When Pro locks

• The free features keep working.
• The plugin keeps all data: rules, templates, tokens, reports and settings.
• The MCP endpoint answers 403. Pro admin routes stop working.
• Published pages keep their HTML. On the next publish, the plugin does not write Pro schema, and the 404 page does not forward visitors.

Move a license to another site

On the License tab, deactivate the license and click Confirm deactivate. The MCP endpoint and Pro features lock at once on this site. Free features and data stay. Then activate the key on the other site.