SEO change annotations

Record what you changed on your website so that your next SEO review has a reliable timeline. An annotation is a manually recorded note, not a measurement or proof that a change caused a result.

Record a change

1. Open your project, then Manage → Change timeline.
2. Choose the actual change date in UTC. Dates can run from 1 January 2000 through today; future changes belong in your work plan rather than this history.
3. Choose Title / snippet, Content update, Internal links, Technical change, Website release or Other.
4. Give the change a short, specific title, such as “Clarified delivery information in the coffee category title”. Titles allow up to 120 characters.
5. Optionally enter the exact HTTP(S) page URL. It must belong to the project domain or its www equivalent. Leave it blank for a site-wide change. Paths and query strings are case-sensitive; fragments, credentials and custom ports are not accepted.
6. Add details if useful: what changed, why, and what you intend to review. Details allow up to 2,000 characters. Save the annotation.

Use the date and URL filters to find previous changes. The timeline shows 25 notes per page, newest change date first. Filtering by a URL also includes site-wide changes. Authorized project editors can edit or remove notes; viewers can read them. Removing a note hides it from the timeline and context, while the database retains the deleted row and the audit log records the action.

Review the chart context

The project overview, Google and Bing performance charts, and individual keyword history charts show dashed markers for recorded dates within the chart's displayed data. Open SEO change context below the chart to read the notes. Several notes on the same date share one marker. Context includes the most recent 100 notes within the selected dates; use the full timeline for older notes or pagination.

Markers follow the existing chart's date positions. On sparse keyword checks, a marker between two checks indicates the change date; it does not invent a ranking measurement for that date. A chart with no data has no markers.

Page details include notes for that exact URL and site-wide changes within the page's reporting period. Recording an annotation does not fetch a URL, modify your website, start a provider request or change an opportunity's status.

Ask AI about changes

For example: “What changed on this page during the displayed period? Compare the recorded changes with the available traffic and ranking evidence, and tell me what we still cannot conclude.”

Ask AI can read these notes through annotations_list and page_details. External MCP clients use the existing projects:read scope for annotations_list; page details still require pages:read. These tools are read-only and enforce the user's project access. Create or edit notes in the timeline yourself.

Notes are visible to authorized project users and can be included in AI conversations that request this context. Do not put passwords, API keys or other secrets in them. The assistant treats note text as evidence, not instructions.

Interpret results carefully

Search engines may take time to recrawl and reflect an edit. Seasonality, campaigns, competitors, algorithm changes and missing imports can affect the same period. Annotation dates use UTC; Search Console and other sources can use different date boundaries. Compare complete reporting periods, check data coverage and inspect the affected queries. A marker beside a traffic increase does not establish that your edit caused the increase.