---
title: "Quick Start - Serpwise Documentation"
description: "Connect your first domain and create your first SEO rule in under 10 minutes."
url: "https://serpwise.ai/docs/quick-start/"
source: "https://serpwise.ai/docs/quick-start/"
---
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This guide walks you from a fresh Serpwise account to having live SEO modifications running on your website.

## Prerequisites

- A Serpwise account (sign up at [cloud.serpwise.ai](https://cloud.serpwise.ai/auth/sign-up))
- Access to your DNS provider (to point your CDN to Serpwise)
- Your origin server’s hostname and port

* * *

1. ### Create Your Organization
   
   When you first sign in, you’ll be prompted to create an organization. Your organization is the workspace that holds all your domains, rules, and team members.
   
   Give it a name that matches your company or project, then select a plan. You can start on the free tier and upgrade later.
2. ### Add Your Domain
   
   From the dashboard, navigate to **Domains** and click **Add Domain**.
   
   Enter your website’s hostname (e.g. `www.example.com`). Then configure your **origin server** - this is the server Serpwise will fetch content from:
   
   | Field                | Description                                          |
   |----------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
   | **Origin Host**      | Your origin server hostname or IP                    |
   | **Protocol**         | `https` for production, `http` for local/staging     |
   | **Port**             | `443` for HTTPS, `80` for HTTP, or custom            |
   | **SSL Verification** | Disable only for self-signed certificates            |
   | **Timeout**          | How long the gateway waits for origin (default: 30s) |
   
   Click **Save** to create the domain. You’ll be assigned a unique **proxy subdomain** (e.g. `abc123.edge.serpwise.ai`).
3. ### Verify Domain Ownership
   
   Serpwise needs to verify you control the domain before activating it. Choose one of two methods:
   
   DNS TXT Record HTML File
   
   Add a TXT record to your domain’s DNS:
   
   ```
   Type:  TXT
   Name:  _serpwise-verify.example.com
   Value: serpwise-verify=<your-token>
   ```
   
   DNS propagation can take a few minutes. Click **Verify** in the dashboard once the record is live.
   
   Place a verification file at the root of your website:
   
   ```
   URL:      https://www.example.com/.well-known/serpwise-verify.txt
   Content:  <your-token>
   ```
   
   The file must be publicly accessible. Click **Verify** once it’s in place.
4. ### Point Your CDN to Serpwise
   
   Once verified, update your CDN to route traffic through the Serpwise gateway. Add a CNAME record pointing your domain to your proxy subdomain:
   
   ```
   Type:  CNAME
   Name:  www.example.com
   Value: abc123.edge.serpwise.ai
   ```
   
   If you use Cloudflare, set the proxy status to **DNS only** (grey cloud) initially, then enable proxying after confirming the gateway works correctly.
5. ### Test the Gateway Connection
   
   Before creating rules, confirm the gateway is working. Go to your domain’s **Overview** tab and use the **Test Connection** button to verify the gateway can reach your origin server.
   
   You can also test directly with curl using your proxy subdomain:
   
   ```
   curl -s https://abc123.edge.serpwise.ai/
   ```
   
   You should receive the same HTML your origin serves, confirming the proxy is working end-to-end.
6. ### Create Your First Rule
   
   Go to the **Rules** tab on your domain. Click **Add Rule** and create a simple rule to get started - for example, adding a `noindex` meta tag to all pages in your staging environment:
   
   **Condition:**
   
   - Field: `url.path`
   - Operator: `starts_with`
   - Value: `/staging/`
   
   **Action:**
   
   - Type: `set_meta_robots`
   - Value: `noindex, nofollow`
   
   Give the rule a name, set its priority, and save it. The gateway picks up the change immediately - no deployment needed.
7. ### Test Your Rule with the URL Simulator
   
   Use the **URL Simulator** in the Rules tab to verify your rule fires correctly before live traffic hits it.
   
   Enter a URL that should match your condition (e.g. `/staging/about`) and click **Simulate**. The simulator shows which rules would match that request and what modifications would be applied.

* * *

## What’s Next

[**Domains**  
→  
\
Learn about origin configuration, domain aliases, and status management.](/docs/domains)

[**Rules Engine**  
→  
\
Explore the full power of the rules engine - conditions, operators, and all available actions.](/docs/rules-overview)

[**Redirects**  
→  
\
Set up bulk redirects with exact matching and regex patterns.](/docs/redirects)

[**Shield**  
→  
\
Enable security features to protect your domain at the edge.](/docs/shield)

[**Pages & URL Intelligence**  
→  
\
Browse crawled pages with SEO audits, content analysis, link graphs, and more.](/docs/pages-overview)

[**Sitemaps**  
→  
\
Auto-generate XML and HTML sitemaps from your crawled page index.](/docs/sitemaps)