If your project has stopped bringing you new topics, there are two likely reasons. Either its hunt cadence is set to off, or the project is full. A project holds at most 20 posts that are not out yet, and suggested topics count towards that. While a project is full, no hunt runs.
Both are quick to check and quick to fix. This post covers each one, then shows you how to make room so hunts start again.
What a topic hunt does
A topic hunt reads your website profile and comes back with five suggested topics. Each one has a title and an outline. You look them over, approve the ones you like and decline the rest.
A hunt can start in two ways:
- You start one yourself. You can do this whenever you like. You can also give it a focus, and the five topics will stay on that subject.
- The project starts one on its cadence. Every project has its own hunt schedule, so new topics keep turning up without you asking.
When hunts stop, it's nearly always the second kind you notice. New suggestions stop turning up, and you never pressed anything to cause it.
How the hunt cadence works
Each project hunts on one of these schedules:
- off
- daily
- weekly
- every two weeks
- monthly
You also pick the hour the hunt runs at. New projects start on weekly. So if you've never touched the setting, your project hunts once a week.
Check the cadence is not set to off
Start here, because it's the simplest cause. If the cadence is set to off, the project won't hunt on its own any more. Nothing is broken. It's just switched off.
Keep in mind that projects belong to the team, not to one person. Any member of your team sees the same projects, so someone else may have changed the setting.
With the cadence off, you can still start a hunt yourself. That works well if you'd rather pick your moments than get a steady stream of topics.
Pick a cadence that matches how often you publish
Every hunt brings five topics. On a daily cadence, that's five new suggestions every day. If you only publish now and then, they'll pile up far faster than you can use them. That's the quickest way to hit the limit.
Here's a simple way to choose:
- You publish often, or the publish cadence is on. Daily or weekly keeps a good supply of topics coming.
- You publish now and then. Every two weeks or monthly gives you time to work through each batch.
- You like choosing subjects yourself. Set it to off and start a focused hunt when you want one.
See when the next hunt is due
The calendar shows when each project is next hunting for topics. You'll find it next to the posts you've planned and the ones already published. If you look after several projects, filter the calendar to one so it's easier to read.
The 20-post limit
A project holds at most 20 posts that are not out yet, suggestions included. So the count covers things like:
- suggested topics waiting for your review
- topics with questions you haven't answered
- topics you've approved that are being written
- finished posts that haven't been published
Once the project reaches 20, no hunt runs. This isn't an error, and no run has failed. The project is waiting for you to make room.
Why projects fill up without you noticing
Topics arrive five at a time. On an empty project, four hunts you never look at add up to 20 suggestions, and the project is full.
On the default weekly cadence, that's about a month of not opening the project. On daily, it's four days.
Finished posts count too. If you write posts and never publish them, each one keeps its place. Over time a project can fill up with finished posts that are just sitting there.
How to see what's filling the project
Two views help here.
- Needs attention lists everything across the team that's waiting on you: topics with questions to answer, topics to review, and finished posts that aren't on the calendar yet.
- Blogs shows every post in one table. Each project has its own version, and you can filter by status. That shows you how many places are taken by suggestions and how many by finished posts.
With those two open, you'll know where to start.
How to clear space so hunts start again
Every post that isn't out yet holds one of the 20 places. To make room, you move posts out of that state. There are three steps, and they work best in this order.
Decline the topics you won't write
This is the fastest fix. Go through the suggestions and decline anything you know you won't use. Declining is free, so you can be ruthless.
Add a reason when you decline. It's optional, but it pays off. Every later hunt is told what you declined and why, so it stops suggesting the same thing. A reason can be short:
- "We don't sell to large companies."
- "Too close to a post we already have."
- "Not a service we offer."
The clearer the reason, the better the next batch fits.
If your project has the publish cadence switched on, declining matters even more. The cadence fills calendar slots from the posts the project already has, and suggested topics don't need approving to be placed. So decline any topic you don't want written, rather than leaving it in the pool.
Write the topics you want to keep
Next, approve the topics worth writing. The writer starts as soon as you approve one.
A topic may arrive with up to four questions. These are facts the agent couldn't find on its own, like a price or a date. Answer them if you can, because your answers go to the writer as facts from the business. If you leave them blank, you can still approve the topic. The writer will write the post so the missing fact isn't needed.
Writing is the one thing that spends credits. Each post uses 10, and your team gets 100 a month while RankMill is in early access. Hunting topics, declining them and answering questions are all free.
One thing to be clear on: a finished post is still not out yet. Writing gets the post ready, but it keeps its place in the count until it's published. That's the next step.
Publish what's finished
Publishing is what takes a post out of the count. A post goes out in one of three ways:
- you press Publish
- it reaches its scheduled time
- the project publishes automatically
If you'd rather not publish everything today, give each post a time. You can set it from the post itself or drag posts around on the calendar. They'll go out when their time comes, and each one frees its place as it does.
If you publish through GitHub, there's a detail worth knowing. A post counts as published when its pull request merges, not when it opens. If GitHub refuses to merge it, RankMill retries a few times and shows you the reason in the app. The project's Publishing tab lists everything the project has published or tried to, with a Retry button. A post stuck there is still taking up a place, so it's worth a look.
If you publish with our API, your own code confirms each post live once it's on your site. That's the step that marks it as published.
Keeping hunts running from now on
Once you've made room, the next hunt runs on the project's cadence at the hour you picked. You don't need to do anything else.
To stop the project filling up again, a few habits help:
- Match the cadence to your pace. If topics keep piling up, pick a slower cadence.
- Review each batch soon after it lands. Decline what you won't use while it's fresh.
- Turn on Discord notifications. Give your team a Discord webhook and tick "topics found", so you hear when a new batch arrives.
- Let the publish cadence do the scheduling. Switch it on, pick the weekdays, the hour and how many posts each day takes, up to four. RankMill keeps the next two weeks of slots filled, finished posts first and then suggested topics. If it runs out of posts to place, it goes looking for new topics. It needs a publishing destination before you can switch it on.
A full project isn't a fault. It's a sign there are posts waiting on you. Clear a few places, and the topics start coming again.