Use Surfer in Contentful

Check the plan and space requirements below, then install Surfer’s app in your Contentful space. Every entry of the content types you choose gets the Surfer panel in its sidebar. The panel shows a Content Editor, the document Surfer builds around your target keywords, holding the guidelines and the Content Score.

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Availability

The Pro, Peace of Mind, and Enterprise plans and the trial include the integration. Some older plans include it too. If your plan excludes the integration, the panel shows Contentful integration is not available on your plan. On an entry without a Content Editor, the message replaces the list of Content Editors. See Plans for the panel’s own plan and subscription messages.

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Before you start

Check four things before you install the app:

• A Contentful space where you have permission to install apps.
• A Rich Text field on every content type you want Surfer on. The app reads only Rich Text fields, and its configuration screen cannot switch on a content type without one.
• A Surfer account with an active subscription, signed in to the app in the same browser. The Surfer and Contentful accounts do not need to match.
• A browser that lets Surfer use its cookies inside Contentful. Sign in and cookies explains the setting.

The app loads the panel without a browser extension.

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Install the app

Installation runs through Contentful’s Marketplace and ends on the app’s configuration screen. There you choose the content types and fields. To change the selection later, open the app again from Apps. The configuration screen shows your current choices. Its top bar offers Save in place of Install.

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Add Surfer to a content type’s sidebar

Installing the app puts Surfer in the sidebar of every content type you switched on. Add it by hand only if an entry of a switched-on content type shows no panel, for example after you rearranged that sidebar.

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Write with the guidelines

Open an entry of a switched-on content type. The Surfer panel sits in the right sidebar. The Collapse button above it folds the panel away, and Expand brings it back. On an entry that has no Content Editor yet, the panel lists your Content Editors. A Content Editor whose analysis is still running cannot be picked. Linking one replaces any document it was linked to before, as The dashboard on the guidelines panel page explains. Pick a Content Editor to link it to the entry, or create a new one. Creating one spends one Content Editor credit, a credit from your plan’s balance. See Credits for the full rule. The link belongs to the entry, so everyone who opens that entry sees the same Content Editor. The score reads the Rich Text fields you switched on for that content type, together as one text. Other fields are not read, including the title. A Rich Text field added to the content type later is not read until you switch it on from Apps. Customize, the gear in the panel’s header or the entry at the top of its dots menu when the sidebar is narrow, opens the Content Editor’s settings in Surfer in a new tab. See the guidelines panel page for what the panel shows and what stays in the Surfer app.

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In the Surfer app

In Surfer, the linked Content Editor shows Editing happens in Contentful in place of its editor. There is no button to open the entry, because Contentful entries have no public address. Its other buttons and what disconnecting restores are on The linked Content Editor in the app.

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Verify it is working

The panel shows the Content Score and the guidelines for the entry, and both follow the switched-on fields as you type.

1. Open an entry of a switched-on content type.
2. If the panel lists Content Editors, pick one.
3. Type a sentence in a switched-on Rich Text field.
4. Watch the word count in the structure strip at the bottom of the Guidelines tab go up.

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Remove the app

Uninstalling removes the panel from every entry. The Content Editors it linked stay linked in Surfer until you disconnect them there.

1. In Contentful, go to Apps.
2. Uninstall Surfer from your installed apps.
3. In Surfer, disconnect each linked Content Editor to edit it in Surfer again.

To take Surfer off one content type and keep the rest, remove it from that content type’s Sidebar section and select Save.

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Troubleshooting

Start in Contentful’s content model. Check that the entry’s content type has a Rich Text field and that Surfer is switched on for it.