How integrations work in Athena
Most Athena integrations are scoped to a single website. If your organization has more than one website connected to Athena, each website has its own set of integration connections (e.g. each website connects its own GA4 property). The exception is the Athena Slack bot for Enterprise plans, which is configured once per organization. All integrations are managed from one place: Settings > Integrations. Integrations are grouped into five sections that mirror what they enable:- Measure & Attribute - Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console. These connect site traffic and search visibility data to Athena’s analytics surfaces.
- Create & Publish - Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Framer, WordPress, Payload CMS. These let you publish content created in Athena directly to your live site.
- Monitor & Visualize - Looker Studio. For building custom dashboards in your BI tool.
- Reports - Slack reports. For sending scheduled Athena reports to a Slack channel or DM.
- Organization - The Athena Slack bot for Enterprise plans.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
What it does
Once you connect a GA4 property to Athena, your traffic data flows into Athena’s analytics views. Athena uses GA4 read-only - it never writes to your GA4 property or changes anything on the Google side.What you’ll need
- A Google account with access to the GA4 property you want to connect.
- Read access to the property.
How to connect
- Open Settings > Integrations.
- Click the Google Analytics 4 tile.
- Click Connect Google Analytics and authorize through the Google OAuth popup.
- If your account only has access to one property, Athena auto-selects it. Otherwise, pick the right property from the searchable dropdown.
Where you’ll see the results
After connecting, your GA4 data shows up in several places:- Traffic page (left sidebar > Traffic). This is your in-Athena GA4 dashboard - visitors, page views, bounce rate, a Page Views Over Time chart, a User Journey Flow (interactive cards and a Sankey diagram), Top Pages, Top Referrers, Devices, and Operating Systems. The Dimension Breakdown at the bottom lets you slice sessions by any GA4 dimension (e.g.
sessionSource,sessionMedium, country, browser, event) - this is where you can isolate AI-search referrals (e.g.chat.openai.com,perplexity.ai,gemini.google.com). - Top Pages on the Traffic page. Any page Athena recognizes as content it’s tracking is marked with a small Athena icon and the tooltip “Athena-Attributed Content”, so you can see at a glance which Athena-managed pages are driving traffic.
- Content Hub (left sidebar > Content). Set the Metrics column dropdown to Site analytics to see Traffic, Bounce rate, Engagement rate, Average duration, and AI traffic per row.
If something goes wrong
- “GA4 connection expired” banner on the Traffic page: your GA4 OAuth token has expired. Open the GA4 panel and click Connect Google Analytics again to refresh. A toast with a Go to Settings button will also appear.
- Property dropdown is empty: your Google account doesn’t have access to any GA4 properties, or the OAuth scope was denied. Confirm in Google Analytics that you can see the property, then reconnect.
Google Search Console (GSC)
What it does
Once connected, Athena reads your GSC property’s queries, impressions, and clicks. This data powers Athena’s prompt discovery and the organic-search metrics shown throughout the product. Like GA4, GSC is read-only - Athena never writes to GSC.What you’ll need
- A Google account with access to a verified GSC property (Domain or URL-prefix).
How to connect
- Open Settings > Integrations.
- Click the Google Search Console tile.
- Click Connect Search Console and authorize through the Google OAuth popup.
- Pick the right site from the searchable dropdown. Sites are labeled as either Domain or URL-prefix matching how they’re set up in GSC.
Where you’ll see the results
- New Prompt Planner (left sidebar > Prompts > New Planner). When you run a planner cohort, GSC powers the GSC Prompts discovery pipeline - Athena clusters your top-performing search queries and proposes prompts you can accept into your tracked set. Discovered prompts that came from this pipeline are tagged with a GSC source badge in the planner results.
- Content Hub (left sidebar > Content). Set the Metrics column dropdown to Organic search to see Clicks, Impressions, and CTR per row. The row’s Metrics Drawer also shows GSC trend charts over time.
If something goes wrong
- No properties listed after connecting: verify in GSC that your Google account is a verified user on at least one property. Then re-open the panel and click the refresh icon at the top.
- GSC data missing from a row in the Content Hub: GSC data takes a short while to backfill after the first connection. If a row’s GSC metrics never appear, check that the page’s URL matches a URL GSC tracks for the connected property.
Google Ads
What it does
Connecting Google Ads links your Google Ads account to your Athena website and stores which Ads customer account is selected. This is currently a connect-only integration: at this time no Athena feature (Prompt Planner, Olympus, Content Hub, Win Finder, Traffic) reads keyword, search-term, or campaign data from your connected Ads account. The connection is in place so that Ads-aware features can use it once they ship. We’ll update this article as new Ads-powered surfaces go live.What you’ll need
- A Google account with access to one or more Google Ads customer accounts.
How to connect
- Open Settings > Integrations.
- Click the Google Ads tile.
- Click Connect Google Ads and authorize through the Google OAuth popup.
- Pick the right Ads customer account from the searchable dropdown. Manager (MCC) accounts are labeled as such.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Google Ads panel. Shows connection status, the active Ads customer account, and the account-switch dropdown.
Shopify
What it does
The Shopify integration enables two things:- Publishing from Athena. Articles you create in Athena’s Content Hub can be published directly to your Shopify blog.
- Order data ingestion. Athena pulls your Shopify Orders in the background so it can compute revenue attributed to AI search. The customer-facing view that exposes this attribution is rolling out in a future release - until then, the data is being captured but is not yet visible in the app.
What you’ll need
- A Shopify store on a plan that allows custom apps.
- A custom app created in the Shopify Dev Dashboard. (Shopify no longer allows creating new custom apps in the Shopify Admin, so the Dev Dashboard method is the supported route for new connections.)
- The custom app must have the scopes:
read_content,write_content,read_orders. The Dev Dashboard app’s URL should be set tohttps://athenahq.ai, and “Embed app in Shopify admin” should be unchecked. - The Client ID and Client Secret from the Dev Dashboard app’s Overview page.
How to connect
- In the Shopify Dev Dashboard, create a custom app with the scopes above, release it, and install it on the target store.
- Copy the Client ID and Client Secret from the app’s Overview page.
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Shopify tile.
- On the Connect tab, enter your shop domain (e.g.
your-store.myshopify.com), Client ID, and Client Secret, then click Connect. - After connecting, choose a Default Blog from the dropdown - this is the Shopify blog new posts publish to by default.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Shopify panel. Shows the connected store name, primary domain, last verified date, the Default Blog dropdown, and any missing-scope warnings.
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > Shopify tab. Configure blog, title, slug, author, and draft-vs-production status, then click Publish or Update. After publishing, a success dialog shows the new URL with a View Article button.
If something goes wrong
- “Missing scopes” warning in the Shopify panel: your Shopify custom app doesn’t have all of
read_content,write_content,read_orders. Update the app’s scopes in Shopify, then reconnect in Athena. - “Article not found” (404) when updating a Shopify post: the article was deleted from Shopify outside of Athena. Use the Publish as new option in the Athena editor instead of trying to update.
Webflow
What it does
Connecting Webflow lets you publish articles from Athena’s Content Hub directly to your Webflow CMS. Athena reads your CMS collection schemas so it understands which fields each collection expects (title, body, slug, summary, author, etc.) and pre-fills them on publish. You can review and override any field before publishing.What you’ll need
- A Webflow site you own or have edit access to.
- A Webflow Site Token (Webflow’s API token model - not OAuth) with the scopes Sites: Read and CMS: Read & Write.
How to connect
- In Webflow, go to webflow.com/dashboard and generate a Site Token with the scopes above. (Webflow’s own docs: Site Token.)
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Webflow tile.
- Paste the token into Step 1 - Add your Webflow token and click Verify token.
- In Step 2 - Select your site, pick which Webflow site to connect and click Save connection.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Webflow panel. Shows the connected site name and domain, the last verified date, and the full list of synced CMS collections with their field schemas.
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > Webflow tab. Pick a collection, review the auto-mapped fields (title, content, slug, summary, author), choose draft vs. live, and click Publish. After publishing, a success dialog shows the new URL and a View Post button; you can also use the pencil icon in the success dialog to manually edit the recorded published URL.
If something goes wrong
- “Token expired” or repeated authentication errors: your Site Token has hit its 365-day inactivity window. Generate a new Site Token in Webflow with the same scopes and paste it into the panel.
- A collection field isn’t mapping correctly: Athena uses a pattern-based matcher (looking for slugs like
title,body,content,slug,summary,author). For collections with unusual field slugs, you can override the mapping manually in the publish dialog before clicking Publish. - Webflow “validation error” or “data conflict” on publish: the article body or metadata didn’t match Webflow’s collection schema (e.g. required field missing, slug already taken). The toast message from Webflow tells you which field - fix it in the publish dialog and try again.
Wix
What it does
Connecting Wix lets you publish blog posts and drafts from Athena directly into your Wix site. Once connected, Athena reads your Wix blog categories and member list so you can attribute posts to a specific Wix site member when publishing.What you’ll need
- The Site ID of your Wix site. You can find this in the dashboard URL - it’s the segment after
/dashboard/. - A Wix API key with the Wix Blog and Read Members permissions. Manage API keys at manage.wix.com/account/api-keys.
- A Wix site member to publish as.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Wix tile.
- Enter your Site ID and API key.
- Click Load site members to populate the Publish as dropdown from your Wix Members.
- Pick a member and click Connect Wix.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Wix panel. Shows Site URL, Site ID, Member ID, an indicator that the API key is stored securely, category count, recent drafts list, and a list of up to 10 Wix categories.
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > Wix tab. Pick a category, configure title/slug/etc., and publish.
Framer
What it does
Connecting Framer lets you publish content to your Framer CMS collections from Athena.What you’ll need
- The Framer project URL or ID. Use the editor URL (e.g.
framer.com/projects/Site--abc123) or just the project ID - do not use the published.framer.websiteURL. - A Framer API key, generated in Site Settings > General > API Keys within Framer.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Framer tile.
- Enter the project URL or ID and the API key.
- Click Verify connection, then Save connection once verification succeeds.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Framer panel. Shows the connected project, the project URL, and a collapsible list of Framer CMS collections with each field’s name, ID, and type.
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > Framer tab. Pick a collection and publish.
WordPress
What it does
Connecting WordPress lets you publish new posts and update existing ones in your WordPress site from Athena. Both self-hosted WordPress (using application passwords) and WordPress.com / Jetpack-connected sites (using OAuth) are supported. Athena automatically detects which connection method your site uses.What you’ll need
- The URL of your WordPress site (e.g.
example.com). - If self-hosted: a WordPress user account and an application password for that user. Generate one in Users > Profile > Application Passwords within the WordPress admin.
- If WordPress.com / Jetpack: ability to authorize Athena via WordPress.com OAuth.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the WordPress tile.
- Enter your site URL and click Detect connection method.
- If a self-hosted site is detected: enter your username and the application password, then click Connect.
- If WordPress.com OAuth is detected: click Connect with OAuth and authorize Athena in the popup.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > WordPress panel. Shows site name, an OAuth or App password badge depending on the connection type, site URL, the username (for app password connections), post count, and a list of up to 10 WordPress categories with post counts.
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > WordPress tab. Pick a post status (draft, pending, publish), category, and publish.
If something goes wrong
- “OAuth not configured” amber notice on the WordPress.com flow: Athena’s WordPress.com OAuth credentials aren’t configured for your instance. Contact Athena support - the workaround is to use application passwords for that site instead.
- “Authentication failed” with a self-hosted site: confirm the application password is correct (it’s the long generated string, not your normal WordPress login password) and that the user has permission to publish to the site.
Payload CMS
What it does
Connecting Payload lets you publish content from Athena into a self-hosted Payload CMS deployment. Athena reads your Payload collections so it knows which collections you can publish to and what permissions are available.What you’ll need
- The root URL of your Payload deployment (e.g.
cms.example.com) - not the/adminor/apipath. - A Payload API key, generated from a Payload users collection that has
auth: { useAPIKey: true }enabled. Inside Payload, enable API keys on that collection, create a user with the right role, and copy the generated key.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Payload CMS tile.
- Enter your Payload server URL and API key.
- Click Verify connection. Once it succeeds, click Save connection.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Payload CMS panel. Shows the connected server URL, a list of Publishable collections with their read/create/update permission badges, and a separate list of System collections (Payload’s built-in and first-party plugin collections, which are hidden from Athena’s publish dialog).
- Content Hub > open a content row > Publish dialog > Payload tab. Pick a publishable collection and publish.
Looker Studio
What it does
The Looker Studio integration lets you build dashboards in your Looker Studio account that pull from Athena’s data through a community connector. Once set up, your Looker Studio dashboards update automatically with Athena’s brand-visibility data alongside any other data sources you use. Unlike most Athena integrations, Looker Studio is set up outside Athena. Clicking the tile in Athena opens a step-by-step instructions drawer rather than an OAuth flow.What you’ll need
- An Athena API key (generate one when prompted during setup).
- A Looker Studio account.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Looker Studio tile to open the setup instructions.
- Follow the steps in the drawer to generate an Athena API key and add the Athena community connector to Looker Studio.
- Build your dashboards in Looker Studio using the connector.
Where you’ll see the results
- The dashboards themselves live in Looker Studio, not inside Athena. The Looker Studio tile in Athena always shows a Setup guide button rather than a connected/disconnected state - that’s normal.
Slack reports
What it does
Connecting Slack lets Athena deliver scheduled reports (PDFs) directly into Slack channels or DMs. Reports are built in the Reports area of Athena and can include any of Athena’s charts, scoped with filters. Each report has its own cadence (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) and its own list of recipients. The Slack reports integration is per-website. If your organization has multiple websites in Athena, each website has its own Slack workspace connection.What you’ll need
- A Slack workspace and permission to authorize an app in it.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Slack reports tile.
- Click Connect Slack and authorize via the Slack OAuth popup.
- Go to Reports in the left sidebar and open or create a report.
- Click Settings.
- Under Recipients, change the channel-type dropdown from Email to Slack channel or Slack DM, then pick the channel/user and click Add.
- Save the report.
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Slack reports panel. Shows the connected Slack workspace name and the date you connected it.
- Reports > any report > Settings > Recipients. Lists every email, Slack channel, and Slack DM recipient configured for that report.
- Slack itself. On the scheduled cadence, each report is delivered as a PDF attachment in the configured channels and DMs.
Slack bot (Enterprise)
What it does
The Athena Slack bot lives in your Slack workspace and answers brand-visibility questions in tracked channels (e.g. someone tags@Athena and asks about share of voice or recent citations). The bot is org-wide - installed once per organization, not per website - and is available on Enterprise plans only.
What you’ll need
- An Enterprise plan.
- A Slack workspace and permission to install an app in it.
How to connect
- In Athena, open Settings > Integrations and click the Slack bot tile.
- Click Connect Slack and authorize via the Slack OAuth popup.
- In Slack, invite @Athena to any channel you want the bot to respond in.
- Back in Athena’s Slack bot panel, use the Add a channel dropdown to pick that channel from the list and add it to the tracked-channels list.
C01ABCD2EFG. You can also add optional notes (e.g. a customer name) when adding a channel by ID.
Managing tracked channels
The Slack bot panel lists every tracked channel with:- The channel ID and optional notes
- An Enabled / Disabled toggle (the bot only responds in enabled channels)
- A Remove button to stop tracking the channel entirely
Where you’ll see the results
- Settings > Integrations > Slack bot panel. Connection status, the tracked-channels list, and per-channel enable/disable controls.
- Your Slack workspace. Mentions of
@Athenain tracked channels.
Frequently asked questions
I’m a viewer in my org - why can’t I connect anything?
Connecting, editing, or disconnecting integrations requires Admin access. Tiles will appear dimmed for viewer users, and panels won’t open. Ask an Admin on your team to manage integrations on your behalf.My OAuth popup closed before I finished authorizing. What happened?
If the popup closes mid-authorization, Athena shows the error “The authorization window closed before we finished. Try again and keep the popup open until consent is complete.” Just click Connect again and complete the consent flow in the popup.How do I switch the GA4 property / GSC site / Google Ads account on my connected integration?
Open the relevant integration panel from Settings > Integrations. Each Google integration panel has a searchable dropdown that lets you change the active property/site/account, plus a refresh icon at the top to re-fetch the list of available options from Google. The change applies immediately.How do I disconnect an integration?
Click the integration’s tile, then click Disconnect at the bottom of the panel. Athena uses a two-step disconnect - after the first click, a Cancel / Confirm disconnect pair appears; click Confirm disconnect to actually remove the connection. This applies to every integration in Athena and is intentional to prevent accidental disconnects.Do Google integrations ever write back to Google?
No. GA4 and GSC are read-only data connections. Google Ads is currently connect-only: Athena stores the selected Ads account but does not read campaign, keyword, or search-term data yet. Athena never writes back to Google Analytics, Search Console, or Ads.Are integrations per-website or shared across my organization?
Almost every integration is per-website - switching websites in Athena changes which connections you see, because each website has its own analytics, CMS, and Slack-reports connections. The only exception is the Slack bot (Enterprise only), which is installed once per organization and tracks channels at the org level.What happens to my report recipients if I disconnect Slack reports?
Disconnecting Slack reports removes the Slack workspace connection but does not delete your configured Slack recipients on each report. The recipient lists remain - they just won’t deliver until you reconnect a Slack workspace.What happens to my tracked Slack bot channels if I disconnect?
Disconnecting the Slack bot preserves your channel rules. If you reconnect the same workspace later, your tracked-channels list is restored.My Webflow token isn’t working anymore - why?
Webflow Site Tokens expire after 365 days of inactivity. If you haven’t published from Athena to Webflow in over a year, you may need to generate a new Site Token in your Webflow dashboard (with the same Sites: Read and CMS: Read & Write scopes) and reconnect.What scopes does my Shopify custom app need?
The Shopify custom app needsread_content and write_content (for blog publishing) and read_orders (so Athena can ingest order data). If any of these are missing, the Shopify panel in Athena shows a warning listing the missing scopes.
How do I add the Athena Slack bot to a private or Slack Connect channel?
The Slack bot’s channel picker only shows channels that@Athena is already a member of. For private channels, invite @Athena from inside Slack first; the channel will then appear in the Add a channel dropdown in Athena. For Slack Connect (shared) channels, the picker won’t show them at all - use the Add by channel ID manual entry: right-click the channel in Slack > Copy link > the channel ID looks like C01ABCD2EFG.
Can I deep-link directly to a specific integration’s panel?
Yes. UseSettings > Integrations with a ?provider=<id> query parameter (e.g. ?provider=ga4, ?provider=gsc, ?provider=webflow). The matching panel opens automatically on page load. Viewer users won’t have the panel open even via deep link, because they don’t have permission to manage integrations.
If you can’t find the answer to your question here, reach out to your Athena account team or contact support - we’re happy to walk through any integration with you live.