How to Use Form Replay for Multi-Step SEO Submissions

Most form automation tools fail on multi-step submissions — they fill the first page but can’t navigate through account creation, email verification, and multi-page flows. Form Replay solves this by recording your exact interactions and replaying them precisely. Here’s how to use it for SEO submissions.

What Is Form Replay?

Form Replay is a feature in Fillnex that records every interaction you perform on a website — every click, field fill, page navigation, and button press — and replays those exact interactions automatically on future visits.

Unlike simple autofill (which just fills visible form fields), Form Replay captures the complete workflow: clicking “Create Account,” filling page 1, clicking “Next,” filling page 2, clicking a verification link, completing the business profile, and submitting for review.

When You Need Form Replay vs Simple Autofill

Use simple autofill for single-page forms with standard fields. Use Form Replay when:

• The submission process spans multiple pages
• You need to create an account before submitting a listing
• The site requires clicking buttons to proceed between steps
• A verification email is involved in the flow
• The site uses a custom UI that autofill doesn’t recognize

For directory submission campaigns, roughly 20–30% of sites benefit from Form Replay. These tend to be the higher-authority directories that have invested in better spam prevention.

Recording a Form Replay

1. Navigate to the target site — go to the submission or registration page
2. Click Record in the Fillnex popup — a red badge appears at the bottom-right of the page
3. Complete the submission flow normally — click through every step, fill every field, handle any CAPTCHAs manually during recording
4. If a verification code is required: enter your email, wait for the code, enter it — the replay will handle this pause on future runs
5. Click Stop when the submission is complete — the badge turns grey
6. Name the replay — use the site name for easy identification (e.g. “Manta.com – Business Submission”)
7. Save

The recording captures the entire flow including page URLs, button selectors, and field values. On replay, it substitutes your current profile’s data for any personal/business information.

How Replays Handle Verification Codes

Verification codes are one of the trickiest parts of automated submissions. When a site sends a code to your email during the submission flow, the replay can’t know the code in advance.

Form Replay handles this with an automatic pause. When it detects a verification code field (identified by field names like “otp,” “code,” “verify,” “2fa”), it shows an overlay: “⏸ Verification required — enter the code sent to your email, then click Continue.”

You enter the code manually, click Continue, and the replay resumes from where it paused. This makes even verified submissions automatable — you just need to be present for the code entry step.

Using Replays in Campaigns

Once recorded, replays can be assigned to specific URLs in your campaigns. When the campaign reaches a site with an assigned replay, it runs the replay instead of simple autofill.

This means you can have a campaign of 300 sites where:

• 240 sites use simple autofill
• 60 sites use specific Form Replays you’ve recorded

The campaign runs automatically across all 300, using the appropriate method for each site.

Replay Best Practices

Record on a clean session: Clear cookies and any existing accounts on the site before recording, so the replay starts from a clean state.

Use a new email for account creation: When a site requires account creation, use a unique email. Replays that create accounts can’t be rerun with the same email — you’ll need a new one each time.

Test the replay once before campaigns: Run the replay manually before adding it to a campaign to verify it completes correctly.

Name replays consistently: Use “[Site Name] – [Type]” (e.g., “Hotfrog – Business Listing”) for easy identification in campaign assignment.

Maintaining Replays Over Time

Sites update their forms periodically. A replay that worked perfectly 6 months ago may fail after a site redesign. Check your campaign error logs monthly and re-record replays for any sites that start failing.

The re-recording takes 5–10 minutes per site. Most replays stay valid for 6–12 months without needing updates.

→ Full guide: how to automate directory submissions
→ What is a SEO workflow automation extension?