Batches can be locked to only allow searches of a specified type to be added.

Locking a Batch to a specific search type has several benefits including allowing VALUE SERP to automatically choose the correct CSV fields, appropriate to the searches in the Batch, to be selected by default when exporting a Result Set in CSV mode. It can also help organize your account when you have many Batches set up.

A Batch can also be left unlocked (set to mixed ) to allow any search type to be added.

If you leave the Batch as unlocked VALUE SERP will automatically detect the search type based on the searches that have been subsequently added to the Batch (or will be set to mixed in the case of the Batch containing a mix of different search types).

You can specify whether a Batch is locked when setting the Batch up in the Dashboard, or via the Batches API. For more information see the Create Batch API documentation.