Onboarding & Business Setup

Local SEO onboarding takes you from "I have a business" to "theStacc is actively working on my local search presence" in a few short steps. You search for your business, pick the correct Google listing, review the details we pull in, and confirm. From there, theStacc automatically pulls your reviews and rating and drafts your first month of posts - no blank page, no setup homework.

This guide walks through every step, what each one does behind the scenes, and the limits to know about.

Before you start#

Local SEO works with your Google Business Profile - the listing that shows up in Google Maps and the local "3-pack" when people search for businesses near them. Your profile should already be claimed and verified on Google. If it isn't, see Google Business Profile for how that connection works.

Step 1: Search for your business#

The first screen asks for two things:

1. Business name - type your business name (partial or fuzzy spelling is fine; the search is forgiving).
2. Location - the city or area where your business operates. As you type, theStacc suggests valid locations - pick one from the dropdown for the most accurate results.

When you click Search Business, theStacc looks your business up using Google Places as the primary source, with DataForSEO as a backup. When both find your business, Google Places leads and DataForSEO fills in any missing details (phone, website, category, rating, hours). This dual-source approach means you get the most complete listing data possible.

You'll see up to 10 matching businesses, ranked by how closely they match what you typed - an exact name match in your city floats to the top, and established businesses with reviews get a small boost. This ranking is what makes it easy to spot your real listing even when several similarly-named businesses exist.

If nothing matches, try a shorter or differently-spelled name, or double-check the location. You can run a New Search at any time.

Step 2: Pick your business from the results#

Each result is shown as a card with:

• Business name and category
• Address
• Star rating and review count (when available)
• Phone number
• A photo or logo when Google has one

Select the card that matches your business, then click Select [your business].

The moment you select, theStacc fetches your business hours directly from your Google listing - this is the most reliable source for hours, so we always pull fresh rather than trusting cached data. You'll briefly see "Fetching hours..." while this happens.

Picking the right listing here matters: everything that follows (reviews, rating, keywords, posts) is tied to the exact business you confirm.

Step 3: Review your business details#

Next, theStacc generates business context with AI so you don't start from scratch. Based on your business category and location, it drafts:

• Business description - a short, professional 2-3 sentence summary of what you do.
• Services - 5 to 7 specific services your type of business typically offers.
• Pain points - 5 to 7 common customer frustrations your business solves.

Everything here is fully editable - this is a starting point, not a final answer:

• Click the edit icon on the Business Description to rewrite it.
• Add or remove Services with the tag-style editor (type a service and press Enter to add; click the x to remove).
• Add or remove Pain Points the same way.
• Adjust your Business Hours for each day (for example, 9am - 5pm, or leave a day blank if you're closed).

This context is important because theStacc uses your description, services, and pain points to write posts that actually sound like your business - not generic filler. The more accurate you make it now, the better your content will be. If the AI suggestions are ever unavailable, theStacc fills in sensible defaults you can edit.

When everything looks right, click Continue.

Tip: You can refine this further later, and add deeper brand details (your unique selling points, certifications, tone of voice, and seasonal angles) on the Industry Presets & Brand Intake screen.

Step 4: Confirm and create your location#

After you finish reviewing details (and, for new accounts, start your trial), theStacc confirms your business and creates a location record. This is the step that actually wires everything together.

When you confirm, theStacc:

1. Creates the location and saves your address, phone, website, category, hours, description, services, and pain points.
2. Pulls your current rating and review count straight from your Google listing.
3. Imports your recent Google reviews so you can start managing and responding to them right away (see Reviews).
4. Generates a starter set of local keywords for your business and area.

The rating, reviews, and keyword pull run in the background right after confirmation - you don't have to wait on them. If a brand-new or thin Google listing has no rating data yet, theStacc shows a dash rather than a misleading zero, and you can re-sync later.

Confirm-time limits#

When you confirm a business, theStacc checks how many locations your plan allows:

• Trial: 1 location
• Paid plan: 5 locations

If you've hit your limit, you'll be asked to upgrade before adding another location. Your free trial lasts 3 days, and you can cancel anytime.

Connecting your location to a project#

Every location belongs to a project in theStacc. During onboarding you can either:

• Create a new project - if you start fresh, theStacc creates a project automatically and names it after your business. This is the default for a standalone Local SEO setup.
• Add to an existing project - if you're adding Local SEO to a project you already use for Content or Social, your location attaches to that project so everything for the business lives in one place.

When a location is created on a project, Local SEO is switched on for that project and its section appears in your sidebar. (If you later delete your last location on a project, the Local SEO section hides itself again until you add another.)

Service areas: city, zip, and radius#

Many local businesses serve more than the single city their listing sits in - plumbers, HVAC techs, and contractors often cover a whole metro area. Service areas tell theStacc where you operate so your content and keywords target the right places.

You can define a service area by:

• City - a named city or town you serve.
• Zip - a specific postal/zip code.
• Radius - a distance you cover around your location.

Service areas are stored on your location and can be edited any time under Local SEO > Settings > Businesses. For the full walkthrough of managing addresses, hours, and service areas after onboarding, see Locations & Business Details.

What happens automatically after onboarding#

The best part of onboarding is what you *don't* have to do. As soon as your setup is finished, theStacc kicks off content generation for each location you added:

• 30 post titles are planned for the month ahead in a single pass - a full content calendar, ready to go.
• Full content is written for the first 3 posts so you have publishable posts immediately.
• The remaining posts keep their titles, and their full content is generated on demand when you're ready for them.

This means that by the time you land on your Local SEO dashboard, you already have a month of post ideas and three finished posts grounded in the business description, services, and pain points you reviewed earlier. You can edit, regenerate, schedule, or publish them from there.

Recap#

1. Search for your business by name and location (Google Places + DataForSEO).
2. Select the correct listing from the ranked results - theStacc grabs your hours.
3. Review the AI-generated description, services, pain points, and hours, and edit anything that's off.
4. Confirm to create your location - theStacc pulls your rating, reviews, and keywords.
5. theStacc builds your first month of posts (30 titles + the first 3 written in full).

Where to go next#

• Locations & Business Details - manage addresses, hours, service areas, and add more locations.
• Industry Presets & Brand Intake - fine-tune your brand voice, USPs, certifications, and seasonal angles so posts sound unmistakably like you.
• Google Business Profile - how theStacc connects to and optimizes your GBP.