Getting started with LocusPilot
Create a complete website optimized for Google and AI search in a few clicks. This guide walks you through every step from project creation to making changes after generation.
Estimated read time: 8 minutes
Creating Your First Project
Getting started is simple. Log in to your dashboard and click "New Project" to begin.
What you need to provide:
- Business Name: The name of your business or client
- Factsheet: Information about your business (minimum 50 characters)
- Website Language: Generate your website natively in one of 10 supported languages (default: English)EnglishEspañolPortuguêsDeutschFrançaisPolskiNederlandsBahasa Malaysia简体中文繁體中文
For English websites, spelling (US/UK/AU) is auto-detected from your business country.
- Domain Name: If you already have a domain for the site
- Design Reference: A website URL or HTML to base your design on
70% Deposit Model
Before you submit, a modal shows you the estimated page count and credit cost. We use a 70% deposit model to keep upfront costs low:
Deposit (70%): Only 70% of the estimated cost is charged upfront when you submit.
Generation: Your website is built with all pages, images, and content.
Settlement: When complete, the actual page count is calculated. Any remaining balance is charged (or refunded if lower than estimated). If your balance goes negative, downloads are locked until you top up.
Why 70%? Our AI estimation may include more pages than actually needed (e.g., blog posts, location pages). The deposit model ensures you only pay for what you get.
Writing Your Factsheet
The factsheet is the foundation of your website. Everything the AI generates comes from what you provide here. The more detail you include, the better your site will be.
Quality In = Quality Out
The factsheet is the single most important input for your website. Our AI can only work with what you provide.
- ✗Sparse factsheet → Generic content that sounds like every other business
- ✓Data-rich factsheet → Unique, detailed content including all service details, pricing, company history, USPs, and more
What to include:
List all services you offer with descriptions
Include price ranges or starting prices if possible
Your address and service areas
Phone, email, business hours
What makes you different from competitors
Years in business, certifications, awards
Research with AI
Not sure what to write? Use the "Research with AI" feature. Enter a competitor's website URL and the AI will research their business and generate a factsheet for you.
Always review and rebrand the AI-generated factsheet. Replace the competitor's name, address, and other details with your own information.
Choosing Your Design
You can provide a design reference to influence how your website looks. This is optional but helps create a more customized result.
Design Reference Options
Enter a website URL and we will scrape its design. Good for matching an existing brand or competitor style.
Paste raw HTML and CSS code directly. Useful if you have a specific design you want to replicate.
Use Google Stitch tool to create a custom design, then import it directly.
Generation Engine
Choose the AI engine that powers your website generation. This affects both the quality of content generation and your credit cost.
Nano Banana: 2 cr/pg (first 10) → 2 cr/pg (11+)
Optimized AI pipeline that delivers excellent results at up to 50% lower cost. Uses a blend of premium and optimized models for the best value.
Recommended for most websites.
Nano Banana: 5 cr/pg (first 10) → 2 cr/pg (11+)
Full premium AI model for every phase. Higher credit cost but uses the most capable model throughout.
When should you choose Premium?
- ●Non-English websites — Premium excels at generating content in foreign languages (Malay, Chinese, Spanish, German, etc.) with more natural phrasing and fewer translation artifacts.
- ●Large, complex or niche industries — If your business has highly specialized terminology (medical, legal, financial), Premium handles nuanced content more accurately.
- ●Maximum quality with no compromise — When you want the absolute best output and cost is not a concern.
Starter Authority Sites use the Smart engine automatically. This keeps the fixed $20 price accessible while delivering great quality.
Image Model Selection
Choose how your website images are generated. Pricing below reflects the Smart engine (default):
Pages 11+: 1 credit/page
Photorealistic images that look professional and clean. Best for most business websites.
Pages 11+: 2 credits/page
Stylized, artistic images. Supports reference images (up to 10) to match your brand style.
Example: A 30-page website with Smart engine + Flux Pro costs (10 × 2) + (20 × 1) = 40 credits. With the 70% deposit model, you pay 28 credits upfront, and the remaining 12 credits after generation completes.
Advanced Settings
The advanced settings section lets you add tracking, custom scripts, and real customer reviews.
Add your GTM container ID (like GTM-ABC123) to enable analytics tracking on your site.
Add scripts that go in the <head> section. Good for meta tags, third-party integrations, or verification codes.
Add scripts after the opening <body> tag. Useful for noscript fallbacks or chat widgets.
Enter your Place ID or Google Maps URL to pull real customer reviews into your site. Click "Verify" to check if reviews are available.
Branding & Visual Customization
Control how your website looks before generation starts. These settings override the AI defaults so your site matches your brand from day one.
Upload your own logo to replace the AI-generated icon in the header. Choose between two display modes:
Your logo image replaces the entire header logo area. Best for landscape/wide logo files that include your business name.
Your icon appears next to the business name text. Best for square icons or logo marks.
If left empty, the system generates an SVG icon automatically.
Upload a square image for your browser tab icon. If you uploaded a square logo above and leave this empty, the system will use your logo as the favicon automatically.
Describe the visual style you want for all AI-generated images on your site. For example: "warm, natural lighting with earth tones" or "clean, bright studio photography on white backgrounds."
Use the "Suggest with AI" button to auto-generate a style based on your factsheet and design reference. You can edit the suggestion before submitting.
Content Controls
Fine-tune what the AI generates. These settings let you skip sections you don't need or manually specify exactly which location pages to create.
Auto (recommended) lets the system decide based on your factsheet. Skip disables blog post generation entirely, reducing your page count and credit cost.
Three options to control service area pages:
The system extracts locations from your factsheet automatically.
Enter your exact location names (one per line). The system creates a page for each one. Useful when the factsheet doesn't list all your service areas.
No location pages at all. Good for single-location businesses like a cafe or clinic.
Understanding the Process
After you submit your project, LocusPilot runs through 8 phases to build your complete website.
What topical research actually does
Before any page is written, LocusPilot runs a dedicated 9-step procedure: it decides your homepage role, scores every service on commercial value and intent, maps the buyer journey per priority service, expands and filters a topic universe, then assembles the final hub + support-page architecture.
The output is a topic map tied to every stage of your customer journey — not a list of random blog ideas. Ranking for local businesses comes from topical authority (hub pages plus supporting guides that cover the journey), not publishing volume.
Example: for an aircon company, "cost" isn't one generic post. It's a state-level cost page, geo-specific quote sections inside each service hub, and process / concern / comparison guides feeding links back. That's the cluster search engines reward — and it's what topical research builds for you.
Two Generation Modes
Pauses after Phase 1 so you can review and approve the site structure before continuing. Good for client work.
Runs all 8 phases automatically without stopping. Best when you trust the AI to make good decisions.
The 8 Phases
Maps your services to the buyer journey, then builds the page architecture and YAML structure (about 15-20 minutes)
Generates all pages, content, and components
Fixes layout issues and improves visual consistency
Creates and places AI images throughout the site
Polishes blog posts and improves readability
Adds internal links (5 strategies), advanced schema, and EEAT signals
Creates pages for each service area (if applicable)
Deploys to preview and sends completion notification
Timeline
You will receive email notifications at key points. Once complete, you can view your preview site immediately.
After Generation
Once your website is ready, you have several options for viewing, downloading, and editing it.
Preview Your Site
Your site is deployed to a preview URL on Cloudflare Pages. This preview is for testing and review only. When you are ready to go live, you will need to deploy to your own hosting.
Download Options
Download the complete Astro project with all source files. Best for developers who want to make custom modifications.
Download ready-to-deploy HTML, CSS, JS, and images. Works on any hosting platform.
Deploy to Your Own Hosting
To go live with your own domain:
- 1. Set up your own Cloudflare Pages account (free)
- 2. Connect your domain to Cloudflare
- 3. Deploy the downloaded files directly to your site
Use Our Free Hosting (Recommended)
The easiest option: keep your site on our Cloudflare Pages hosting and simply connect your custom domain. No downloads or setup required.
Free Forever
Your website stays hosted on our infrastructure at no additional cost. Just point your domain to our servers.
- ✓Free SSL certificate (HTTPS)
- ✓Global CDN for fast loading
- ✓Automatic deployments when you edit
How to Connect Your Domain:
- 1Go to your project status page and find "Custom Domain"
- 2Enter your domain (e.g., yourbusiness.com)
- 3Add the CNAME record to your DNS provider
- 4Wait for DNS propagation (usually 5-30 minutes)
Quick Editors for Minor Changes
For small updates, use the built-in editors in your dashboard:
Fix broken or placeholder images
Edit posts, fix typos
Update pricing, descriptions
Edit service areas
Colors, fonts, styling
Domain, GTM, custom scripts
After making changes, click Save then Publish. Updates typically go live in 2-5 minutes.
SEO Optimization Features
Every generated website includes advanced SEO optimizations built in. These features are configured automatically during generation. No manual setup required.
Named authors with credentials, bio boxes on blog posts, and Person schema markup. AI generates realistic personas when no team info is provided.
5 topology presets: homepage-focused, pillar-cluster, service-push, location-push, or flat. Controls where ranking power flows.
Learn more →
Standard, Comprehensive, or Authority mode. Controls word count, FAQ depth, and detail level across all pages.
Learn more →AI identifies topic-relevant entities and weaves them into content. Ensures comprehensive topical coverage for every page.
20+ schema types including GeoCircle service areas, Offer catalogs, Person credentials, knowsAbout, and sameAs for entity disambiguation.
Content freshness signals with dateModified in schema and per-page sitemap priority. Blog posts include auto-calculated reading time estimates.
All features are automatic. These optimizations are applied during the generation process. You can customize internal linking strategy and content depth during structure review.
Making Major Changes
The quick editors handle most common changes. For bigger modifications, you can use the AI Site Agent directly in your browser, or download the source code and use a local AI coding tool.
Edit your website by chatting in plain English, right from your browser. Live preview, quick actions, and one-click deploy.
View AI Site Agent guide →Launch unique websites on exact-match domains for every city in your service area. Hub & Satellite strategy — unique content, AI imagery, separated NAP.
Read the strategy guide →Clone your proven site and rebrand with a new identity, fresh content, and independent SEO. Perfect for franchises, sister brands, or new markets.
Read the Clone & Rebrand guide →Local AI Tools (For Advanced Users)
If you prefer more speed and control, download your source code and use a local AI coding tool:
AI-first code editor based on VS Code. Great for making targeted changes with natural language prompts.
Terminal-based AI assistant. Powerful for complex modifications and multi-file changes.
IDE with Gemini built in. Good all-around option for code editing with AI assistance.
Example Prompts
Here are some prompts you can use with AI coding tools:
"Add a WhatsApp chat button in the bottom right corner""Create a new testimonials slider on the homepage""Add a mortgage calculator tool to the sidebar""Update all pages to show the new phone number"About the Codebase
Your website is built with Astro and MDX. This modern stack works well with AI coding tools. Content is stored in markdown files, making it easy to find and edit specific pages.
Expanding to New Cities
Once your hub site is live and performing well, you can expand into new cities at a fraction of the original cost. Our Hub & Satellite strategy lets you launch city-specific websites on exact-match domains, each with fully rewritten content and AI-generated homepage images.
No monthly fees. Build once, it's yours.
Every blog post and service page rewritten for the city.
Pick a city, point a domain, deploy automatically.
How it works
- 1.Build your hub site as normal. This is your authority-building parent site.
- 2.Go to Satellite Sites, select the parent project, and choose a new city to target.
- 3.AI rewrites all content with local context, regenerates homepage images, and adds local schema markup.
- 4.Connect your exact-match city domain. Free SSL included via Cloudflare.
This is not programmatic SEO or spun content. Each satellite is a legitimate local business website that Google treats independently. The parentOrganization schema links satellites back to your hub, building a connected authority network.
FAQs & Support
AI-generated websites are powerful but not perfect. Here's what to expect and how we support you.
How long does generation take?
Each website goes through 8 resource-intensive AI phases, and we run a limited number of generators to maintain quality. Typical generation takes 1-2 hours after you submit (or approve the structure if using review mode). During busy periods, it may take longer.
Why does it take this long?
- •No templates: Every website is built from scratch based on your factsheet
- •Custom images: Each image is AI-generated specifically for your content and context
- •50+ AI agents: Multiple specialized agents fine-tune content, SEO, images, and code quality
Good news: Generation runs in the background. You can track real-time progress on your project status page, and you'll receive an email with the preview link when it's ready. If any phase fails, our team is notified and intervenes manually to resolve the issue.
Is the generated website 100% perfect?
While our AI produces high-quality websites, minor imperfections may occur occasionally. These typically include:
- Small typos or awkward phrasing in content
- Minor spacing or alignment inconsistencies
- Placeholder text that wasn't fully replaced
Good news: Most minor issues can be fixed easily using our built-in Quick Editors (Blog, Services, Theme editors) without any coding knowledge.
What about AI-generated images?
AI image generation has improved significantly, but occasional odd results can still occur:
- Unusual hand positions or extra fingers in people
- Text in images that doesn't make sense
- Objects with slightly distorted proportions
Tip: Nano Banana (Smart Visual) generally produces better quality images and supports reference images to match your brand style.
Use the Image Manager in your dashboard to easily replace any problematic images with your own photos or regenerated alternatives.
What if there's a broken layout?
In rare cases, you might encounter layout issues like overlapping elements or broken sections. This is uncommon but can happen with complex designs.
Our Guarantee:
If you encounter a broken layout that cannot be fixed with the Quick Editors, contact us and we will fix it for you using our AI coding assistant tools at no extra charge.
Please include your project name and describe the issue. Screenshots are helpful.
What's included with my website?
- Full source code ownership (Astro + MDX)
- AI-generated images tailored to your business
- SEO optimization (20+ schema types, meta tags, internal links)
- EEAT author personas with Person schema
- 5 internal linking strategy presets
- Content depth presets with entity injection
- Content freshness signals and blog reading time
- Preview deployment on Cloudflare Pages
- Quick Editors for post-generation changes
- Support for layout issues (contact us)
What if my balance goes negative?
If the actual page count is higher than estimated, the additional credits are charged from your balance. If this causes your balance to go negative:
- Your website preview remains accessible
- Downloads (source code and static HTML) are locked
- Quick Editors remain accessible for minor changes
To unlock downloads: Purchase credits to bring your balance back to zero or positive. Downloads are automatically unlocked once your balance is settled.
How do I receive emails from my contact form?
Your website uses FormSubmit, a free form handling service. The first time someone submits your contact form, you need to activate it:
One-Time Activation Steps:
- 1Someone submits your contact form (you can test it yourself)
- 2Check your email inbox for a message from FormSubmit
- 3Click the "Activate Form" link in the email
- 4Done! All future form submissions will be delivered to your email
Note: Check your spam/junk folder if you don't see the activation email. The email comes from FormSubmit, not your website domain.
How do I know the exact cost before generation?
Choose "Review Structure" mode during submission. After Phase 1, you'll see the exact page count and final cost. You can approve or request changes to reduce the scope before generation continues.
How it works: Only 70% is charged upfront. Final settlement happens after generation based on actual pages delivered.
Why can't I add new pages from the dashboard?
Your website is a real codebase, not a locked template. This gives you unlimited flexibility. Use AI coding tools like Google AntiGravity (free), Cursor, or Claude Code to add pages, features, or completely redesign sections. Just describe what you want in plain English.
The Quick Editors handle simple updates; AI tools handle everything else. You're never limited by what a dashboard allows.
Do I need to pay for AI coding tools?
Not necessarily. Google AntiGravity is completely free. It's an AI-powered IDE with Gemini built in, and it's sufficient for most edits. Cursor and Claude Code also offer free tiers.
For professional use, paid plans offer more capacity, but you can get started without spending anything.
How do I connect my custom domain?
The easiest way: use our free hosting. Go to your project status page, find "Custom Domain", enter your domain, and add the CNAME record to your DNS provider. Your site stays on our infrastructure at no cost.
Free SSL, global CDN, and automatic deployments included.
How do I add new blog posts after generation?
Use AI coding tools like Google AntiGravity (free), Cursor, or Claude Code. Simply prompt: "Add a new blog post about [topic]" and the AI creates the file, adds proper frontmatter, and updates any indexes.
It's faster than any CMS and you maintain full control over formatting. The Blog Editor in the dashboard is designed for editing existing posts.
Which languages are supported?
LocusPilot generates websites natively in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Polish, Dutch, Malay, Chinese Simplified, and Chinese Traditional. Content is generated from scratch in your chosen language - not translated after the fact.
For English websites, spelling is automatically adjusted based on your business country (US, UK, AU, CA variants).
See Section 01: Creating Your First Project for the full list and details on English regional variants.
How does language selection work?
Select your target language from the Website Language dropdown in the New Project form. The entire website — all pages, blog posts, CTAs, FAQs, and service descriptions — will be generated natively in that language.
Technical identifiers (file names, YAML field names, code comments) remain in English for compatibility.
Need a language we don't support yet? Generate your site in English, then use AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code) to translate — prompt: "Translate all pages to [language]".
Why is my credit charge lower than my total page count?
Not all pages count toward your credit bill. 5 utility pages are excluded from billing: the 404 error page, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Sitemap, and the Services/Blog index page. These are standard pages every site needs and are not charged.
Example: If your site has 25 total pages, only 20 are billable. The credit cost is calculated on the 20 billable pages.
Will Google index my preview site?
No. All preview sites on our pages.dev domain have a noindex tag automatically applied. This prevents Google from indexing your preview while you're still reviewing it.
SEO-ready when you go live: When you download the source code or republish to your own Cloudflare Pages account, the noindex tag is not included. You get the original SEO-optimized code ready for search engines.
Want complete peace of mind? You can delete your preview site anytime from the Project Settings page. This completely removes the preview from our servers.
In Summary
LocusPilot generates production-ready websites that work great out of the box. While AI isn't perfect, most issues are minor and easily fixable. For anything you can't fix yourself, our team is here to help.
Ready to create your first website?
Get started in minutes. Your complete, SEO-ready website is just a few clicks away.