Act on Next steps
How do I review and act on Next Recommendations?
Open Marketing → SEO → Next steps. It lists profile changes Sydekick suggests to help you outrank nearby competitors, each on its own card with an impact tag, a one-line reason, a few facts from your own ranking data, and the steps to do it. Read the High impact cards first. Then choose Tell Sydekick to do it to hand a card to Sydekick, or Do it yourself to open its steps and work through them.
Key facts
| Where it lives | Marketing → SEO, Next steps in the SEO menu |
| What a card has | An icon for the part of the profile it concerns, a title, an impact tag, a one-line reason, fact chips, an estimate, two buttons, and a steps toggle |
| Impact | High impact, Medium impact or Low impact: the analysis's estimate of which changes matter most |
| Where the numbers come from | The fact chips are computed from your own grid and competitor data, not written by the model |
| Header | How many actions there are and when they were last updated, plus Regenerate |
| Generation | Runs in the background. The page shows Generating next steps, and you can leave it |
| Cost | The page does not show a credit price for generating or regenerating, so do not assume it is free |
Steps
Open Marketing → SEO, choose a client and a single location, and select Next steps.
Read the header line, for example 5 actions · updated Nov 4, 2026. The date tells you when the list was written. A list is saved per location per month.
Read the first card from top to bottom.
- The icon shows what the change is about: categories, reviews, services, photos, posts, hours, attributes, description or website. Its tint follows the impact.
- The title starts with a verb, for example Add Cosmetic dentist as a secondary category, and the tag beside it says High impact, Medium impact or Low impact.
- The line under it says why, in one sentence.
- The fact chips are numbers from your own data, for example 2 of 5 ahead of you use Cosmetic dentist, 10 competitors beat you at most points, Reviews: you 318 · ahead avg 604 or Not in the top 20 at 24% of checks. A card shows only the chips that apply to it.
- The green chip beginning Est. is a hedged estimate of the effect, such as Est. Could move a handful of grid points into the top 10 for whitening searches. It is an expectation, not a measurement.
To act, choose one of two buttons on the card.
- Tell Sydekick to do it sends the card to the Sydekick panel with your current client and location, and shows Sent to Sydekick — watch the panel. Changes to your profile may need your approval in the Sydekick panel.
- Do it yourself opens the card's numbered steps so you can do the work in Synup yourself. It does not take you to a screen; the 3 steps toggle on the right does the same and opens and closes them.
Open the steps. Each card shows its numbered steps and, under them, Why it works: the longer explanation behind the card.
Select Regenerate when your data has changed and you want a fresh list. It queues a new analysis and replaces the list when it is ready; the current list stays on screen until then. The page confirms with Generating fresh next steps. They'll appear here when they're ready.
When there are no cards yet
The page tells you which of these you are in instead of leaving a blank list.
- No Next Steps Yet. Nothing has been saved for this location. Generate Next Steps starts the analysis.
- Generating next steps. A background job is running. It usually takes under a minute and you can leave the page. If it is slower, the page says This is taking longer than usual. Check again in a moment. with a Check again button.
- Couldn't generate next steps. The last attempt did not finish. Retry starts it again. For a location that cannot be analysed yet, the page says Next steps can't be generated for this location yet. instead.
- Couldn't load next steps. The page could not read the saved list. Retry.
If a refresh fails but an older list exists, a banner says Couldn't generate fresh next steps. Showing the last ones that did., and the cards stay in view.
What you'll see when it's done
- A list of cards ordered with the most important first, each with a reason and steps
- A hand-off message in the Sydekick panel for any card you sent
Watch out for
- The estimate is not a promise. Treat an Est. line as an informed expectation. Rankings move for reasons outside your profile.
- Check each card against your business. A card may suggest a category or service that does not apply to you. The steps are worded as things to check.
- Regenerate replaces the list. It does not add to it. It also re-runs an analysis that the page does not price, so use it when your data has actually changed.
- The hand-off carries your current client and location. Check the scope shown in the Sydekick panel before you approve anything.
- A card with nothing to hand over has no Sydekick button. Some cards have no instruction text to send.
- Next steps use your ranking reports. A location with no finished keyword report has little for the analysis to read.
Questions people ask
What does Do it yourself do?
It opens the card's numbered steps. There is no separate checklist elsewhere; the steps and the Why it works note are on the card.
Do I need to generate these, or do they cost anything?
The page generates the list in the background the first time it is needed, and Generate Next Steps or Regenerate start it again. The page does not show a credit price for this, so check your usage rather than assuming it is free.
Why does a card say Not in the top 20 at 24% of checks?
It is a share of every keyword-and-grid-point check at this location where you were not found in the top 20. It comes from the same ranking reports as the Overview.