How to use Ember Studio
Plain-English instructions for all three tools — no jargon, every button explained. Bookmark this page; it stays up to date with the app.
What is it
Ember Studio is one workspace with three tools for local-SEO work:
- Image SEO — upload a folder of photos, get back files with AI-written titles, alt text and captions, GPS/location data embedded, resized and compressed, plus ready-to-paste markup.
- GBP Optimizer — paste a Google Business Profile link, get an audit and AI-written categories, description, services, posts, polls, review replies, a directory list to submit to, and rank checking.
- Poster Studio — give it a website address, it reads the brand and designs a set of on-brand posters, ready to download.
All three share one login, one team and one monthly plan. Set a client up once (a client profile) and every tool reuses it.
Getting started
Create an account
Go to /signup. Sign up with an email and password, or with Google, Facebook or Apple if those are turned on. Add a phone number when asked — that is required once, for account security.
You land on the Free plan
30 images a month, no card needed. Paid plans start a 14-day trial automatically once you pick one.
Your workspace
Everything you do happens inside a workspace — think of it as one client or one business. Agencies create a separate workspace per client from the switcher at the bottom of the sidebar (+ New workspace); each one has its own quota, brand profiles and jobs.
Pick a tool from the sidebar
Overview, New optimisation, Jobs, Client profiles, GBP Optimizer, Poster Studio, Usage, Settings, Plan & billing.
🖼️ Image SEO
Turns a folder of ordinary photos into files that carry their own SEO: a proper filename, alt text and captions written by an AI that looked at the photo, GPS and location tags, and a size that hits a byte budget instead of just "smaller."
Run a batch
From the sidebar, click ＋ New optimisation. It's a four-step wizard:
1 · Client
Pick a saved client profile, or type the business name, website, location, target keywords and a short description. Tick Save this as a client profile to reuse it next time. If photos should be geotagged to more than one place, open Geotag across several places and add each location — the tool then assigns one per photo.
2 · Photos
Drop in JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, TIFF or HEIC files — up to your plan's per-batch limit. They upload as you add them. Click the ✎ on a thumbnail to add a note about that one photo (e.g. "this is the inverter, not a meter box") — it only affects that image.
3 · Target
Choose where the images will live — Google Business Profile, Website, E-commerce, Social media, Print, or Custom. This sets the pixel size, format and byte budget. Optionally pick a page type and section (or click Read this client's website to import their real page/section names automatically). Open Advanced to override format, quality, max KB, width/height, filename pattern or to turn GPS off. Write a brief telling the AI what's actually in the photos — this is the single biggest quality lever.
4 · Run
Review the summary, choose which AI to use (see Your AI or ours), optionally add a webhook URL, then either Save as draft (free, finish later) or Optimise N images. Each image takes about 3–8 seconds; you can close the tab and it keeps running.
What you get back
Open a finished job from Jobs to see, per image: the optimised file, its new filename, dimensions, before/after size and % saved, and the generated title, alt text, caption, meta description, post text and tags — each with a copy button. Download everything as a ZIP, or grab just the CSV. A job page also offers Retry failed, Rename, Duplicate (same settings and photos, as a new draft) and Delete.
Client profiles (sidebar) store a business's name, site, location, keywords and description once, so every future batch is three clicks. Edit or delete them any time; past jobs keep their own copy of the settings used.
📍 GBP Optimizer
Open it from the sidebar. There's a client-profile picker at the top and a row of tabs.
Start here
Paste the profile link
On Google Maps, open the business, click Share, then Copy link. Paste it into the Profile link field, add the keywords you want to rank for, and click Import & audit. This reads what is live today and uses one "live lookup" from your plan.
Read the audit
You get a 0–100 score with a grade, a pass/warn/fail check for each field Google looks at, and a ranked "fix these first" list with the point value of each fix.
Optimise everything
Pick a tone and language, click ✨ Optimise everything, and it writes a new description, categories, services, posts, polls, Q&A and review-reply templates in one go — grounded in what's actually live, so facts aren't invented. Each block shows exactly where to paste it in Google (e.g. "Edit profile → Business description") and has its own copy button.
The other tabs
| Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
| Categories / Description / Services / Posts / Polls | Generate just one of these on demand, with its own keywords, tone, language and notes. Every past generation is kept in a history list underneath. |
| Backlinks | A directory list to submit the business to, filterable by country and category, with a Publish → link to each site. Add your own directories (e.g. a local chamber of commerce) and they stay in your workspace. |
| Rank checker | Check where the business ranks for one keyword and location (live position, needs a data provider — see Setup), or paste up to 10 keywords to check them all in one pass. The always-on profile-completeness score works even without live lookups. |
| Export | Build a Markdown report (paste straight into a Google Doc) or CSV spreadsheets of everything generated for that client, including the backlink directories. |
| Setup | Live profile import and rank checks run on DataForSEO. Use the shared allowance on your plan, or connect your own DataForSEO login (sign up at dataforseo.com → API Access) for uncapped lookups you pay for directly. |
From a finished GBP pack, 🎨 Design posters in the page header jumps straight to Poster Studio for the same business; from a finished poster run, Write the GBP post comes back the other way with a pre-filled campaign note.
🎨 Poster Studio
Turns a website address into a finished set of on-brand posters — no design brief, no template hunting.
Create
Type a website (or pick a client profile) and how many posters you want. Its logo, colours, fonts and photography are read straight from the site. Choose a size (Instagram, Story, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, email header, web hero, or A3–A5 print — or type your own 1200x628 or ratio like 4:5), a tone and a goal.
Say what to say (optional)
Open Message and audience for the audience, a campaign/offer, button text, language, must-include and never-say phrases. Open Content calendar to paste or upload rows (date, message, details) — one poster is made per row, up to your plan's limit.
Pick a look
10 named looks (Impact, Editorial, Technical, Midnight, Neon, Blueprint …) or leave it on Auto to vary across the set. Under Layouts, tick specific designs or let the creative director choose per poster. Under Extras, toggle AI review & touch-up, using the brand's own photos, generating hero images, or exporting a second ratio.
Design my posters
The quoted credit cost updates live as you change options. The run is queued; watch its progress on the run page (reading the website → writing copy → designing → packing up). When it's done, download individual posters, the whole set as a ZIP, or open the full HTML report.
Save time next month: from a finished run, Make more from this brand skips the website fetch entirely and reuses the same saved brand.
Pricing: 1 credit per finished poster, +1 with AI review, +2 with generated hero images, doubled if you also export the other ratio. The whole run's cost is held up front; whatever it didn't deliver is given back.
Your AI or ours
Every tool that calls AI can run in one of three modes, switchable per workspace in Settings → AI engine:
| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| ☁️ Managed AI | We supply the model and pay for every call. Nothing to configure — uses your plan's monthly image allowance. |
| 🔑 My API key | Paste a key for Gemini, OpenRouter, GitHub Models, Groq, OpenAI or any OpenAI-compatible server. Test it, fetch its live model list, and pick a model. Keys are encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and never shown again. Add several providers; mark one default. |
| 💻 My machine | Install a local runner on your own computer with Ollama pulled (e.g. ollama pull qwen2.5vl:7b). In Settings → AI engine → Connect a machine, copy the one-time command it gives you and run it on that machine:npx @ember-studio/runner --server <your app URL> --token run_xxxFrom then on, jobs set to "My machine" are claimed by it: photos download to it, its Ollama model processes them, finished files come back. Nothing touches a third-party AI provider. |
Workspaces & team
Invite teammates from Settings → Team: enter their email, pick a role (admin, member or viewer) and send the invite. Roles: owner (full control, only one), admin (everything except deleting the workspace), member (can create jobs, GBP content and posters), viewer (read-only). Switch between client workspaces any time from the switcher at the bottom of the sidebar, or create a new one there.
Plans & billing
See Settings → Plan & billing or the public /pricing page for current numbers — Free, Bring Your Own AI, Solo, Pro, Agency and Enterprise, monthly or annual (two months free). A paid plan's allowance covers managed-AI images, own-AI images, GBP generations, poster credits, live lookups, seats and file retention.
- Pay by card (Stripe/Paddle, whichever is active) — Manage payment method opens the billing portal.
- Or pay with USDT on the TRON (TRC20) network where crypto checkout is offered — send the exact amount shown to the address shown; it's matched automatically within a couple of minutes. This is a prepaid period, not a subscription — pay again before it ends to extend it.
- Cancel plan keeps everything active until the period you paid for ends, then moves to Free. Keep it undoes a scheduled cancellation.
- Hit a monthly limit and new jobs simply pause — no surprise overage charge. Upgrade, or switch that workspace to your own AI key.
API & automation
Available on Pro and above. Create a key in Settings → API keys, then create a job or a poster run, upload files, and queue it — see the full API reference for endpoints, parameters and a ready-made n8n/Make recipe. Every job and poster run can also notify a webhook URL when it finishes.
Account settings
| Tab | What's there |
|---|---|
| Workspace | Name, billing email, VAT/tax ID, and a read-only summary of your plan. |
| AI engine | Mode, API keys, local runners — see above. |
| Team | Members, roles, pending invites, seats used. |
| API keys | Create and revoke keys for automation. |
| Your account | Name, password, and active sessions (with a "sign out other devices" button). |
Questions & support
Common questions (geotagging and SEO, poster credits, AI models, hitting a limit, keeping clients' photos, white-labelling, the API) are answered on the pricing page's FAQ. For anything else, email support. See also Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.