Create and manage blog posts

In short. The Blog screen at /sg-admin/blog/ lists every post on your site. Click Add New, fill in Title, Content, at least one Category and one Tag, set Status to Publish, and click Create a Post — your post is live immediately at its own URL. Save as Draft to come back later. Hover any row for Edit, Duplicate, Trash, and Export. One prerequisite: create at least one category and one tag before your first post — both fields are required on save.

On this page: Field reference · Add a new post · Edit a post · Trash and restore · Known limits and pitfalls · Related features

How to write, publish, and maintain the blog on your site in SGEN

Your blog is the place to post news, product updates, tutorials, and announcements — anything that belongs on a timeline. Each post gets its own public URL, appears on the blog archive, and can collect reader comments when discussions are enabled.

What is this for?

The Blog screen at /sg-admin/blog/ lists every post on your site. Use it to write, update, retire, or review what is live. Blog posts are distinct from pages — pages (About, Contact, Services) are evergreen; blog posts are time-stamped and age. If the content has a date attached to it, it belongs here.

Scope

This doc covers the All Blogs list and the Create/Edit Post form. Category and tag administration is in the sibling doc — Organize with categories and tags.

Not covered here: static pages (About, Contact, Services), ecommerce product pages, or custom landing pages — those live under Pages.

Reference

Every field on the Create/Edit Post form:

— ","hint":"Supports page_title, site_title, separator tokens. Preview in Google Search Console."},{"label":"SEO Description","value":"Learn how to write, publish, and maintain blog posts on your SGEN site — drafts, scheduling, and all post settings.","hint":"Keep under 155 characters. Shown in search results."},{"label":"Canonical URL","value":"https://yoursite.com/blog/tutorials/how-to-care-for-your-canvas-tote-bag","hint":"Defaults to the post's public URL. Override only if you have a duplicate-content reason."},{"label":"Discourage indexing","value":"Off (default — post is indexable)","hint":"Toggle on to ask search engines not to index this specific post."}],"height":280}}}

Examples

Example 5: Update a published post's SEO description without changing the public content.

Your site's analytics show one post gets traffic but a low click-through rate from search results. Open the post's Edit screen, expand the Search Engine Optimization panel at the bottom of the main form, and rewrite the SEO Description field to be more specific and action-led. Click Update a Post. The new description is live immediately — no status change needed. You should see the updated snippet in Google Search Console within a few days of Google recrawling the URL.

Example 6: Assign multiple categories and tags on a new post before publishing.

Your site covers both tutorials and product news. Create a post that fits both: fill in the Title, write the body, then open the Categories chip picker and select Tutorials and Product Updates (multiple selection is supported). Add tags How-to, Feature, and Release. Set Status = Publish and click Create a Post. The post appears under both category archives on your public site and is findable via both tag pages.

Before you start

• Signed in as a SGEN admin with Blog access.
• At least one category and one tag exist. Both fields are required on the post form — if either list is empty the post will not save. Create them first at Blog → Categories and Blog → Tags.
• You know the Title for your post. The Permalink (URL slug) auto-fills from Title on blur — edit it before saving if you want a shorter URL.
• You have decided: Publish immediately, or Draft to finish later.
• If the post needs a cover image, upload it to the Media Library before you start (or use the inline uploader on the Thumbnail card).

Good use cases

Example 1: Publish a product update immediately.

Click Add New. Fill in Title (e.g. New Arrival: The Canvas Tote Bag) — the Permalink auto-fills on blur, edit it if you want a shorter slug. Write the body, pick Product Updates from Categories, add tags, attach a cover photo via the Thumbnail card, set Status = Publish, and click Create a Post. The post is live at yoursite.com/blog/product-updates/canvas-tote-bag and appears on the archive. You land on the Edit screen with a confirmation:

To confirm the post went live the way you expect, open its public URL in a private/incognito window. Here is what readers see for each Status option:

Example 2: Draft a how-to tutorial for review before publishing.

Fill in Title and body, assign a Category and Tag, then set Status = Draft before clicking Create a Post. The post appears on the Blog list under the Draft pill and is invisible to public visitors. Any admin can open the Edit screen, leave notes in the Excerpt field, and flip Status to Publish when ready. Use the Preview row action to see a private preview at any time.

Example 3: Password-gate a post for a select audience.

Create the post, set Status = Password Protected, and enter a password in the field that appears. Share the URL and password directly with your audience — visitors without the password see a prompt. Use Private instead when the post should only be visible to signed-in admins.

Example 4: Bulk move stale drafts to Trash before a launch.

On the Blog list, click the Draft pill to filter. Tick the header checkbox to select all rows. Pick Move to Trash from the "Action For Selected" dropdown and click Apply. All selected drafts move to Trash in one step:

Switch to the Trash tab to confirm, then Delete Permanently each one if you are sure you will not need them.

What NOT to use this for

• Do not try to save your first post without a category and tag already created. Both fields are required on the post form — if either list is empty, Create a Post will not succeed. Set them up first at Blog → Categories and Blog → Tags.
• Do not rely on drafts being hidden from search engines. On this version, draft and trashed posts serve the blog archive body at their URL rather than a clean "Page Not Found." Search engines may index those URLs. Until this is fixed, avoid posting anything at a URL you don't want indexed before going Live, and change the slug before flipping to Publish if a draft URL was already surfaced.
• Do not use the Tag admin search box — it is not working on this version. Submitting the search on Blog → Tags returns a "Page Not Found" error. Everything else on that screen (create, edit, delete) works. Scroll the table instead.
• Do not change a post's slug without setting up a Redirect. Changing the slug changes the public URL — the old URL will 404. Pair any slug change with a 301 redirect in Redirects from the old path to the new one.
• Do not use Blog for evergreen content. About, Contact, Services, and legal pages belong under Pages. Blog posts live on a timeline; pages stay at a fixed URL.
• Do not assume a revision restore rolls back the URL. Restore replaces the post's title and body — but the slug stays as-is. If you want the old slug back, edit the Permalink field manually after restoring.

How this connects to other features

• Media Library — upload cover images here first, then pick them from the Thumbnail card. Body images also come from Media.
• Blog → Categories and Tags — see Organize with categories and tags. Every post requires at least one of each.
• Discussions — toggle "Enable discussions" on the Edit form to allow reader comments. Moderate replies in the Discussions admin. Trashing hides the thread; restoring brings it back.
• SEO — each post has its own SEO Title, Description, and Canonical URL in the SEO panel. Tokens `, , and ` are supported in the Title field.
• Pages — for timeless content (About, Contact, legal) use Pages instead.
• Redirects — pair any slug change or post retirement with a 301 redirect to protect inbound links.
• Export — the Export row action downloads a backup of the post's title, content, and settings as a JSON file. Can be re-imported later.

Where to go

1. Open the left navigation.
2. Select Blogs → All Blogs. You land on /sg-admin/blog/.
3. Top-right: Add New to create a new post. Hover any existing row to see View, Edit, Duplicate, Trash, and Export. On the Trash tab, hover reveals Restore and Delete Permanently instead.

Steps to add a new post

1. Click Add New

From the Blog list click Add New in the top-right. You land on the blank Create Blog Post form. There is no separate template picker modal on blog (unlike Pages) — the form is immediately editable.

2. Fill in Title, Permalink, Content

• Title is the headline readers see. It auto-populates the Permalink (URL slug) the moment you click out of the Title field.
• Permalink is the URL path the post will live at, like /blog/<category-slug>/<your-slug>. Click the slug text to edit it.
• Content is the body. Leave Editor = Text Editor (in the right column) for plain rich text, or switch to SG-Builder for a visual layout with sections, images, and buttons.
• Excerpt (optional) is the short blurb that appears on blog archive cards.

3. Pick a cover image (optional)

Click Select cover image on the Thumbnail card. The Media Library modal opens — pick an existing image or upload a new one. Once selected, the image appears on the Thumbnail card and will show on the blog archive card plus any post-card components on your site.

4. Assign at least one category and at least one tag

Both are required. On the right column:

• Categories — type into the picker to pick from existing categories, or click the create-new action. Categories are for top-level groupings ("Product Updates," "Tutorials").
• Tags — same picker pattern. Tags are fine-grained keywords ("Release," "Performance," "Design").

If the picker is empty, you have not created any categories/tags yet — go to Blog → Categories or Blog → Tags first.

5. Toggle discussions (optional)

In the Discussions & Reviews card on the right column:

• Enable discussions — controls whether readers can leave comments on the public post.
• Close discussions — keeps existing comments visible but disallows new ones.
• Allow ratings — when on, readers can leave a star rating alongside their comment.

6. Pick Status

• Publish — live immediately at the post's URL, visible to everyone, listed in the blog archive.
• Draft — saved but hidden from public visitors. Only admins can preview it.
• Private — published only for signed-in admins. Anonymous visitors get a Not Found screen at the URL.
• Password Protected — visitors see a password prompt; content shown only after the correct password is entered.

7. Click Create a Post

Primary red button at the bottom of the right column. You land back on the Edit screen for the new post with a success message. Open the post's public URL in an incognito window to see what readers see.

Steps to edit an existing post

1. Open the post

From the Blog list, hover any row and click Edit, or click the post title directly. You land on the same form pre-filled with the current post's values.

2. Make your changes

Update any fields — Title, Content, Excerpt, Status, Thumbnail, Categories, Tags, or SEO settings. The Permalink field is also editable if you need to change the URL slug (pair any slug change with a redirect in Redirects).

3. Save

Click Update a Post. Changes go live immediately for Published posts; Drafts stay hidden until you flip Status to Publish.

Duplicating a post

Hover a row and click Duplicate. SGEN creates a copy as a new Draft with "(Draft)" appended to the title — useful when you want to start a new post that reuses structure from an existing one without risk of accidentally overwriting. Open the duplicate, rename and edit as needed, then flip to Publish when ready.

Trashing and restoring

Trashing a post is a soft delete. The post moves to the Trash tab, its public URL stops serving the content, and the post drops off the public blog archive. You can restore any time by switching to the Trash tab:

Restore returns the post to Draft status (not back to its prior Publish state — you will need to flip it to Publish manually if you want it live again). Delete Permanently wipes the post and all its metadata. Use it only for posts you are certain you will not need.

Before trashing a post with inbound links (email campaigns, partner links, Google), add a 301 redirect in Redirects from the old URL to a replacement so readers do not hit a broken link.

Exporting a post

Hover a row and click Export. A backup file downloads with the post's title, content, and all settings. Filename looks like blog_<slug>_2026-04-21.json. Use this as a per-post backup before big rewrites, or as a way to move a post between sites.

What success looks like

• The post appears on the Blog list with the expected Title, Category, Author, and Created At.
• Opening the public URL in a private/incognito window loads the post. (Draft and Trash serve the blog archive body at the URL — that is expected on this version.)
• Password Protected — incognito visitors see a password entry form.
• Private — incognito visitors get a Not Found screen; signed-in admins see the content.
• Revisions accumulate automatically as you Publish edits — use View History on the Edit screen to review or restore them.

What to do if it does not work

• Create a Post did not save. Almost always a missing Category or missing Tag — both are required. Scroll the form for the red "required" marker and pick one from each picker.
• The public URL still serves the old content. Your browser or an upstream cache is serving a stale copy. Try a private/incognito window or append ?cb=1 to the URL to force a fresh fetch.
• The post I trashed is still visible on the Blog list. Reload the list and switch to the Trash tab. If the row is still on the main list, click Trash again.
• My duplicate is named "(Draft) <title>". Expected behavior — duplicates are created as Drafts with the prefix so they never accidentally go live. Rename and publish when ready.
• I changed the permalink and got redirected to an opaque URL. That is the save flow's normal response. The post saved successfully — reload the list to see the updated slug.

Next step

• Organize your topics — Organize with categories and tags
• Undo an edit — Review blog post revisions
• Moderate comments — Discussions admin once readers start replying.
• Back up posts — Export row action per post, or use the Import/Export tool for whole-site snapshots.