How to use the page editor — fields and tabs explained

In short. The page editor is one form for every page on your site — title, slug, status, body content, banner image, SEO wording, page template, and per-page scripts all live here. Open it via Pages → Add New Page or Edit on any row. Fields you leave blank fall back to your site-wide defaults. That's the core — read on for every field in detail.

On this page: Fill in a page from scratch · Field reference · Common scenarios · Troubleshooting

How to use the page editor

The page editor opens when you click Add New Page or Edit on any row in the All Pages list. The header tells you which mode you are in: "Create a new page" when starting fresh, "Update a page" when editing an existing one. Every field works the same way in both modes.

Everything about one page lives here — title, web address, content, visibility, banner image, search-engine wording, custom scripts, and sitemap inclusion. Settings specific to one page go here; settings that apply to the whole site live in Site Settings.

What is the page editor for?

Use the page editor to:

• Publish a new page — type the title, write the body, set Status to Published, save.
• Edit an existing page — change content, banner, slug, SEO wording, or template.
• Control visibility — Draft hides the page from visitors; Private restricts to logged-in users; Password Protected prompts for a password.
• Manage SEO per page — override the site-wide SEO defaults with page-specific title, description, noindex, and sitemap settings.
• Scope scripts to one page — Head Scripts and Foot Scripts run only on this page, not site-wide.

What to use it for — and what to avoid

Before you start

• Draft your title and body text before opening the editor.
• Decide the slug before the page goes live — changing it after requires a redirect.
• Upload banner images to the Media Library first — then pick from the Page Banner field.
• Draft SEO Title and Description separately — search-snippet copy reads differently from on-page headings.
• Pick a template upfront. Default suits most informational pages. Landing Page strips navigation for campaign pages. SG-Builder opens the visual canvas. Switching templates mid-way forces a layout rebuild.

Where to go

Sidebar → Pages → Add New Page (new) or Edit on any row (existing). Clicking the page title in the list also opens the editor. Both paths land on the same form.

Steps — Fill in a page from scratch

1. Type the Title.

The Title appears at the top of your page, in the browser tab, and as the default search-engine result heading. Keep it under 60 characters and specific — avoid generic labels like "Page" or "Home Page." As you type, the Slug field auto-fills; you can leave it or override it.

2. Set the Slug.

The Slug becomes the URL path after your domain — the slug our-story becomes yourdomain.com/our-story. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes only. Keep it short: about beats about-our-company-and-its-twelve-year-history. Changing a slug after the page is live breaks existing links — set up a redirect under Site Settings → Redirects if you do.

3. Pick a Status.

• Draft — only you (logged in as admin) can see it; visitors get a 404.
• Published — visible to anyone.
• Private — visible to logged-in users with permission; everyone else gets a 404.
• Password Protected — prompts visitors for a password before showing the body.

Start in Draft while writing. To preview a Draft, open the slug URL in the same browser where you are logged in as admin.

4. Write the Content.

Type plain text, format with the toolbar, paste from a doc, or — if the template is set to SG-Builder — click Edit with SG-Builder to switch to the visual canvas. Paste from Word or Google Docs as plain text to avoid theme clashes. Keep scripts out of this field; they belong in Head Scripts or Foot Scripts.

5. Set the SEO fields.

Scroll to the SEO section. Fill in SEO Title (the search-result heading — can differ from the on-page Title) and SEO Description (the snippet below; aim for ~150 characters). Add a Focus Keyword if you have one. Leave SEO noindex off and Show in Sitemap on for normal public pages — toggle them only for thank-you pages or internal-only pages.

6. Save.

Click Save Changes. A green banner confirms the save. Every save creates a revision; use the View History button to roll back. If the page is Published, it is live at your domain plus the slug immediately.

Field reference — every field on the form

Quick lookup — what each field controls without re-reading the steps.

• Title — the visible page heading and the browser tab title. Required.
• Slug — the URL path after your domain. Auto-generated from Title if left blank on Create.
• Status — Draft, Published, Private, or Password Protected. Controls who sees the page.
• Content — the body of the page. Rich-text by default; switches to SG-Builder canvas when the template is SG-Builder.
• Page Template — picks the layout the public site uses. Default, Landing Page, SG-Builder, plus any custom templates from Appearance.
• Page Banner — the banner image at the top of the page. Choose from your Media Library.
• Thumbnail — a smaller image used in lists, related-pages widgets, and social-share previews.
• SEO Title — the heading shown in search-engine results. Falls back to Title when blank.
• SEO Description — the snippet under the search heading. Falls back to a guess from your body content when blank.
• SEO Focus Keyword — a target phrase for content scoring.
• SEO noindex — when on, search engines skip this page.
• Show in Sitemap — when off, the page is excluded from /sitemap.xml.
• Is Landing Page — when on, the public-site theme strips the main navigation around the body.
• Head Scripts — custom code injected into <head> of this page only.
• Foot Scripts — custom code injected at the bottom of <body> of this page only.
• Custom Fields — any extra fields configured for pages under the Custom Fields admin area.

What success looks like

A green confirmation banner appears at the top of the form right after you click Save.

The form stays on screen with all your values still in place — you have not been kicked back to the list.

The section header reads "Update a page" on subsequent visits, confirming this is now an existing page rather than a new one.

If you set Status to Published, opening your domain plus the slug in a new tab shows your page on the public site with the header, body, and any banner image rendered.

Returning to the All Pages list, you see your new page appearing under the Published filter tab with its title clickable.

If you saved more than once, the View History button is present in the section actions row and clicking it takes you to the revisions list for the page.

What to do if it does not work

• You see "Create a new page" instead of "Update a page". You are on the wrong URL. Go back to the All Pages list and click Edit on the row you want to work on.
• You see a "Page Not Found" message instead of the editor. The page may have been permanently deleted. Check the Trash tab on the All Pages list — if it is there, restore it. If it is gone from Trash too, it has been hard-deleted and cannot be recovered without a backup.
• Your changes did not appear after Save. Clear your browser cache and reload (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac). If you still do not see your changes, check the View History button — a revision should have been created. If no revision was created, your save may have failed silently; try saving again with one small change.
• The "Edit with SG-Builder" button is missing. The button only shows when the page's template is set to SG-Builder and the content is in the page-builder format. Set Page Template to SG-Builder, save, then re-open Edit and the button appears.
• The "View History" button is missing. History only shows once you have saved at least one change. Make any tiny edit, save, and the button appears.
• The page is published but visitors get a 404. Confirm Status is Published and not Private or Password Protected. Confirm the Slug exactly matches the URL you are testing. Try the page in an incognito window — extensions sometimes interfere.

Example: Launching an About page

Your site needs an About page. Open Pages → Add New Page, type About Your Site in Title (the Slug auto-fills as about-your-site — shorten it to about), set Status to Draft, write the body, fill in SEO Title ("About Us | Your Site") and SEO Description, then click Save Changes. A green banner confirms. To verify visitors cannot see it yet, open an incognito window and visit yoursite.com/about — you should get a 404. When the page is ready, switch Status to Published, save, and add it to your nav under Appearance → Menu.

Later, if you want a richer layout with photos and sections: open Edit on the page, change Page Template to SG-Builder, save, then click Edit with SG-Builder. The visual canvas opens with your existing slug intact — all existing links keep working.

Example: Excluding a thank-you page from search

Your site has a post-purchase thank-you page at /order-thank-you. It should stay Published (so it loads for buyers) but you do not want it appearing in search results. Open Edit on the row, scroll to SEO, turn on SEO noindex, turn off Show in Sitemap, save. Visitors arriving via a real link still see the page normally — only search engines change behavior.

Example: Staging a seasonal page in Draft

You want a Holiday Hours page ready before the season starts, but invisible until launch day. Create it now with Status Draft — it is invisible to visitors. On launch day, open Edit, switch Status to Published, save. After the season, flip back to Draft; the URL and content stay reserved for next year.

Tips

• Save often — every save creates a rollback-able revision under the History button.
• Use Draft as a staging area — invisible to visitors but previewable by you when logged in.
• Always fill in SEO Description — left blank, search engines guess from your body, usually poorly.
• Preview in incognito — logged-in admin views differ from what visitors see.
• Slug does not auto-update when you rename a Title — that is intentional. Update slug only when you mean to change the URL, and add a redirect when you do.
• Promote shared scripts to Custom Codes — once you paste the same snippet on three or more pages, move it to Site Settings → Custom Codes so it is maintained in one place.

Next steps

• "Manage your pages — list, search, bulk-edit" — for working with the All Pages list itself.
• "Review page revisions" — for using the History button to roll back to a previous version.
• "Set up redirects" — when you change a slug on a published page and need to keep old links working.
• "Configure your page templates" — to choose which layout each page uses.
• "Edit pages with the visual page builder" — when you want SG-Builder's drag-and-drop canvas instead of the rich-text editor.
• "Configure global SEO defaults" — for the site-wide fallbacks the page editor inherits from.
• "Customize your navigation menu" — to add new pages to the main nav after creating them.