SEO in SGEN — How It Works and What You Control

⏱ ~3 min read · reference page — skim the section headers to jump to what you need.
In short. SGEN gives every site a built-in SEO Manager with nine sub-tabs covering site-wide defaults, per-content-type patterns, structured data (schema), robots.txt, sitemap control, and Google Search Console verification. You fill in the values; SGEN generates the <head> meta block, JSON-LD schema, sitemap, and robots.txt automatically on every page request. No plugins needed.

On this page: What SGEN handles vs. what you set · The nine sub-tabs · The defaulting chain · Sub-tab detail · Permissions · Common mistakes · How to reach SEO Manager

What SGEN handles vs. what you set

SGEN generates these automatically on every page request:

  • The page <title> tag, built from the defaulting chain described below.
  • The meta description tag.
  • The canonical URL tag.
  • Open Graph tags (title, description, image, URL).
  • JSON-LD schema blocks in the page <head>.
  • The /sitemap.xml file, auto-generated from published records.
  • The /robots.txt file, served from the content you set in the Robots.txt sub-tab.

You control the values that go into those outputs — site title, tagline, title separator, per-type defaults, sitemap inclusion, robots.txt content, schema configuration, and the Google Search Console verification token.

Per-record overrides (the meta title, description, and canonical for a specific page, post, or product) are set on the record itself — in the page, post, or product editor. Alt text for images is set at upload time in the Media library.

The nine sub-tabs

SEO Manager (/sg-admin/seo) groups its settings into nine sub-tabs:

Sub-tabWhat it owns
SEO Manager (entry)Module landing, navigation to sub-tabs
Global SEOSite-wide defaults: title, tagline, title separator, trailing slash, sitemap settings
Blogs SEODefault SEO and permalink structure for blog archives and listings
Events SEODefault SEO for event archives and listings
Store SEODefault SEO for product archives and listings
Post Type SEOPer-post-type SEO defaults; links to Schema Editor
Google Search ConsoleGSC verification ID
Schema EditorCustom JSON-LD structured data outside the standard schema-type toggles
Robots.txtFull robots.txt content, free-form editor

The SEO & Performance tools are included on every plan. If the sub-tabs are missing, go to Modules Config and confirm the module is switched on for your site.

The defaulting chain

Every piece of content resolves its SEO meta through a three-layer chain. The first layer that has a value wins:

PAGE RENDER REQUEST│▼┌────────────────────────────────────────┐│ Layer 1: Per-record override ││ (set on the page / post / product) │└─────────────┬──────────────────────────┘ │ field is empty → fall through ▼┌────────────────────────────────────────┐│ Layer 2: Per-content-type default ││ (pattern with {title}, {site}, etc.) │└─────────────┬──────────────────────────┘ │ field is still empty → fall through ▼┌────────────────────────────────────────┐│ Layer 3: Global default ││ (site title, site description, …) │└─────────────┬──────────────────────────┘ │ ▼ Final rendered meta emitted in <head> + JSON-LD

Edge case: an empty string is treated as a value — it deliberately clears the field and stops the chain. Only a null or missing value falls through. If you set an empty string at Layer 1, the page renders no meta description even if Layer 3 has one.

Sub-tab detail

Global SEO

Global SEO holds the site-wide defaults — the final fallback when neither a per-record nor a per-content-type default applies.

FieldWhat it does
SEO titleUsed as the site brand suffix in title patterns
SEO taglineUsed as the default meta description fallback
Title separatorThe character between page title and site name (`\, -, :, /`, and others)
Force trailing slashNormalises canonical URLs site-wide
SEO enabled toggleTurns the module on or off
Sitemap externalControls whether external links appear in the sitemap

Changes take effect on the next page request — there is no separate publish step.

Blogs, Events, and Store SEO

Each archive-generating content type has its own Layer 2 sub-tab: Blogs SEO, Events SEO, and Store SEO. Each holds a title pattern, description pattern, canonical, and enabled state for that type. Blogs SEO also includes a permalink structure setting (four variants) that controls how blog post URLs are formed.

Post Type SEO

Covers per-post-type SEO defaults — title pattern, description pattern, canonical, and enabled flag for custom post types. Also links directly to the Schema Editor for structured-data configuration on those types.

Google Search Console

Paste the verification ID Google provides when you add your property. SGEN adds the verification meta tag to your site's <head> automatically. The ID is shared with the Google Integrations surface elsewhere in SG-Admin — updating either updates both.

Schema Editor

The Schema Editor handles custom JSON-LD structured data outside the standard schema-type toggles. Standard types managed in the schema defaults form:

Schema typeApplied toDefault state
OrganizationSite-wideOn
BreadcrumbPages with breadcrumb contextOn
ArticleBlog postsOn
ProductProduct pagesOn
FAQPages with FAQ markerConfigurable
HowToPages with HowTo markerConfigurable
WebSiteSite-wideConfigurable
CustomAny pageVia Schema Editor

Robots.txt

Edit the free-form content that SGEN serves at /robots.txt. The platform default allows all crawlers. Example patterns:

## Allow all crawlers (platform default)User-agent: *Disallow:## Disallow a specific pathUser-agent: *Disallow: /private/## Block a specific crawlerUser-agent: BadBotDisallow: /

The built-in validator flags likely mistakes (disallowing the site root, blocking the sitemap path, blocking major search engines) as warnings — not rejections.

Title patterns

A title pattern uses placeholder variables evaluated at render time. Patterns collapse adjacent separators if a variable is empty.

VariableResolves to
{title}The record's title (page name, post title, product name)
{site}The site title set in Global SEO
{site_brand}Same as {site} in most contexts
{category}The record's primary category
{author}The record's author name

Example patterns: Pages: {title} | {site} · Products: {title} — {site_brand} · Posts: {title} | Blog | {site}

Permissions

ActionAdministratorSEO OperatorEditorViewer
View SEO settingsYesYesYesYes
Edit global defaultsYesYes——
Edit per-content-type defaultsYesYes——
Edit robots directivesYesYes——
Edit robots.txt contentYesYes——
Edit schema defaultsYesYes——
Preview SEO output for a URLYesYesYesYes
Toggle index discouragedYes———
Reset to platform defaultsYes———

Custom roles under Settings → Roles can override this map. The index-discouraged toggle and reset-to-defaults are locked to Administrators.

Sitemap inclusion: A record appears in your sitemap only if its content type is checked in the sitemap-inclusion setting and the record is published (not draft, not excluded with a per-record noindex override).

Common mistakes

MistakeWhat happensHow to fix
Leaving site title emptyPages render with no brand suffix — `{title} \{site} collapses to {title}`Fill in the site title in Global SEO
Enabling index-discouraged while testing and forgetting to turn it offThe entire site is removed from the search index over following daysAdministrator must toggle it off; recovery takes Google's re-crawl time
Blocking the sitemap in robots.txtSearch engines cannot find your sitemapRemove the Disallow: /sitemap.xml line
Disallowing the site rootBlocks all crawlers from all pagesRemove Disallow: / for the wildcard user agent unless intentional
Empty-string meta description at per-record levelFalls back to nothing — not to the content-type or global defaultRemove the override entirely to let the chain fall through
Not setting alt text on imagesImages contribute no text signal to search enginesAdd alt text at upload or insertion time in the Media library
Mismatched GSC verification IDGoogle Search Console cannot verify your siteCopy the ID exactly from Google's property verification screen

How to reach SEO Manager

  1. Sign in to your SGEN Dashboard.
  2. Open Site Manager, find your site, and click Manage site → Login to staging (or live).
  3. In your site's admin sidebar, go to SEO Manager.
  4. Select the sub-tab you need.

The SEO & Performance tools are included on every plan. If SEO Manager is missing from your sidebar, go to Modules Config and confirm the module is switched on for the site.

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