SGEN Pre-launch Checklist — 23 steps from fresh install to live

⏱ 60-second answer below · full checklist ≈ 12 min · skim the bold step names to move faster.

In short. The Setup Wizard finishes in minutes. The site still isn't launch-ready — 23 steps in four groups move it from a placeholder homepage to a live, indexed site. Group 1 — Hygiene (Steps 1-9): Maintenance Mode on first, then fill business info, logo, menu, homepage. Group 2 — SEO Bootcamp (Steps 10-16): enable indexing, meta descriptions, schema, Search Console. Group 3 — Integrations (Steps 17-19): reCAPTCHA, Analytics, Tracking Consent. Group 4 — Operations (Steps 20-23): custom 404, users, Site Vitals scan, Maintenance Mode off. That's the checklist — the rest of this page gives every step with its admin path and the reason it matters.

On this page: Before you start · Group 1 — Hygiene · Group 2 — SEO Bootcamp · Group 3 — Integrations · Group 4 — Operations · What success looks like · Skip guide

When to use this: after the Setup Wizard finishes, before you share the public URL with anyone outside the build team. Steps that require a specific module are flagged inline. The 23 items apply to any new SGEN site regardless of use case.

Not what you need? For the install itself: SGEN Setup Wizard. For an admin orientation: Getting Started with the SGEN Admin. For a general first-read: Getting Started with SGEN.

Before you start

You should have:

A finished SGEN install. The Setup Wizard should have completed and you should be signed into the admin.
Business information ready: phone, address, business hours, social profile URLs.
A logo file and a favicon file. PNG with transparent background works well. Square aspect ratios travel best.
Access to the Google account that owns Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager properties for this site.
An SMTP credential if you want outbound email to come from your own domain rather than the SGEN default.

If any of those are not ready, start anyway — most items are independent. Skip what you cannot do yet and circle back.

Where to find it

Open the SGEN admin at the URL you set in the Setup Wizard (default https:///sg-admin/) and keep this page open in a second tab. Each step lists the admin path. Most paths follow the pattern Sidebar section → Page name → optional Tab.

Steps

Walk the four groups in order. Group 1 (Hygiene) protects the site from being indexed half-built. Group 2 (SEO) sets up the surfaces that determine how the site appears in search. Group 3 (Integrations) connects the tracking and form-protection tools. Group 4 (Operations) covers users, error pages, and the readiness scan.

1. Hygiene — keep the site private until the content is ready

The first nine steps protect the site while you build. Run them first; the rest of the checklist assumes Maintenance Mode is on.

Step 1 — Turn on Maintenance Mode. Tools → Maintenance Mode. Flip it on before anyone visits the public URL. The default homepage is publicly visible the moment the wizard finishes, and the placeholder content is not what you want strangers to see.

Step 2 — Set the timezone. Appearance → Site Settings → General. The default is America/Los_Angeles. Set it to your actual business timezone so scheduled posts, analytics windows, and timestamps line up.

Step 3 — Set the site description and SEO tagline. Site Settings → General for the public-facing site description; SEO → Global SEO for the default page title separator and global tagline. The description shows up in search previews, social shares, and the dashboard.

Step 4 — Upload logo and favicon. Site Settings → General. The logo replaces the text fallback in the header. The favicon shows up in browser tabs and bookmarks. Both should be square or close to square.

Step 5 — Configure SMTP email. Site Settings → Email. Without SMTP, outbound mail uses the platform's default sender, which can land in spam. Set a real SMTP credential and a real From address.

Step 6 — Fill in business information. Site Settings → General. Phone, address, city, state, postal code, country, business hours. These power location features, schema markup, and the contact surfaces of the site.

Step 7 — Set social media URLs. Site Settings → Social Media. The icons in the footer only render if there is a URL behind them. Empty social fields mean empty social icons.

Step 8 — Build the menu. Appearance → Menu. The default header navigation is minimal. Build the menu that matches the actual site — primary nav, footer nav, mobile menu. The Setup Wizard does not configure these.

Step 9 — Replace the homepage's placeholder content. Pages → Home → Edit. The fresh install homepage is fully populated with lorem placeholder content. Replace the hero, body sections, testimonials, and CTAs with real content — or build the homepage from scratch in SG-Builder.

2. SEO Bootcamp — set up the search surface before going live

These seven steps configure how the site appears in search results. Do them before launching, not after. Several are easy to forget and expensive to fix later.

Step 10 — Enable search engine indexing. SEO → Global SEO → "Enable search engines from indexing". Off by default on a fresh install. The site is invisible to Google until you flip it on. Leave it off while building; flip it on as the last step before launching.

Step 11 — Set the meta description on the homepage. SEO → SEO Manager → edit Home. The default meta description is empty. Set a short, specific description that matches what the site does. This is what appears under the site title in search results.

Step 12 — Pick and configure a schema type. SEO → Schema Editor. Configure either LocalBusiness (if the site has a physical location) or Organization (if it does not). Schema markup gives search engines structured information about the business and powers rich results next to listings.

Step 13 — Upload the Open Graph image. SEO → SEO Manager → OG Image per page. The default OG image is the platform's logo. Replace it with the site's own image — 1200×630 PNG works well. This is what shows up when someone shares the site on social media.

Step 14 — Save robots.txt content. SEO → Robots.txt → Save Changes. Even if the default content is fine, click Save Changes once to commit it. This prevents an edge case where robots.txt resolves to an empty body.

Step 15 — Verify the sitemap resolves. Open https:///sitemap.xml in a browser tab. You should see XML content listing the site's pages. If it returns a blank page or error, contact support — search engines need the sitemap to find content.

Step 16 — Connect Google Search Console. Tools → Google Integrations. Search Console is how Google tells you what is and is not indexed and what queries surface the site. Connect it before launch so the data captures from day one.

3. Integrations — connect the tracking and protection tools

Three short integration steps. Each is optional but recommended for any site running real traffic.

Step 17 — Connect Google reCAPTCHA. Tools → Google Integrations. Without reCAPTCHA, public forms receive spam submissions. Configure it before the site receives real traffic.

Step 18 — Connect Google Analytics. Tools → Google Integrations. Analytics powers the Lead Sources widget on the dashboard, traffic data, and conversion tracking. Connect it before launch so data captures from the first visitors.

Step 19 — Configure Tracking Consent. Modules → Tracking Consent. Required if the site serves visitors in the EU, UK, or any jurisdiction with consent regulations. Configure the consent banner before launching to those markets.

4. Operations — final readiness checks

Four operational steps that close out the pre-launch sequence.

Step 20 — Set the 404 page. Site Settings → General → 404 Page. Build a custom 404 (Pages → Add New) that fits the site's design and points the visitor at the homepage or main CTA. Then set it as the 404 page here.

Step 21 — Add additional users. Users → Add New. The Setup Wizard creates one user — the admin. Add team members or client accounts now. Each user has a role (Administrator, Editor, Customer) — pick the smallest role that covers what the user needs to do.

Step 22 — Run the first Site Vitals scan. Dashboard → Site Vitals → Scan. The scan checks page speed, mobile responsiveness, and basic technical health. Fix anything red before launching.

Step 23 — Turn Maintenance Mode off. Tools → Maintenance Mode. This is the final step. The site is now publicly visible and indexable. Share the URL.

What success looks like

A launch-ready SGEN site looks like:

Maintenance Mode is off — the public URL serves the real homepage with no lorem placeholder content visible.
The browser tab shows the site's actual title and favicon.
Footer social icons render with the actual brand colors and link to the right profiles.
Mobile — opening the site on a phone shows the mobile menu and the mobile-formatted hero, not the desktop layout shrunk down.
Link previews — sharing the URL in Slack or iMessage shows the right title, description, and OG image.
Search Console shows the site verified and the sitemap submitted.
Analytics shows real-time visitor data when you load the site in a private window.
A test form submission lands in the right inbox, passes reCAPTCHA, and does not bounce as spam.
The 404 page renders your custom page, not the platform default, when you visit a URL that does not exist.
Site Vitals shows green or near-green across the scan dimensions.

What to do if it does not work

Common issues and how to handle them.

The site stays invisible to Google after I flipped indexing on. It takes Google 24-72 hours to recrawl the sitemap. Submit the sitemap explicitly in Search Console (Sitemaps section) to speed it up.
The OG image does not show in link previews. Link-preview services cache aggressively. Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger or LinkedIn Post Inspector to force a re-fetch.
Forms still receive spam after connecting reCAPTCHA. Confirm reCAPTCHA is set to v3 and the score threshold is around 0.5.
Site Vitals scan fails with "site URL unreachable". Check that Maintenance Mode is OFF before running the scan — it blocks the scanner the same way it blocks visitors.
Robots.txt still returns an empty body after Save Changes. Clear the browser cache and reload /robots.txt. If still empty, contact support with the site URL.
A user I added cannot sign in. Check that the role is correctly set and that the user activated their account via the welcome email. New users sit in a pending state until activation.
The favicon does not update after upload. Browsers cache favicons aggressively. Test in a private window.
SMTP rejects outbound mail. Confirm the sender domain matches the SMTP credential, that SPF and DKIM are set on the sending domain, and that the SMTP password is current.

Examples

Example 1 — solo operator launching a service site.

A consultant runs the checklist over an afternoon. Hygiene: Maintenance Mode on, timezone set, logo + favicon uploaded, business info filled in, social URLs added, menu built (Home / About / Services / Contact), homepage rewritten in SG-Builder. SEO Bootcamp: indexing left off until ready, meta description set, Organization schema configured, OG image uploaded, robots.txt saved, sitemap verified, Search Console connected. Integrations: reCAPTCHA + Analytics + Tracking Consent (light for US-only). Operations: custom 404 built, Site Vitals scanned twice (one warning fixed), Maintenance Mode off. Total wall time: ~4 hours including content rewrites.

Example 2 — agency launching a client site.

The agency handles: logo + favicon, business info, menu, homepage build, custom 404, Search Console, schema. Client handles: SMTP credential, social URLs, OG image, Analytics property, additional users. Maintenance Mode and indexing both stay off until both parties sign off.

Example 3 — rebuild of an existing section.

A team rebuilds the services section. They turn Maintenance Mode on, edit the affected pages, re-run Steps 11-13 (SEO Manager, schema, OG image) for the new pages, run Site Vitals to confirm no regressions, then turn Maintenance Mode off.

Tips for running the checklist cleanly

Do the four groups in order. Group 1 protects the rest of the work. Skipping it means the public URL is exposed mid-build.
Keep this page open in a tab. The 23 items are easier to track when checked off visually.
Use Search Console as the launch verdict. When Search Console shows the sitemap fetched and pages discovered, the launch is technically complete.
Run Site Vitals at least twice — once mid-SEO Bootcamp, once after Maintenance Mode off.
Reuse this checklist for every site. Standardization makes launches predictable.

Time estimates for each group

Most operators complete the full checklist in three to six hours across one or two sessions.

Group	Time estimate	Longest item
Hygiene (Steps 1-9)	60-120 min	Step 9 — replacing homepage content
SEO Bootcamp (Steps 10-16)	45-90 min	Step 12 — schema + Step 13 — OG image
Integrations (Steps 17-19)	20-45 min	Google-side setup if starting from zero
Operations (Steps 20-23)	30-60 min	Step 20 — building a real custom 404

First run: allocate a full afternoon. Subsequent runs: half a morning is realistic.

What you can skip safely versus what you must not

Priority	Steps	Notes
Mandatory	1, 9, 10, 22, 23	Maintenance Mode both ends; real content; indexing on; Vitals scan
Strongly recommended	2-8, 11-13, 14, 16, 22	Skip any of these and the site goes live with a visible gap
Optional	5, 17, 19, 21	SMTP, reCAPTCHA, Tracking Consent, additional users — skip when not applicable

One final sanity walk before you flip Maintenance Mode off

When all 23 steps are checked off, do one quick walk before the final flip:

Open the public URL in a private browser window. No lorem strings, no broken images, footer shows real contact info.
Click every link in the header and footer menus. Each should land on a real page, not a 404.
Submit the contact form. The submission should arrive in the inbox you configured.
Open the site on a phone. The mobile menu should open; no sideways scrolling.
Check the page source. Confirm the meta description, OG image URL, and schema block are populated with real values, not placeholders.

Fix any miss before flipping Maintenance Mode off — the fix is faster while the site is still gated.