Build a blog index in SGEN

How to set up your blog listing page, pagination, and category filters in SGEN

Your blog index is the page where all your posts live together. It is the first page a new visitor lands on when they follow a link to your blog, and the page a returning reader goes back to when they want to catch up on what they missed. Getting it configured correctly — posts in the right order, filtered by the right categories, paginated so no one is waiting for five hundred posts to load — is a one-time setup with long-running returns.

SGEN gives you a blog index out of the box. When you publish your first post, it appears automatically on the blog listing page at your site's blog URL. This guide covers the configuration decisions beyond that default: how to structure the index so it is useful to your readers, how to set up category filtering so content is findable, and how to control pagination so the index loads fast and navigates cleanly.

The SGEN team blog is the example throughout this guide. They publish two to four posts per week across five categories: Product Updates, How-To Guides, Events, New Features, and From the Team. Their blog index shows the most recent twelve posts and paginates after that. Category filtering lets admins find only the product content and developers find only the how-to guides.

What is this for?

This guide is for anyone who has blog posts publishing in SGEN and wants the blog index to be genuinely useful — not a default list of posts. It covers the settings that govern how the index works, not how to write posts.

If you have not published your first post yet, start with Publish your first blog post first, then come back here when you have a few posts live and want to tighten the index.

This guide covers: setting the blog index page, configuring posts per page, enabling category filtering, setting the featured image display, and verifying the result.

Good use cases

Blog index configuration matters in each of these situations.

• A site with multiple content types that need separate audiences.

The SGEN team blog has admins, developers, and partners reading the same blog. Category filtering lets each group navigate to relevant content without scrolling through irrelevant posts. Without filtering, the blog is one long list where product update posts sit next to developer how-to guides. With filtering, each reader type can get to what they want in one click.

• A site with a high post volume.

If you publish more than once a week, the blog index will have dozens of posts within months. Pagination keeps the index from becoming a scroll marathon. Twelve posts per page is a common setting — enough to give visitors context, not so many that the page lags.

• A site where the blog is a primary acquisition channel.

If search traffic to blog posts is meaningful to the business, the blog index should be structured to keep visitors on the site after they read one post. Category navigation helps. A "recent posts" sidebar or related posts at the bottom of each post helps too — but those settings are per-post, not covered here.

• A site launching a new blog section.

If you are adding a blog for the first time to an established SGEN site, you will need to designate a page as the blog index, configure it, and confirm the URL is correct. This guide covers that setup path.

• A site where the blog index page needs an introductory header.

Some teams want the blog index to open with a short heading and a sentence about the blog before the post listing begins. This can be configured in the blog index page settings.

• A site using blog categories as distinct content channels.

If different categories in the blog serve genuinely different audiences — platform admins vs. developers, for example — category pages can be linked in navigation as their own destinations. Setting up the categories correctly is the foundation for this.

What NOT to use this for

• Do not use the blog index as a landing page for campaigns.

The blog index is an archive of posts, not a conversion page. If you are running a campaign and want visitors to take a specific action, build a dedicated landing page for the campaign. Sending campaign traffic to the blog index dilutes the message.

• Do not configure the blog index to show all posts without pagination on a high-volume blog.

A blog with fifty posts loading on one page is slow. A blog with two hundred posts loading on one page is unusable. Set a per-page limit and let pagination handle the rest.

• Do not rely on the default "Uncategorized" bucket for content discovery.

If visitors need to filter by category, every post needs a category. An "Uncategorized" bucket on the index tells the visitor nothing about what is in those posts. Assign every post to at least one category before publishing.

• Do not use blog categories as a substitute for dedicated landing pages.

The category filter on the blog index shows posts in that category — it does not give those posts a proper introduction, a call to action, or a SEO-friendly description. If a category is important enough to link from navigation, build a landing page for it.

How this connects to other features

• Blog posts — The blog index only shows what is published.

Draft posts do not appear. Every post on the index needs a category, a featured image, and a status of Published. See Publish your first blog post.

• Categories — Category setup is in Blog then Categories.

Create your category structure before configuring the index. Categories added after the index is configured appear in the filter automatically. See Manage blog categories.

• Pages — The blog index is a page on your site.

Its URL slug, SEO title, and meta description are set in the page record in Pages — not in the blog settings. After configuring the blog index, go to Pages and set the SEO fields on the blog index page record.

• Settings (Reading) — The number of posts per page and the blog index page designation

are set in Settings, not in the Blog area. Settings is where you tell SGEN which page should be the blog index. This guide covers that step.

• SG-Builder — The blog index listing itself (the grid of post cards) is system-rendered.

It is not built in SG-Builder. If you want an introductory banner or header above the listing, that can be configured in the blog index settings — but the post cards and pagination are not editable in the builder.

Before you start

Before configuring the blog index, have these things ready.

Have at least three to five published posts. An index with one post tells you nothing about whether the configuration is right. Publish a handful of posts across at least two categories before running through this guide, so you can verify that pagination and filtering work as expected.

Have your category structure decided. Categories are easier to set up before you have dozens of posts than after. Decide your categories based on the audiences and topics your blog will serve. The SGEN team blog's five categories — Product Updates, How-To Guides, Events, New Features, From the Team — map to five distinct reader types or purposes. Do not create a category for every topic; create categories for every audience.

Know the URL slug for your blog index. The blog index should be at a short, clean URL: /blog, /journal, /news, /updates. Confirm the slug before setting up the page record.

Know how many posts per page is right for your volume. For sites publishing once a week or less: twelve posts per page is standard. For sites publishing daily: six to ten is better — fewer posts means the index refreshes with more new content each time the visitor returns.

Where to go

The blog index configuration spans two areas: the Blog area and Settings. You will visit both.

Go to Blog in the left sidebar to manage posts and categories. Go to Settings (also in the left sidebar) to designate the blog index page and set the posts-per-page count.

Steps — Configure the blog listing, pagination, and category filters

These steps take you from the default blog state to a configured index.

1. Create your blog categories

Go to Blog in the left sidebar. Click Categories. The categories list shows any existing categories including Uncategorized.

For each category you want:

• Click Add New Category.
• Enter the category Name — "Product Updates."
• Enter a Slug — "product-updates." SGEN generates this from the name automatically.

Edit it if the auto-generated version is too long or unclear.

• Leave Parent Category empty unless this category is a subcategory of another.
• Click Add Category.

Create all your categories in one session. Going back and forth between categories and posts to add new ones mid-build interrupts the workflow.

2. Assign categories to existing posts

If you have published posts sitting in Uncategorized, assign them to the correct categories now.

Go to Blog and click Posts. For each post without a category, click the post title to open the editor. In the right sidebar, find the Category panel. Check the box for the correct category. Uncheck Uncategorized. Click Update (or Save) to save the change.

The post will now appear in the category filter on the index and on the category archive page. You do not need to re-publish the post — updating the category on a published post takes effect immediately.

3. Set the blog index page in Settings

Go to Settings in the left sidebar. Find the Reading settings section (sometimes labeled "Blog" or "Content").

Look for the Blog index page field. If SGEN has already designated a page as your blog index, the page name will appear here. If the field is empty or set to the wrong page, click the dropdown and select the correct page — typically your "Blog" page.

If you do not yet have a Blog page, go to Pages and create one: click Add New Page, give it the title "Blog" and the slug blog, save the page record, and come back to Settings to assign it as the blog index.

4. Configure category filtering on the index

SGEN displays a category filter above the post listing on the blog index automatically when you have published categories with at least one post each. No additional setup is needed to activate the filter — it appears when the conditions are met.

To verify the filter is working:

• Open a private browser window.
• Navigate to your blog index page (e.g., yoursite.com/blog).
• The category filter should appear above the post cards as a row of links or tabs:

All, Product Updates, How-To Guides, Events, New Features, From the Team.

• Click one category link and confirm only posts in that category are shown.
• Click "All" and confirm all posts return.

If the category filter is not appearing, confirm that:

• Each visible category has at least one published post assigned to it.
• The categories were saved correctly in Blog then Categories.
• The blog index page setting in Settings points to the correct page.

Categories with zero published posts do not appear in the filter. If you added a category but have not yet published a post in it, the category will be absent from the filter until the first post is published.

5. Set post excerpts for the feed

Each post card in the blog index shows an excerpt below the title and featured image. SGEN auto-generates an excerpt from the first few sentences of the post body. The auto-generated excerpt is usually adequate but not always ideal.

To set a custom excerpt for a post:

• Open the post in the blog post editor.
• Find the Excerpt field in the right sidebar (below the Category and Featured Image panels).
• Write one to two sentences that describe the post clearly.

For the SGEN team's release post: "SG-Builder now supports per-breakpoint padding controls — set different spacing at desktop, tablet, and mobile from one panel. Available on all plans from 2026-05-20."

• Save the post.

Custom excerpts appear in the blog index feed and in social media previews. They are worth writing for your most important posts.

6. Verify pagination is working

Open a private browser window and navigate to your blog index. Scroll to the bottom of the post listing. If you have more posts than the per-page limit you set in Settings, you should see pagination controls at the bottom of the listing: "Older posts" or numbered page links (depending on your theme).

Click through to page two and confirm:

• The correct set of posts appears (posts beyond the per-page limit, in reverse chronological order).
• The pagination controls are visible and functional.
• The URL changes to indicate the page number (e.g., /blog/page/2/).
• The category filter, if visible, is still accessible on paginated pages.

If pagination is not appearing and you have more posts than the per-page limit, confirm the posts-per-page setting is saved in Settings and refresh the page.

What success looks like

When the blog index is configured correctly, these things are true.

• The blog index is visible at the correct URL (e.g., yoursite.com/blog) in a private browser.
• All published posts appear in reverse chronological order.
• The most recent post appears first.
• Pagination controls appear at the bottom if there are more posts than the per-page limit.
• Category filter links appear above the post listing (once at least one category has a published post).
• Clicking a category filter shows only posts in that category.
• Clicking "All" returns the full listing.
• Each post card shows the title, featured image thumbnail, excerpt, and category label.
• Draft posts do not appear in the listing.

What to do if it does not work

• The blog index URL is returning a 404 error.

Confirm the page designated as the blog index exists and is published. Go to Pages, find the blog index page, and confirm its status is Published. If the page exists but the URL is wrong, check the URL Slug field on the page record.

• Posts are appearing but not in reverse chronological order.

Check each post's publication date. Posts are sorted by their published date, not by when they were created or last edited. If a post has an incorrect publication date, open it in the editor, find the date field in the sidebar, and correct it.

• Category filter is not appearing on the index.

Confirm each category in Blog then Categories has at least one published post. Categories with zero published posts do not appear in the filter. Also confirm you are viewing in a private browser window — your admin session may show a different view than a visitor would see.

• The per-page post count is not changing after updating Settings.

Clear the browser cache or use a hard refresh on the blog index page. The setting takes effect immediately, but your browser may be serving a cached version.

• Post excerpts are showing the wrong text.

If you set a custom excerpt in the post editor sidebar and it is not appearing, confirm the post was saved after adding the excerpt. The excerpt does not auto-save when you type it — you must click Update or Save to apply it.

• Pagination controls are not appearing.

Confirm the posts-per-page setting is less than your total published post count. If you set 12 posts per page and have 12 or fewer published posts, pagination will not appear. Publish at least one more post to trigger the paginated view.

Tips for a strong blog index

• Assign every post a category before publishing.

Uncategorized posts accumulate silently. By the time you notice, thirty posts are in the bucket and need manual recategorization. Make category assignment a mandatory step in your publish checklist.

• Write a custom excerpt for your highest-traffic posts.

The auto-generated excerpt pulls from the first two sentences of the body, which are often contextual rather than descriptive. A custom excerpt tells the visitor exactly what the post is about in the two seconds they spend deciding whether to click.

• Keep your category count manageable.

Five to seven categories is a usable filter. Twenty categories is a dropdown that visitors ignore. If you have more than eight categories, consolidate similar ones.

• Set featured images on every post.

A post card without a featured image is visually hollow in the listing. Visitors use the image to orient to the content before they read the title. Set a featured image on every post before publishing.

• Test pagination in a private browser after configuration.

Pagination behavior can be affected by theme settings that are not visible in the dashboard. Always verify in a private browser window that pagination works correctly before pointing traffic at the blog index.