SEO and Performance

How SGEN handles discoverability and delivery quality across the site

SEO and performance in SGEN are the surfaces that decide how a search engine reads your pages and how fast a visitor sees them. The platform ships an SEO Manager that audits every published record at once, per-record SEO controls (title, meta description, slug, focus keyword, schema, OG image), a Schema Editor for structured data, a Google Search Console connector, and a Robots.txt panel for crawl rules. Performance is supported architecturally by the platform layer; this page covers the optimization surfaces an admin can reach directly.

This page is the entry point: what each surface is for, when to reach for it, and where the deeper docs live. It also draws an honest line between the optimization surfaces SGEN ships and the outcomes (rankings, scores) the platform does not promise.

What is this for?

Use this page when you need to understand the SEO surface of your SGEN site at a glance, decide which sub-page to open, and know how the SEO controls connect to the rendering and delivery layer underneath. Read it before opening the SEO Manager or any per-record SEO panel so you know which surface owns which job.

The five pillars on this page are: the SEO Manager (the site-wide audit table), per-record SEO controls (the inputs on each page, post, blog, event, and product), structured data via the Schema Editor, crawl rules via Robots.txt, and Search Console integration for the data feedback loop.

Good use cases

• Auditing every page on the site for missing SEO titles or meta descriptions in one view.
• Setting the site-wide title template, meta description template, and OG image defaults.
• Adding structured data (schema.org JSON-LD) to a page or post for rich-result eligibility.
• Connecting Google Search Console to feed search data back into the admin.
• Editing the site's robots.txt to control which paths search engines can crawl.
• Toggling the per-record index status to pull a page out of search results.

What NOT to use this for

• Treating SEO as a one-off launch task. Search engines re-evaluate pages over time; a page that ranked yesterday can drop tomorrow if a competitor publishes a stronger answer to the same query.
• Expecting a specific search rank from any of these controls. Rank is decided by the search engine; SGEN ships the inputs the engine reads, not the outputs the engine returns.
• Using the Schema Editor to inject content that does not appear on the page. Search engines penalize structured data that contradicts the visible page.

How this connects to other features

• SEO Manager — the site-wide audit table that surfaces gaps across every record.
• Global SEO — the site-wide defaults that apply to records without per-record overrides.
• Schema Editor — the structured-data surface, per record and per type.
• Performance & Reliability — the platform-level rendering and delivery layer that supports the SEO output.
• UX — perceived performance and consent surfaces that intersect with how a visitor experiences the page after the search click.

Before you start

You need an admin account on the site with the role Site Owner or Administrator. Editor role can edit per-record SEO fields on records they can edit, but cannot reach Global SEO or Robots.txt.

If you are reading this on a fresh install, open SEO → SEO Manager once and walk the list. The first read tells you whether the site already has SEO coverage gaps that the per-record edits should fill in.

Where to find it

SEO surfaces live under the SEO parent in the left navigation. The shortcut paths are:

• SEO Manager: /sg-admin/seo/
• Global SEO: /sg-admin/seo/global_seo
• Blogs SEO / Events SEO / Store SEO / Post Type SEO: sibling tabs under /sg-admin/seo/
• Schema Editor: /sg-admin/seo/schema_editor
• Robots.txt: /sg-admin/seo/robots
• Google Search Console: /sg-admin/seo/search_console

Steps

1. Audit the site in the SEO Manager

Open SEO → SEO Manager. The page renders a table with one row per published record (page, post, blog, event, product) and 19 columns covering every SEO field. The count banner at the top reads, for example, "56 issues across 13 pages" — that is the live audit summary.

Click the Issues filter pill to narrow the table to rows flagged with issues. Walk the filtered list top to bottom and edit the most-trafficked pages first. The Columns button opens a modal that lets you toggle the visible columns to focus on one field at a time (for example, only the SEO Title and Meta Description columns).

2. Set the site-wide SEO defaults

Open SEO → Global SEO. The panel holds the title template, meta description template, OG image, and other defaults that apply to records without their own override. The title template uses placeholder tokens (page title, site name) so a single template can cover the whole site without per-record edits.

Save the panel. The defaults take effect on the next public page render. Per-record overrides remain in place; the defaults only fill the gaps.

3. Edit a single record's SEO inline

In the SEO Manager table, click the SEO Title or Meta Description cell for any row. The cell becomes editable in place. Type the new value and press Enter (or click outside the cell). The change saves to the underlying record without a full page reload.

This is the fastest path for sweeping a list of records that need a small SEO edit each. For deeper changes (focus keyword, schema type, OG image), open the record itself for the full edit.

4. Add structured data to a record

Open SEO → Schema Editor. The page lets you attach schema.org JSON-LD blocks to records by type. Pick the schema type that matches the record (Article, Product, FAQPage, etc.), fill in the required fields, and save. The structured data renders into the public page's for the search engine to read.

{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "Product","name": "your business Espresso Blend","offers": { "price": "24.00" }}

A reasonable rhythm is: cover the highest-traffic record types first (Article for blog posts, Product for ecommerce records), then expand to specialty types (FAQPage, HowTo, BreadcrumbList) as they apply.

5. Connect Google Search Console

Open SEO → Google Search Console. Follow the connection flow to authorize the SGEN site against your Search Console property. After connection, the panel surfaces the recent search-query data the property has recorded.

The data feedback loop closes when you read the Search Console queries weekly and feed the recurring queries back into your SEO content plan as topics worth deeper coverage.

6. Adjust the robots.txt rules

Open SEO → Robots.txt. The panel exposes the current robots.txt content for editing. Edit the rules. Save. The new rules serve at /robots.txt on the public site immediately.

A common edit is adding a Disallow: rule for an admin path or a campaign landing page that should not be indexed. Be careful with broad disallow rules — Disallow: / blocks the entire site from search.

What success looks like

A site with healthy SEO posture in SGEN reads like this:

• The SEO Manager audit count is low (single-digit issues across the site, not double-digit).
• Every published record has a real SEO title and meta description, not empty fields.
• The Global SEO defaults cover the records that do not need per-record customization.
• Structured data is present on the highest-traffic record types.
• Search Console is connected and the search-query data is being read weekly.
• Robots.txt allows the public paths and disallows the admin and campaign paths.

If your site looks like this, the SEO posture is working. The work each week is content quality and link earning, not platform debugging.

What to do if it does not work

Symptom: A page is missing from search results.
Open the page's record and check the index status toggle. If it is set to noindex, that is why the page is missing — toggle it back to index. If it is already set to index, the page may not have been crawled yet; submit the URL to Search Console for indexing.

Symptom: A search result shows the wrong meta description.
Search engines do not always use the meta description you set. They sometimes generate a description from the page content if it matches the search query better. The fix is to make the meta description match the page's strongest answer to the queries the page targets.

Symptom: A schema block does not produce a rich result.
Use the Google Rich Results Test on the public URL. The tool reads the schema and reports whether it is valid and which rich-result type it is eligible for. Fix any reported errors in the Schema Editor and re-test.

Symptom: The Search Console connection fails to authorize.
The connection flow requires the Google account that owns the Search Console property. If the connection fails, confirm the account is correct and that the property is verified at the Search Console side. The SGEN admin cannot verify a property; that step happens in Search Console itself.

Symptom: Robots.txt is serving the wrong content.
The Robots.txt panel saves to the served path. If the public /robots.txt shows different content, a caching layer in front of the site may be serving a stale copy. Clear the cache. If the public /robots.txt still differs, file a support ticket with the saved content and the served content side by side.

Examples

Example 1: Filling in missing SEO titles across a blog.

A team running a blog has 40 published posts, half of which have empty SEO Title fields. The Site Owner opens SEO Manager, clicks the Issues filter, and uses Columns to show only the Page Title and SEO Title columns. They walk the list top to bottom, clicking each empty SEO Title cell and typing a real title that matches the post's main keyword. After 30 minutes, the issue count drops from 56 to 24.

Example 2: Setting up Global SEO defaults on a fresh install.

A new SGEN site has no Global SEO defaults set. The Site Owner opens Global SEO, sets the title template to {page_title} — your business, sets the meta description template to a single-sentence brand summary, and uploads a brand-banner OG image. Save. The next time a record is published without a per-record SEO override, the defaults populate the public page's automatically.

Example 3: Adding Article schema to a long-form post.

A blog editor publishes a long-form post and wants it eligible for the Article rich result. They open Schema Editor, pick the post, choose schema type Article, fill in the headline, author, date published, and image fields, and save. They then run the public URL through Google Rich Results Test, confirm the Article schema is valid, and submit the URL to Search Console for re-indexing.

A short note on performance

The performance side of "SEO and Performance" lives mostly in the architecture layer rather than in admin-facing controls. The shipped platform behaviors that affect perceived performance are: server-side rendering for public pages, image asset optimization at upload time (WebP conversion and compression options on the Media Library upload form), and the page builder's component-scoped CSS that avoids global cascade conflicts.

What an admin can do directly to support performance:

• Toggle the WebP and compression options at upload time in the Media Library. The defaults are off; toggle them on before uploading large images.
• Avoid embedding heavy third-party scripts via Custom Codes. Each script adds load time on every page.
• Use the breakpoint switcher in SG-Builder to confirm sections do not load oversized images at narrow widths.

Notes on the per-record SEO surface

Every published record (page, post, blog, event, product) carries the same per-record SEO surface in its edit screen. The fields are:

• SEO Title — the title that appears in the search result. Falls back to the Global SEO title template if empty.
• Meta Description — the description that appears in the search result. Falls back to Global SEO if empty.
• URL Slug — the URL path component for the record.
• Focus Keyword — a single keyword the record is targeting. Used by the SEO Manager audit to flag missing or thin coverage.
• Index Status — a toggle that controls whether the record is indexed by search engines.
• Schema Type — the structured-data type attached to the record.
• OG Image — the image used when the record is shared on social platforms.

Related reading

• SEO Manager — the site-wide audit surface in detail.
• Global SEO — site-wide defaults.
• Schema Editor — structured data per record.
• Google Search Console — the data feedback loop.
• Robots.txt — crawl rules.
• Performance & Reliability — platform-level rendering and delivery layer.
• UX — perceived performance and consent surfaces.

From Actual Feature Content Corpus (2026-04-27 export, page #11)

Group: SG-Modules
Route seed: /seo-performance
Audience visibility: Client-facing default with deeper internal diagnostics only after validation.

This section preserves the original landing-page framing. It records the documentation boundary for SEO and performance material on the public docs site.

Documentation boundary

The SEO & Performance module is the operational layer where discoverability and delivery quality are documented together. The scope of this surface is the optimization controls SGEN exposes — not every ranking or performance outcome is controlled here, but this is the place where platform-exposed optimization controls are documented.

Outcome boundary

This page separates platform capability from outcome claims. The platform exposes optimization controls (the SEO inputs above) and rendering behavior (server-side rendering, image optimization at upload). The outcome (a specific rank, a specific Lighthouse score, a specific Core Web Vitals number) depends on the content, the network, and the engine measurement and is not promised by the platform.

What this page covers

• Optimization-related controls exposed within SGEN.
• The SEO Manager, Global SEO, per-record SEO, Schema Editor, Robots.txt, and Search Console connector.
• The relationship between SEO inputs and rendering layer (Performance & Reliability).
• Controlled language around performance outcomes.

What this page does not claim

• It does not promise rankings or specific benchmark scores for any site.
• It does not promise full optimization automation across the site.
• It does not promise specific Core Web Vitals or Lighthouse numbers.
• It does not name any internal infrastructure component, vendor, or service used in the rendering layer.
• It does not promise a specific module count or fixed feature ceiling.

Validation notes

The behaviors documented above are evidenced from the live admin on the QA staging site. Surface names (SEO Manager with 19 columns, Issues filter pill, Columns modal with 18 toggleable columns, Schema Editor, Robots.txt panel, Search Console connector) match the surfaces live in the SGEN admin as of the 2026-04-21 surveyor pass on the SEO area. The 19-column SEO Manager table and the 18-column toggle modal are evidenced specifically in the surveyor's sub-interaction notes for the SEO index action.

Related surfaces in the SGEN admin

SEO Manager, Global SEO, Blogs SEO, Events SEO, Store SEO, Post Type SEO, Schema Editor, Robots.txt, Google Search Console, Media Library (image optimization at upload).

A short note on the rendering layer

The rendering layer that supports the SEO output (server-side rendering, asset optimization, the lack of a third-party plugin layer that would otherwise compete for the page) is documented in the Performance & Reliability page in the architecture section. That page covers the platform-level posture; this page covers the controls an admin can reach. Both pages are needed to understand the full picture; neither is sufficient on its own.

Closing thought

SEO is the work of giving search engines a clear view of what the site is about. Performance is the work of making sure a visitor who clicks through sees the page quickly. The platform ships the surfaces that support both. The week-to-week work — choosing strong page content, earning real links, watching the Search Console queries — is the part the platform cannot do for you. Use this page as the map; use the per-page docs as the manuals; use Search Console as the feedback loop.

A short tour of the SEO Manager table

The SEO Manager table is the most-visited surface in the SEO area. Six things to know about it:

• The table holds one row per published record across pages, posts, blogs, events, and products — the union of everything search-visible on the site.
• The table has 19 columns covering every SEO field. The Columns button opens a modal with 18 toggleable columns so you can focus on one field at a time.
• The Issues filter pill narrows the table to rows flagged with at least one issue. The count next to the pill is the live issue count.
• Type, Status, and Schema dropdowns filter the list further. Combine them with the Issues pill for a tight view.
• Inline-edit cells (SEO Title, Meta Description) save without leaving the page. The save fires when you press Enter or click outside the cell.
• The Export action produces a CSV of the current filtered view — useful for handing the audit list to a content team.

One paragraph on focus keywords

The Focus Keyword field on each record is a hint, not a contract. Setting a focus keyword does not force the page to rank for that keyword — it tells the SEO Manager audit which keyword to use when checking the record's coverage (does the keyword appear in the title, the H1, the meta description, the body). A focus keyword that is missing from those surfaces gets flagged as an issue. A focus keyword that appears across all of them passes the audit. The audit is a quality check; the rank is the search engine's call.

The crawl-budget trade-off

Robots.txt is a far-reaching surface and that is why it deserves a careful hand. Three rules of thumb:

• Allow what you want indexed; disallow what you do not. The default is allow-all, which is correct for most public-facing sites.
• Disallow campaign landing pages and admin paths. Anything that should not appear in search results — utm-parameter campaign URLs, admin /sg-admin/*, internal preview routes — belongs in a Disallow.
• Do not block CSS or image paths. Search engines render the page to evaluate it; blocking the assets the page needs to render means the engine sees a broken page.

Where to go from here

Three reading paths from this page, depending on where you are:

• Auditing an existing site. Start at SEO Manager. Walk the Issues filter top to bottom. Open the per-record edit for the highest-traffic gaps first.
• Setting up a fresh site. Start at Global SEO. Set the title template, the meta description template, and the OG image. Then walk SEO Manager to fill the per-record gaps the defaults do not cover.
• Tuning a launched site. Connect Search Console. Read the queries weekly. Feed the recurring queries back into your content plan as topics worth deeper coverage.

The site is yours. The audit is yours. The Search Console feedback is yours. Treat the surface that way and the SEO posture stays clean over time.