The Settings page is where you configure how SEO Forge behaves across your entire site. Most settings only need to be configured once during initial setup, but understanding what each section controls helps you fine-tune the plugin as your site grows. Every setting change affects your site globally but never overrides individual post-level settings — if you set a global rule and then customize a specific post differently, the post-level setting always wins.
Accessing Settings
Go to SEO Forge → Settings in the WordPress sidebar menu.
The Settings Layout
Settings use a vertical-sidebar layout (a bit like Yoast): a navigation column on the left, the actual controls on the right. There are five tabs grouped by what you’re trying to do, not by feature lists:
| Tab | What lives here |
|---|---|
| General | AI connection status + global feature toggles (auto-analyze, auto-meta, schema, internal link suggestions) |
| Search Appearance | Title templates per post type, XML sitemap settings, Robots.txt editor, per-archive noindex |
| Social | Site-wide default Open Graph image (fallback when posts have neither a per-post Social Media Image nor a featured image) |
| Automation | Auto Internal Links on publish, Bulk Analysis |
| Integrations | Google Search Console (OAuth + site property) |
All five tabs live in the same form. You can jump between them freely — fields you edit on one tab are kept until you click Save Settings at the bottom, which saves everything at once. A small orange dot on a tab label means you have unsaved edits somewhere on that tab. If you close the page with unsaved edits, your browser will warn you.
Tab state persists. Your active tab is remembered in localStorage and reflected in the URL hash (#sf-tab-search), so you can bookmark “jump straight to Search Appearance” or share a link to the exact tab a colleague should review. On a phone the sidebar collapses into a select dropdown.
Complete Settings Reference
| Section | What You Configure | Key Options | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Core plugin behavior | Auto-analyze on save; auto-generate meta descriptions; enable schema markup; enable internal link suggestions | All on |
| Search Appearance | How your site appears in Google | Which archive types to noindex (categories, tags, dates, authors) | Tags and dates noindexed |
| Title Templates | Default title and description patterns | Templates with variables like {{title}} and {{siteName}} for each post type and archive type | {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}} |
| Sitemap | XML sitemap configuration | Which post types to include; maximum URLs per sitemap file | All public post types; 1,000 URLs |
| Robots.txt | Search engine crawler rules | Custom robots.txt directives; sitemap URL auto-appended | Standard WordPress defaults |
| Google Search Console (PRO) | Search performance data | OAuth Client ID and Secret; site property selection | Not connected |
| Default OG Image | Social sharing fallback image | Upload an image used when posts have no featured image | None |
| Auto Internal Links (PRO) | Automatic link insertion | Enable/disable; max links per post; participating post types | Disabled; 3 links |
| Import/Export | Migration and backup | Import from Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEOPress; export SEO Forge data | N/A |
Step-by-Step: Recommended Configuration for Most Sites
- General tab:
– Schema enabled: On
– Internal links enabled: On
- Search Appearance tab:
– Noindex date archives: On
– Keep category archives indexed: On
– Keep author archives: On for multi-author sites, Off for single-author
- Title Templates tab:
{{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
– Pages: {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
– Products (if applicable): Buy {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
– Categories: {{category}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
- Sitemap tab:
– Exclude any internal-only custom post types
- Default OG Image:
- Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
How Settings Interact with Post-Level Overrides
Settings are site-wide defaults. Post-level settings always override them:
| Setting Level | Example | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Post-level (set on individual post) | Custom SEO title on a specific blog post | Highest |
| Template (set in Title Templates) | Template for all blog posts | Middle |
| Plugin default | Raw post title with no formatting | Lowest |
This means you can use settings and templates as a safety net for the majority of your pages, while still customizing individual high-priority pages.
Saving and Applying Changes
After making changes, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Most settings take effect immediately. Sitemap changes may take a few minutes to propagate. Search engine responses to settings changes (like noindex directives) take days to weeks.
> Good to know: Settings changes apply site-wide but never override individual post settings. For example, if you enable “noindex tag archives” globally but have manually set a specific tag to be indexed, the manual setting takes priority.
> Tip: After initial setup, you should rarely need to revisit the Settings page. The exceptions are: adding a GSC connection, changing templates when your site structure evolves, or adjusting archive indexing as your content library grows.
Common Mistakes
- Changing settings and expecting immediate results in Google. Google takes days to weeks to reflect changes. Be patient.
- Enabling all settings without understanding them. Read what each setting does before toggling it on. The defaults are sensible for most sites.
- Forgetting to set up Title Templates. Templates are one of the highest-value settings — they ensure every page on your site has a properly formatted title, even if you never manually write one.
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