Generate: Content

Videos are not designed to be a substitute for instructions. Please refer to the detailed Documentation below.

Overview

The Generate Content section allows you to define one or more Content Groups (or Content Templates), which generate / produce Pages, Posts or Custom Post Type content.

Each Content Group you create is unique, and comprise of the Keywords, content and generation settings, such as the Post Type and number of Pages to generate.

You might use multiple Content Groups for different sections of your web site.  For example, you might have one Content Group for generating Pages about the services your business offers for a list of locations, and a second Content Group for drip-fed blog posts.

From your Content Group, you’ll use the Generate functionality to then make Page Generator Pro generate your Pages, Posts or Custom Post Types.

Haven’t set up any Keywords yet?  You’ll need to do this first – read how to manage Keywords.
Looking to mass generate Taxonomy Terms, such as Categories or Tags? Refer to the Generate Terms Documentation.

To access your Content Groups, click on the Page Generator Pro menu entry in the WordPress Administration, and then click Generate Content.
Page Generator Pro: Generate Content: Menu

Add New Content Group

To add a new Content Group to Page Generator Pro, click the Add New button below the Content Groups title, which can be found towards the top of the screen:
Page Generator Pro: Generate Content:

You will then be presented with a screen similar to the one used to edit your WordPress Posts and Pages:
Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Classic Editor UI

If you’re using the Block Editor (sometimes referred to as Gutenberg), you’ll see a slightly different interface:
Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Gutenberg UI

You’ll use this screen to:

  • Define various fields, such as the Title, Content and Featured Image, which will be used for each generated Page / Post,
  • Determine whether you want to generate Pages, Posts or another registered Post Type from this Content Group,
  • How the Plugin should generate content.
Using a Page Builder and don’t see it on this screen?  You may need to enable it.  Refer to the Page Builder Documentation for steps on how to do this.

Add New Directory Structure

This functionality requires Page Generator Pro 3.2.9 or higher, releasing Thursday June 24th 2021 23:59 UTC.

The Add New Directory Structure functionality builds the necessary Keywords and Content Groups for a directory structure of locations and services.

To add a new Directory Structure to Page Generator Pro, click the Add New Directory Structure button below the Content Groups title, which can be found towards the top of the screen:
Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Add New Directory Structure Button

Start by selecting the required structure

The option to choose non-service specific directory structures is available in Page Generator Pro 4.3.0, releasing Thursday July 27th 2023 23:59 UTC.
Structure Directory Structure
Region (State) > County > City > Service http://example.com/state
http://example.com/state/county
http://example.com/state/county/city
http://example.com/state/county/city/service
Region (State) > City > Service http://example.com/state
http://example.com/state/city
http://example.com/state/city/service
County > City > Service http://example.com/county
http://example.com/county/city
http://example.com/county/city/service
City > Service http://example.com/city
http://example.com/city/service
Service > City http://example.com/service
http://example.com/service/city
Region (State) > County > City http://example.com/region
http://example.com/region/county
http://example.com/region/county/city
Region (State) > City http://example.com/region
http://example.com/region/city
County > City http://example.com/county
http://example.com/county/city
Need a different directory structure? You can manually create the necessary Keywords and Content Groups, or follow this tutorial.

Next, select your existing Service Keyword, or enter the services in the text box.

The Services option is not displayed when selecting a structure that does not include a Service.

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Add Directory Structure: Services

Choose the Locations to include, either by Radius or Area.

Radius

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Add Directory Structure: Locations

The radius method will include all Locations that fall within the given Radius from the given ZIP / Postal Code.

This method is useful if, for example, you / your client offers services within a specific radius of your business location.

Area

The area method will all Locations that fall within the given area constraints.

This method is useful if, for example, you / your client offers products or services within a specific Region(s), County(s) or City(s).

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Add New Directory Structure: Area

When using the Area Method, the following additional options are displayed:

Population and Exclusion options are available in Page Generator Pro 3.8.7, releasing Thursday 25th August 2022 23:59 UTC.
Setting Description
Regions / States Locations will be included if they match the given Regions (States).
Counties Locations will be included if they match the given County(s).
Population Locations will be included if they have a population within the given Population Limits. Leave blank to specify no limit.

We only hold population data for incorporated, larger towns and cities.  Smaller towns, villages and settlements will not have any population data.  Therefore, applying a minimum / maximum limits here will typically yield more well known towns and cities in the resultset.
Exclusions Any Locations partially or fully matching the given strings will be excluded from the Keyword’s Terms.  For example, to exclude Mobile Parks from Location results, you’d enter mobile parks.
Radius or area constraints must be defined. Generating locations for an entire country is prevented for performance and data size.

Once Location data is configured, click the Create Keywords and Content Groups button:
Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Add Directory Structure: Create Button

Once complete, the screen will show:

  • The Keywords generated/used
  • The Content Groups that were created for the directory structure

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Add Directory Structure: Results

Proceed with editing each Content Group below, to define the necessary content.

Edit a Content Group

To edit an existing Content Group in Page Generator Pro, click the Title of the Group that you want to edit:
Page Generator Pro: Generate: Group Actions

Delete a Content Group

Deletion of Content Groups in Page Generator Pro works in the same way that you would delete Pages or Posts, except you will be performing these steps at Page Generator Pro > Content GroupsRefer to WordPress’ documentation.

Import a Page, Post or Custom Post Type into a new Content Group

This functionality is available in Page Generator Pro 2.7.7, releasing Thursday 14th August 2020 23:59 UTC.

If you have already built your page layout in a Page, Post or Custom Post Type, you can import this into a new Content Group, make any necessary edits (e.g. adding keywords, spintax etc) and then generate your Pages from the Content Group.

This is particularly useful if your Page, Post or Custom Post Type was built in a Page Builder, and you’ve built a particular complex layout that you don’t wish to manually re-create in a Content Group.

To do this:

  • Locate the Page, Post or Custom Post Type in the WordPress Administration interface
  • Click on the Import as Content Group option
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Import Page to Content Group
  • A notification will be displayed confirming the Content Group was created from the Page
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Imported Page to Content Group
  • Click the Title of the newly imported Content Group that you want to edit.

Fields: Gutenberg

If you are using Gutenberg, the fields described below can be found by:

  • Scrolling past the content
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Gutenberg: Fields: Main
  • Enabling the sidebar, by clicking the cog
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Gutenberg: Fields: Sidebar

Alternatively, install the Classic Editor Plugin to use the pre-Gutenberg interface.

Fields: Page Builders

If you are using a frontend Page Builder, the fields described below may not be displayed.  In that case, you’ll need to exit the Page Builder in order to load the Content Group in the WordPress Administration interface.

Once you’ve configured the fields, you can go back to editing the content in the frontend Page Builder.

Looking for a setting, but don’t see it? Be sure to explore the entire interface of the Edit Content Group screen. Some fields may be placed differently, depending on whether you’re using the Classic Editor, Gutenberg or an integrated Page Builder.

Fields: Content

  • Title: The Title for each generated Page, Post or Custom Post Type. Supports keywords, which can be inserted manually or by clicking on the relevant keywords below.  A different keyword data item is then chosen for each generated Post.
  • Content: The content for each Page, Post or Custom Post Type. Also supports keywords, which can be inserted manually or by clicking on the keyword button within the Visual Editor.
Refer to the Shortcode Documentation to cover how to use Shortcodes within the Content.
Using a Page Builder?  Refer to the Page Builders Documentation for Page Builder specific steps you may need to follow.

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Permalink

Automatically generated, but again can be manually specified with keywords.   A different keyword data item is then chosen for each generated Post.

Permalinks must only contain alphanumeric characters, dashes, and/or underscores. No spaces.

When using Gutenberg, ensure that you are editing the Permalink field, and not the URL field:
Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Fields: Permalink: Gutenberg

When specifying a Permalink, it must be unique for each generated Page.  If it is not, existing generated Pages will be overwritten.
We don’t recommend using Spintax here, as it may result in multiple Pages having the same Permalink, causing confusion when you expect more content to have been generated than the actual result.  This is by design, as each Page must have its own unique Permalink.

Fields: Excerpt

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Excerpt

Don’t see an Excerpt option?  It’s only displayed if the Post Type you’re generating supports Excerpts (such as Posts).

Allows you to specify the excerpt for each Post that is generated.  Keywords can be used here by clicking the Insert Keyword dropdown, and clicking the keyword tag to use.

You can optionally assign a Featured Image to the Posts, Pages or Custom Post Types you’ll be generating.

The OpenAI option is available in Page Generator Pro 4.4.7 and higher, releasing Monday December 4th 2023 23:59 UTC.  Ensure that your license is valid, not expired and that you’ve updated to the latest version of the Plugin.

Image Source

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Image Source

First, define the image source to fetch an image from:

  • No Featured Image: Do not assign a Featured Image to the generated Page
  • Media Library Image: Assign an image from the Media Library to the generated Page, based on the given Search Parameters
  • Image URL: Assign an image based on the given Image URL
  • OpenAI: Generate an image from OpenAI’s Dall-E 3, assigning it to the generated Page, based on the given Search Parameters
  • Pexels: Assign an image from Pexels to the generated Page, based on the given Search Parameters
  • Pixabay: Assign an image from Pexels to the generated Page, based on the given Search Parameters
  • Wikipedia: Assign an image from Wikipedia to the generated Page, based on the given Search Parameters
  • Featured Image from URL: If the Featured Image from URL Plugin is installed and active, assign an image based on the given image URL
  • Featured Image by URL: If the Featured Image by URL Plugin is installed and active, assign an image based on the given image URL

Search Parameters: Media Library Image

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Search Parameters: Media Library

When the Image Source is set to Media Library Image, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use from the Media Library:

  • Title: Fetch an image at random from the WordPress Media Library where that image’s Title has a partial or full match to the given Title.
  • Caption: Fetch an image at random from the WordPress Media Library where that image’s Caption has a partial or full match to the given Caption.
  • Alt TextFetch an image at random from the WordPress Media Library where that image’s Alt Text has a partial or full match to the given Alt Text.
  • DescriptionFetch an image at random from the WordPress Media Library where that image’s Description has a partial or full match to the given Description.
  • Operator: Determines whether images should match all or any of the Title, Caption, Alt Text and Descriptions specified above.
  • Image IDs: Define a comma separated list of Image ID(s) to use as the Featured Image.  Where multiple IDs are specified, one will be chosen at random for each generated Page / Post.
  • Min. Image ID: Define the minimum Image ID to use as the Featured Image.  All WordPress Media Library Images with an ID equal to or greater to this value will be included when the Plugin chooses an image at random for each generated Page / Post.
  • Max. Image ID: Define the maximum Image ID to use as the Featured Image.  All WordPress Media Library Images with an ID equal to or less to this value will be included when the Plugin chooses an image at random for each generated Page / Post.

Where multiple parameters are specified, they are used in conjunction with one another.  This can be useful if you have a Media Library comprising of thousands of images, and you want to balance fetching an image at random with fetching an image that has some relevance to the content.

For example, if your Media Library contains 10 images with the title plumbing, and we set the Title field above to plumbing, Page Generator Pro would:

  • Find all images in your WordPress Media Library containing the word plumbing in the Title,
  • For each Page / Post that Page Generator Pro generates, the Plugin will chose one of those images at random to be used as the Featured Image.

Search Parameters: Image URL

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Search Parameters: Image URL

When the Image Source is set to Image URL, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use:

  • URL: Define the image URL to use. This can be a dynamic image URL; the contents will be saved in the WordPress Media Library as an image.

Search Parameters: OpenAI

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: OpenAI

When the Image Source is set to OpenAI, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use from Pexels:

  • Term: The prompt for the image.  For example, “a plumber fixing a kitchen sink tap that is leaking in an American style 2000’s home”.
    • Keywords can be used.
  • Image Style: The style of image to generate.
    • Vivid: Generate a hyper-real, dramatic image.
    • Natural: Generate a more natural, less hyper-real image.
  • Rewrite Topic: If enabled, OpenAI will automatically re-write the topic for safety reasons, and to add more detail, resulting in a higher quality image.
    • Disable if you want to specify a fully detailed set of instructions in the topic.

Search Parameters: Pexels

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Search Parameters: Pexels

When the Image Source is set to Pexels, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use from Pexels:

  • Term: The search term to use. For example, “laptop” would return an image of a laptop.. Each generated page will use a different image based on this tag. You can use keyword tags and spintax here.
  • Image Orientation: Restrict query to match images with the given orientation.

Search Parameters: Pixabay

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Search Parameters: Pixabay

When the Image Source is set to Pixabay, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use from Pixabay:

  • Term: The search term to use. For example, “laptop” would return an image of a laptop.. Each geneated page will use a different image based on this tag. You can use keyword tags and spintax here.
  • Image Orientation: The image orientation to search for
  • Language: The language the search term is in
  • Image Type: The type of image to search for (illustration, vector or photo)
  • Image Category: For more precise matching, optionally choose an image category to search within
  • Image Color: Optionally limit results by the given primary image color

Search Parameters: Wikipedia

Wikipedia Image support is available in Page Generator Pro 3.1.7, releasing Thursday April 8th 2021 23:59 UTC.

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Wikipedia

When the Image Source is set to Wikipedia Image, the following options are displayed in the Search Parameters tab to determine the image to use from Wikipedia:

  • Term: The search term to use to find a Wikipedia article. For example, “Birmingham” would:
    • Find the Birmingham Wikipedia Page
    • Fetch all images from the Birmingham Wikipedia Page
    • Return one image at random that contains Birmingham in the filename.
      This is deliberate and by design, to ensure that images not related to the Term are not used as a Featured Image. For more complex Terms, this may result in no image being found, despite numerous images being available on the Term’s Wikipedia Page.
  • Language
    • The language to use when searching Wikipedia for images.
  • Use First Image
    • If enabled, uses the first image found when searching Wikipedia. This will typically provide an image that is more relevant to the Term.
    • If disabled, uses an image at random from all images found when searching Wikipedia for the given Term.

Output

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: Output

Clicking the Output tab in the Featured Image meta box displays the following options:

  • Create as Copy
    • This option is displayed if Image Source = Media Library Image
    • It’s recommended to enable this, to ensure that a new Media Library Image is created and its metadata set specific to the generated page for SEO
  • Title: The title to assign to the image. Note: it is up to your Theme to output this when it outputs your Featured Image.
    • This can be a keyword.
  • Alt Tag: The alt tag to assign to the image. Note: it is up to your Theme to output this when it outputs your Featured Image.
    • This can be a keyword.
  • Caption: The caption to assign to the image. Note: it is up to your Theme to output this when it outputs your Featured Image.
    • This can be a keyword.
  • Description: The description to assign to the image. Note: it is up to your Theme to output this when it outputs your Featured Image.
    • This can be a keyword.
  • Filename: Define the filename for the image, excluding the extension.
    • This can be a keyword.
    • It’s useful to use a keyword and/or other terms to ensure that the filename is SEO friendly and related to your content.

EXIF

Page Generator Pro 2.4.9 and older would automatically apply EXIF metadata based on other fields in the Content Group.  From 2.5.0, you’ll need to specify the data in these fields if you want to write EXIF metadata to the Featured Image

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Featured Image: EXIF

Clicking the EXIF tab in the Featured Image meta box displays the following options:

  • Latitude: The image’s location’s latitude.
  • Longitude: The image’s locations’ longitude.
  • Comments: Comments about the image.
  • Description: A description of the image.

If any value is blank and the imported image contains an existing value in the EXIF metadata, the existing value will be retained.

Any other EXIF metadata already stored within an image is retained (for example, but not limited to, the color profile, camera make/model etc).

Featured Image from URL

Featured Image from URL support is available in Page Generator Pro 2.9.3, releasing Thursday November 20th 2020 23:59 UTC.

If the Featured Image from URL Plugin is installed and active, you can choose it as the Featured Image Source and define the following:

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content:Featured Image: FIFU

  • URL: The external image URL to use as the Featured Image on each Generated Page
    • Keywords are supported
  • Alt Text: The alt text to use on the Featured Image on each Generated Page
    • Keywords are supported

Fields: Geolocation Data

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Geolocation Data

If specified, Page Generator Pro will store the Latitude and Longitude associated with each Generated Page.

For example, if you are generating location-specific Pages, and have a Keyword containing location-specific geolocation data, you can enter the Keywords here.

This is required should you use the Related Links Dynamic Element and want to fetch a list of Pages within a specific Radius.

Fields: Custom Fields

Store Keywords?

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Custom Fields: Store Keywords

If checked, Page Generator Pro will store the keyword names (including subsets, if defined) and terms used for each generated Page as Custom Fields (otherwise known as Post Meta).

For example, a Content Group containing two keywords, {service} and {location}, where {location} specifies column names of County and City, would store the following data in Custom Fields on the generated Page:

Keyword Term Used Custom Field Key Custom Field Value
{location} Birmingham, West Midlands location Birmingham, West Midlands
{location(city)} Birmingham location_city Birmingham
{location(county)} West Midlands location_county West Midlands
{service} Web Design service Web Design

This is useful should you use the Related Links shortcode and wish to fetch a list of Pages by a specific Custom Field value (for example, where a location matches a specific County).

Defining Custom Fields

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Custom Fields

You can add, edit or delete custom fields (Post Meta fields) to each generated Page:

  • To add a Custom Field, click the Add Custom Field button, and then define the Meta Key and Meta Value.
  • To edit an existing Custom Field, change the Meta Key and/or Meta Value to suit.
  • To delete an existing Custom Field, click the delete link below the Meta Key field.
For the Meta Key, name cannot be used.
These fields are available in Page Generator Pro 4.3.2, available Thursday August 17th 2023 23:59 UTC.

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Header & Footer Code

You can optionally specify any JavaScript, CSS or JSON-LD to output in each generated Page’s <head> section, by entering code in the Header Code field:

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Header Code Field

Need to specify SEO or Schema data? Page Generator Pro supports several SEO and Schema Plugins, which can be used instead of manually entering code here.

You can optionally specify any HTML, JavaScript, CSS, JSON-LD or Shortcodes to output immediately before each generated Page’s closing </body> tag, by entering code in the Footer Code field:

Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Footer Code Field

Keywords are supported for both fields, and will be replaced by their Terms on generation.

Fields: Author

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Author

You can specify the Author of the generated content, or have Page Generator Pro randomly choose a WordPress User at random for each Page/Post generated.

  • Author: Specify the Author of the generated content.  Ignored if the Rotate option below is checked.  To specify an author, begin typing at least 2 – 3 characters of the Author’s WordPress Username, and then choose the applicable Author from the results list.
  • Rotate: If checked, this option will choose a different Author for each Post that is generated.  If not checked, an additional option will appear, allowing you choose which Author should be assigned to the Post.

Fields: Discussion

[]

Don’t see any Discussion Options?  They are only displayed if the Post Type you’re generating supports Comments (such as Posts).
  • Allow comments: Choose to allow comments to be added to each generated Post.
  • Allow trackbacks and pingbacks: Choose to allow trackbacks and pingbacks to be added to each generated Post.

Fields: Discussion: Generate Comments

The Generate Comments functionality is available in Page Generator Pro 2.8.8, releasing Thursday 22nd October 2020 23:59 UTC.

When enabled, comments will be generated for each generated Page/Post.  This functionality is controlled by the additional options that are displayed when the Generate Comments? option is enabled/ticked:

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Discussion: Generate Comments

  • No. Comments: The number of Comments to generate for each generated Page/Post.  If zero, a random number of Comments for each generated Page/Post will be produced, which is recommended.
  • Date: Defines the published date of each generated Comment:
    • Now: The date and time each generated Comment is generated
    • Specific Date: Defines the published date of each generated Comment to match the specified date
    • Random Date: Define the published date of each generated Comment to match a date and time at random between the specified start and end dates
  • First Name: The Comment Author’s First Name for each generated Comment.
    • Keywords and Spintax are supported
    • We recommend using a Keyword comprising of all First Names (for example, called authors_first_name), and using the Output Different Random Term modifier with this Keyword (for example, {authors_first_name:random_different}). This will generate a random first name for each generated Comment.
  • Surname: The Comment Author’s Surname for each generated Comment.
    • Keywords and Spintax are supported
    • We recommend using a Keyword comprising of all Surnames (for example, called authors_surname), and using the Output Different Random Term modifier with this Keyword (for example, {authors_surname:random_different}).  This will generate a random surname for each generated Comment.
  • Comment: The Comment Text for each generated Comment.
    • Keywords and Spintax are supported
    • We recommend using Spintax with either Block Spintax and/or Nested Spintax to allow for a wide range of random variations to be produced for each comment’s text.

For a more in depth walkthrough, see the Generating Comments Tutorial.

Tutorial: Generating Comments

Fields: Publish

Page Generator Pro: Generate Content: Publish

  • Post Type: Choose the Post Type to generate.  This might be Pages, Posts or any registered Custom Post Types provided by your themes or plugins.
  • Status: Choose the status of each generated Page
    • Draft: Saves each generated Page as a draft.  You’ll then need to go to each Page and manually publish them if you want visitors to see them.
    • Scheduled: Schedules publication of each generated Page, based on the Date setting below, with the Schedule Increment applied (if defined).
      • All Pages are generated at the point of generation, with their scheduled dates set. This is deliberate and by design.
    • Private: Saves each generated Page as private.
    • Published: Publishes each generated Page, based on the Date setting below.
  • Date: Defines the published date of generated Pages:
    • Now: The date and time each generated Page is generated
    • Specific Date: Defines the published date of generated Pages to match the specified date
      Page Generator Pro: Generate Content: Specific Date
    • Specific Date from Keyword: Defines the published date of generated Pages to match the specified date that is stored in a Keyword
      Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Publish: Specific Date from Keyword
    • Random Date: Define a date and time at random between the specified start and end dates.
      Page Generator Pro: Generate Content: Random Date
  • Schedule Increment: When Status = Scheduled and Date = Now or Specify Date, the Schedule Increment option appears, allowing you to define the scheduled publication date and time relative to the last generated Page’s scheduled date and time, in minutes, hours, days, weeks or months
    Page Generator Pro: Generate Content: Schedule Increment

    • The first generated Page’s scheduled publication date and time will be based on the Date setting (i.e. now or a specified date and time), plus the increment (as there is no previous generated Page to increment a date/time from).
    • Second and subsequent Pages’ scheduled publication date and time will be based on the previous generated Page’s date and time, plus the increment.
The Specific Date from Keyword option is available in Page Generator Pro 4.5.2, releasing Thursday 25th January 2024 23:59 UTC.

Fields: Generation

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Generation

We’ve written a separate detailed guide on how each Generation Method works.

In conjunction with the Method option, there are other generation settings:

Fields: Generation: Spin Content

This option was removed in Page Generator Pro 3.9.2

To create spintax from text, use the Generate Spintax from Selected Text functionality.

Fields: Generation: Overwrite

When generating content, Page Generator Pro will attempt to see if an existing Page matching the Permalink already exists. If so, the option set here determines whether that existing Page should be overwritten, not overwritten or skipped.

A Permalink MUST be specified in the Content Group for the Overwrite functionality to perform correctly.
Setting Description
No
  • A new Page will be generated, regardless of whether an existing Page matching the Permalink and Group exists or not.
No, skip if existing Page generated by this Group
  • A new Page will be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink and Group does not exist.
  • A new Page will not be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink and Group does exist.
No, skip if existing Page exists
  • A new Page will be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink does not exist.
  • A new Page will not be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink does exist, regardless of whether the existing Page was created manually or by any Page Generator Pro Group.
Yes, if existing Page generated by this Group
  • A new Page will be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink and Group does not exist.
  • The existing Page will be overwritten if an existing Page matching the Permalink and Group does exist.
Yes, if existing Page exists
  • A new Page will be generated if an existing Page matching the Permalink does not exist.
  • The existing Page will be overwritten if an existing Page matching the Permalink does exist, regardless of whether the existing Page was created manually or by any Page Generator Pro Group.

Fields: Generation: Overwrite Sections

When the Overwrite setting above is set to a Yes option, an additional option is then displayed to define which sections to overwrite if generation would overwrite an existing Page, Post or Custom Post Type:
Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Overwrite Sections

For example, if you have manually edited content on existing generated Pages and do not want to overwrite those changes, you would deselect the Content option.  The Plugin will, on generation, overwrite the existing generated Page’s other sections (Title, Excerpt etc), but retain the Content on the existing generated Pages.

If the Overwrite setting above is set to a Yes option and the Plugin detects that a new Page would be created (for example, new Keyword Terms have been added since the previous generation), all sections of the new generated Page/Post/Custom Post Type will be populated – regardless of the sections specified above.  This is deliberate and by design, to ensure that new Pages do not have blank sections.

To preserve the original publication dates of existing generated Pages, which was previously an option in the Overwrite section above, untick the Published Date option in this section.

Fields: Generation: Overwrite Sections: Third Party Plugins

In addition to the Overwrite Sections above, further sections may be displayed depending on any third party Plugins that might be activated:
Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Overwrite Sections: Third Party Plugins

This includes:

  • All in One SEO Pack
  • Advanced Custom Fields
  • Genesis Framework
  • ListingPro
  • Platinum SEO
  • Popup Maker
  • Rank Math SEO
  • Schema Pro
  • SEOPress
  • SEOPressor
  • SmartCrawl SEO
  • Squirrly SEO
  • The SEO Framework
  • WooCommerce Products
  • WPSSO
  • WPTouch Pro
  • Yoast SEO
  • Yoast SEO Pro

For example, if you have Yoast SEO installed and active, have manually edited Yoast SEO’s metadata on existing generated Pages and do not want to overwrite those changes, you would deselect the Yoast SEO option.  The Plugin will, on generation, overwrite the existing generated Page’s other sections (Title, Excerpt etc), but retain the Yoast SEO metadata on the existing generated Pages.

If the Use Performance Addon setting is enabled, the third party Plugin must also be enabled at Page Generator Pro > Settings > Generate > Performance Addon: Load Plugins

Fields: Generation: Overwrite Sections: Advanced Custom Fields

In addition to the Overwrite Sections above, further sections may be displayed if:

  • Advanced Custom Fields (or Advanced Custom Fields Pro) is active, and
  • At least one Field Group has been configured to display on Content Groups.

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Overwrite Sections: ACF

For example, if you have:

  • An ACF Field Group called Example Field Group configured for both Content Groups and Pages
  • Manually edited Field(s) within this Field Groupon existing generated Pages

– and you do not want to overwrite the manual changes made to the ACF Field(s), you would deselect the ACF: Example Field Group option.

The Plugin will, on generation, overwrite the existing generated Page’s other sections (Title, Excerpt etc), but retain the ACF Field metadata for the Example Field Group on the existing generated Pages.

Fields: Generation: Number of Pages

Choose the number of Pages to generate.  If zero, Page Generator Pro will attempt to produce all possible combinations based on the above generation method.

It’s useful to set this option if you have a large number of Pages and – in conjunction with the Resume Index below – want to chunk generation into smaller batches.

If the Number of Pages settings exceeds the possible maximum number of unique Pages that could be generated, Page Generator Pro will honor the possible maximum number of unique Posts instead.  This is to ensure that no duplicate content is generated.
For the Random method, a number must be specified.  If no number is specified, All Pages will be generated.

Fields: Generation: Resume Index

By default, Page Generator Pro starts at a zero based index for keyword terms.  You can choose to start at a different index (if, for example, Page Generation did not fully complete), by setting Resume Index to restart on the nth iteration.

The Use Last Generated Index link will set the Resume Index’s value to the nth iteration that successfully generated.

The Resume Index option does not apply when using the Random method.

Fields: Attributes

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Attributes

Don’t see any Attributes?  They are only displayed if the Page, Post or Custom Post Type you’re generating supports Parent / Hierarchical properties.

Group Parent

The Group Parent option is available in Page Generator Pro 3.0.9, releasing Thursday 4th March 2021 23:59 UTC.

The Group Parent option assigns the Content Group to be an immediate child of the specified Group.  This is useful if you’re building a directory structure, and wish to show this in your Content Groups table:
Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Parent Group

Setting the Group Parent alone is not enough; you must also define the Parent below.

When defined, Page Generator Pro will check that the Parent (specified below) was generated by the Parent Group specified here.  This is again useful for directory structures produced entirely through Page Generator Pro, to ensure Generated Pages aren’t accidentally assigned to manually created Pages.

Parent

The parent option assigns all Generated Pages to be immediate children of the specified Page, Post or Custom Post Type.  This is useful if you’re building a directory structure, such as:

  • http://yoursite.com/county
  • http://yoursite.com/county/city
  • http://yoursite.com/county/city/service

The parent option can be any of the following:

  • Page ID
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Page ID
  • Page Slug e.g. web-design.
    • This must be an existing Page, which can be generated by Page Generator Pro or a Page you’ve manually created.
    • Generated Pages will be accessible at http://yoursite.com/web-design/your-generated-page-slug
    • Keywords can be used
  • Page Path e.g. web-design/birmingham.
    • This must be an existing Page, which can be generated by Page Generator Pro or a Page you’ve manually created)
    • Generated Pages will be accessible at http://yoursite.com/web-design/birmingham/your-generated-page-slug
    • Keywords can be used
It’s strongly recommended to follow the Building a Directory Tutorial to see the workflow used to build directory structures with parent and child page relationships.

Fields: Template

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Fields: Template

Similar to editing a WordPress Page, you can specify the Page or Custom Post Type Template to use.

Don’t see a Template option?  It’s only displayed if the Post Type you’re generating has Templates registered by your Theme and/or Page Builder.
Using a Page Builder, such as Elementor? You may also need to specify the template through your Page Builder.  Refer to the Documentation for your applicable builder.

Fields: Menu

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Menu

Don’t see the Menu option?  It’s new to Page Generator Pro 2.7.1, released Thursday June 25th 2020 23:59 UTC.

For each generated Page, Post or Custom Post Type, you can optionally add a link to it in a WordPress Navigation Menu.

This is useful if, for example:

  • You use a Menu widget in WordPress, Gutenberg or a Page Builder to display a list of links,
  • Your theme supports a main, secondary or perhaps footer menu and you’d like to display a list of top level pages that you’ve generated from this Content Group
Want to display a list of related links to other generated items based on search terms, distance or Content Group? The Dynamic Elements: Related Links functionality is better suited for this.

Menu

  • Choose an existing WordPress Navigation Menu to add generated Pages to.
  • If you don’t have a Menu, or want to create one specifically for this Content Group, refer to WordPress’ Documentation for creating a new Navigation Menu
  • If a generated Page already exists in the Navigation Menu, it will be updated

Menu Title

  • If specified, generated Pages will use this Title in the Menu instead of the generated Page Title.
  • If blank, the generated Page’s Title will be displayed in the Menu
  • Keywords and Spintax are supported

Menu Parent

The option to specify a Menu Item ID is available in Page Generator Pro 3.3.6, released Thursday August 5th 2021 23:59 UTC.

If specified, generated Pages will be added as children to an existing Menu Item. Keywords are supported.

The parent option can be any of the following:

  • Menu Item Title
    • For example, if there is an existing Menu Item in the Navigation Menu called “Web Design”, entering Web Design in this field would result in all generated Pages being added as children / sub menu items of the Web Design Menu item.
  • Menu Item ID
    • For example, if there is an existing Menu Item in the Navigation Menu with an ID of 76346, entering 76346 in this field would result in all generated Pages being added as children / sub menu items of said Menu Item.
    • An existing Menu Item’s ID can be found by:
      • Navigating to Appearance > Menus in the WordPress Administration
        Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Appearance: Menus
      • Find the Menu Item that will be the parent
        Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Menus: Menu Item
      • Hover the mouse cursor over the Remove or Cancel links
        Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Menus: Remove and Cancel Links
      • Make a note of the menu-item ID
        Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Menus: Menu ID
    • This is useful if the Menu Parent’s title is not plain text (such as an emoji or HTML). In these scenarios, a Menu ID must be specified for correct working functionality.

Fields: Taxonomies

Page Generator Pro: Generate: Taxonomies

Don’t see any Taxonomies?  They are only displayed if the Post Type you’re generating supports Taxonomies.

For each Taxonomy for the Post Type, you can choose which Term(s) to assign to the generated Posts.

  • Hierarchical (e.g. Categories)
    • Use the checkboxes to select the existing Terms to assign to the generated content.
    • Use the Enter new taxonomy terms field to enter a comma separated list of new and/or existing Terms to assign to the generated content.
      • Terms can comprise of one or more Keywords.
      • Any Terms specified that do not exist will be created.
      • Any existing Terms specified that do exist will be used.
  • Non-Hierarchical (e.g. Tags)
    • Enter a comma separated list of Terms to assign to the generated content.
    • Keywords can be used here
    • Any tags added that do not exist will be created

Fields: Other

Depending on your Theme, Page Builder and other active Plugins, you may see additional sections and fields that you can complete.

Where displayed, these fields’ data will be copied into the generated Pages, Posts or Custom Post Types.

Save

Once you have completed all fields either:

  • Classic Editor: Click the Save button in the Actions meta box
    Page Generator Pro: Generate: Content: Actions
  • Gutenberg: Click the blue Publish button in the top right corner of the screen, clicking it a second time if a confirmation message is displayed:
    Page Generator Pro: Content Groups: Gutenberg: Publish

    • If saving an existing Content Group, this will display as Update
    • Do not use the Save Draft option
Content Groups must be published for generation to function correctly.  This is different from the Status setting defined for the Post Type you are generating.
It’s recommended to click Save before using the Test or Generate options, so that all settings are saved and any third party Plugins also save their settings prior to any generation.

Next Steps

Before testing or generating content, we strongly recommend reading the rest of the Generate Documentation, covering:

These are all useful to help generate truly valuable, unique content.