Generating metadata
Manual generation has four steps, with review before applying fields to your site. Pro automation can queue generation on publish; generated fields still need your review.
Generation requires an activated SnippetGrove licence. If you already have a key, connect it under WP Shelf → SnippetGrove → Settings. A verified account can start with 25 free hosted items once, on one site, then add a one-time item pack. See hosted trial and pack terms. The local coverage audit and manual editor work without a licence.
SnippetGrove Pro adds saved catalogue rules, field/review profiles and generate-on-publish automation. It includes no AI items and never applies catalogue or automated output without review. Manual generation, review, Apply and Undo remain in the free plugin. Install or recover Pro access.
1. Choose what to write
Post type, which fields, and how many. Two choices are worth understanding:
- Only the ones with nothing there is the default and does what it says. All of them, replacing what is already written is the other option, it is never preselected, and it asks you to confirm — with a count of how many written fields you would be replacing.
- How many is a bound on items, not posts. One item is one field on one post, so both fields on 100 posts is 200 items.
2. See what it costs, before it starts
The screen prices the run before it exists. Finding out that "everything, both fields" was 8,400 items after the run has started spending is finding out too late.
Quota is consumed when text is generated, not when it is applied. Discarding a suggestion does not refund it, and regenerating costs again. That is why the review step exists before the write and not after.
3. Read every suggestion
The review queue shows each suggestion beside what the field holds now. You approve or discard each one, and you can edit any of them before approving.
There is no "approve all", on any plan. That is deliberate and it is not coming: a button that writes 200 published pages without anybody reading them is the one action this product must not have.
Check the wording length (0.61.0+)
These instructions require SnippetGrove 0.61.0 or later. Use the compatible free download linked with the Pro offer if your directory version is earlier. Check the installed version before looking for these controls; older builds may not show them. In a run's review queue, title and description suggestions show a character count and the existing generation window: 10–65 for an SEO title and 50–165 for a meta description.
In the enhanced queue, Your current wording follows the text you are editing. A read-only row instead labels its count Saved suggestion; a separately retained unsaved draft has not replaced that saved wording. The count uses Unicode code points after surrounding whitespace is trimmed, not bytes or a prediction of search-result width. Some combined symbols count as more than one code point.
Length is guidance, not an approval rule. A shorter or longer draft can still be approved; the counter does not cut, normalise, regenerate or apply your wording. Reading it spends no items and makes no extra request. Image alt text has no title or description window.
Without JavaScript, the counter explicitly describes the saved suggestion and does not update while you type. Do not read that number as a live count of an unsaved form field. A Retry also does not save your wording: follow the run-read recovery guidance and copy drafts before leaving or reloading.
4. Apply
Only approved items are written, in batches, into your SEO plugin's own fields. Before each write, SnippetGrove re-reads what the field holds now. If it changed since you chose it — because you edited it by hand in the meantime — your edit wins and the item is skipped with the reason recorded. You can override that one item if you want ours instead; the screen shows you both first.
A large run is applied in batches on a schedule rather than in one request, so a shared host that cuts long requests short does not lose it. If it is interrupted it resumes where it left off.
Undoing a run
Every write is recorded before it happens — the previous value, the new one, which plugin it went through. Undo this run restores those previous values while preserving fields you changed afterwards. A newer SnippetGrove write to the same field must be undone first. The result tells you how many writes were restored or skipped.
The record is kept for 90 days by default and pruned after that. An undo older than that is not available, and the screen says so rather than failing quietly.
Undo runs in one request. If a very large run times out on your host, choose Undo this run again to continue with the remaining entries. Successfully restored writes are not repeated.
When Activity cannot be read (0.62.0+)
In SnippetGrove 0.62.0 and later, an unavailable Activity journal is shown as unavailable, rather than as an empty history. Check the installed version before looking for these controls. Choose Retry to read the journal again. The enhanced screen keeps your search and filters; undo controls wait until the current list can be loaded.
Retry does not undo a write, apply a suggestion or generate new wording. After the list loads, review the field again before choosing an undo. If an undo could not be confirmed, check the refreshed journal and the page before trying that undo again. A healthy empty journal means no retained entries match the view, not proof that the site has never been changed.
When a run cannot be read (0.60.0+)
In SnippetGrove 0.60.0 and later, an unavailable run or failed count read is shown as an error, rather than an empty run or zero suggestions. Choose Retry to read its current status and counts. If the first read failed, this recovers the saved run without creating another one.
If a later read fails, the enhanced queue keeps your mounted caption wording and labels the last loaded data. Stale totals are withheld, run actions and row decisions are unavailable, and old confirmation dialogs cannot act on that stale read. Polling pauses until you choose Retry.
A successful Retry reads the current run and then its saved suggestions again. Row decisions stay unavailable until the queue read succeeds, even if the run's status did not change. Local wording stays visible for rows that are still returned. A differing local draft on a returned read-only row is shown separately for copying; a deleted row or one outside the refreshed view may no longer appear. Copy wording you need before retrying if you need to keep it regardless of whether the row is returned.
Retrying a read does not generate new wording or apply anything; an already running server job may continue while the screen is unavailable.
Keep unsaved wording before leaving. Drafts in the enhanced queue remain in this tab while you change its review pages or filters, but they are not saved by a read or a Retry. Copy them before reloading, closing or leaving the page. If the run no longer exists, the message asks you to copy the wording before leaving; Retry cannot restore a deleted run.
Without JavaScript, Retry is a page navigation. Copy any unsaved form wording before navigating; the PHP fallback does not retain browser drafts across requests. Older builds may not provide the recovery controls described here.