Publish WordPress posts from Google Sheets with images and tags

Who this is for

This workflow is for content teams, marketers, and solo site owners who draft posts in Google Sheets and want a reliable way to publish to WordPress automatically — including featured images and tags.

What it does

• Pulls rows from a Google Sheet where status = READY
• Processes rows one-by-one (safe for multiple posts in a single run)
• If image_url is present, downloads the image and uploads it to WordPress Media, then uses it as featured_media
• Parses hashtags into clean tag slugs, checks if each tag exists in WordPress, and creates missing tags
• Publishes the post via the WordPress REST API (/wp-json/wp/v2/posts) with the collected tag IDs
• Updates the same Google Sheets row to POSTED and writes posted_at + post_url

How to set up

1. Make a copy of the Google Sheets template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lJDeaN75c1hBk0gddsdvbeXDuxDr5Q-NablHRSjvLjQ/edit?gid=0#gid=0
2. Connect Google Sheets credentials in n8n and point the workflow to your spreadsheet + sheet tab.
3. Connect WordPress credentials (recommended: Application Password) for REST API access.
4. Ensure your sheet has columns like: id, status, title, excerpt, body, image_url, hashtags.

Requirements

• WordPress site with REST API enabled
• Credentials set via n8n (no hardcoded secrets)
• Publicly accessible image_url (or adjust the workflow for private assets)

How to customise

• Swap Manual Trigger for Cron to publish on a schedule
• Add categories, custom post types, or draft mode
• Extend error handling to write error_message and set status = ERROR when publishing fails