Written By
Daren LowUpdated On
June 28, 2024
So you’ve chosen to build your website in WordPress—fantastic! You can finally get those extra leads and create the content you’ve always wanted.
But, before getting right into it, it’s helpful to understand the fundamentals such as the differences between WordPress Posts and Pages. In a nutshell: pages are used for static content that doesn’t regularly change (like a ‘Contact Us’ page), and posts are for content that changes or is updated often (like a blog post).
For most newbies, it can be pretty confusing to differentiate the two especially since these two types of content look almost the same. Dive into the details below.
Table Of Contents
What Is A WordPress Post?
When WordPress first came out (well over ten years ago!), it was mainly used as a blogging platform. A single blog entry was basically referred to as a WordPress Post. This makes a lot more sense given how WordPress Posts are organized and structured.
Nowadays, posts are still used as blog posts but don’t have to be.
Posts can be used for ANY type of content, and you don’t even have to show the publication date if you’d prefer your content to be more evergreen.
Another good WordPress practice is to categorize your posts. You can do this by linking to the category archives in your navigation menu. Categories help organize your content into useful topics, which helps your readers differentiate your content.
What’s more, posts give your audience the option to subscribe to your content’s RSS feed, enabling them to follow newly published content on your website. It’s also helpful that they can leave comments on your blog posts (although you can disable this feature), which will increase website engagement.
On top of this, including social sharing buttons in your posts will make it easy for website visitors to distribute your content among their networks and grow your audience.
With all that said, you’ll also want to make sure that your content is stored properly on a strong foundation. That’s why you gotta use one of the best web hosts around. After all, it would be pretty frustrating if your site isn’t able to run at its best all the time!
Then, What Is A WordPress Page?
Simply put, pages are static. Content that you don’t need to regularly update is placed here. They are generally purely informational pages that typically do not support social sharing or comments.
Below are some examples of WordPress Pages:
- History
- Privacy Policy
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Shipping
Although creating a page is very similar to creating a post, pages are not listed under the blog section of a website. They don’t use tags and categories in the same way that posts do. That’s why WordPress Pages should be added to the navigation menu in order for your web visitors to be able to access them freely and easily.
Pages are also not included in the archiving system. What this means is they can’t be found by year or month and will not be pushed down an archive page when new content is published above them. They are instead accessible via links in the header or footer navigation and exist as separate pages on the website.
In line with this, pages can be personalized and made to look lovely and distinctive by using pre-made templates. You can utilize managed WordPress hosting platforms with website builders such as DreamHost. Using this, pages can be simple and minimal, or include intricate visual elements like a picture carousel.
WordPress Pages vs. Posts: 5 Important Differences To Know
In WordPress, posts and pages are very similar to one another, making it sometimes challenging for beginners to distinguish between the two. Fortunately, there are 5 main differences to tell them apart:
- Social engagement Posts were designed specifically to increase audience engagement, if that’s what you’re after. The fact that posts by default include a comments section—which you can turn off if you’d like—is one factor. What’s more, the majority of themes also include built-in social sharing buttons that make it simpler for your readers to tell their social networks about the content they enjoy.
- Organization The way that content is accessed and consumed on a website is greatly influenced by the way that it is organized. Posts and pages differ from one another in this regard. Taxonomies are used to arrange posts. This makes content easier to find for your readers and you can group related pieces together by using categories and tags. Pages, on the other hand, follow a hierarchical structure. You can arrange them based on the importance you assign to each page. You can pretty much accomplish this by setting up pages as parent and child pages.
- Timeliness One of the primary distinctions between pages and posts is that posts are time-sensitive, whereas pages are timeless. What this means is that pages are used for content that does not change frequently, such as company information. You can, of course, change this information whenever you have to. The publication date of posts, on the other hand, is specified. The date aids users and search engines in determining the relevance of the post’s information.
- RSS feed syndication The RSS feed syndication feature in WordPress is another glaring distinction between posts and pages. Pages cannot be added to an RSS feed, but Posts can.
- Indication of Author and Date You’ll notice that most posts include author attribution as well as a date of publication. These will not be found on pages.
Should I Make A WordPress Post Or A Page?
Well, this is entirely up to you! But, whether you’re making a post or a page, categorization will be very important, both for organizational and SEO reasons.
And, before you start, make sure you have a reliable WordPress backup plugin too, which will guarantee that, should an error occur, you can quickly restore your website to its original glory!
With that said, here are some things to take note of when deciding whether to make a page or a post.
When to use a Page
Content that must be accessed frequently works best on pages. Your site’s main menu will link to your most crucial Pages. This means that your type of content should be typically static; these include “About Us” and “Contact” pages.
Pages should also be used for any content that is arranged hierarchically. You might, for instance, have a page for each department in your business. Selecting the Main Page as the “Parent” under Page Attributes for each of the departmental Pages will group those Pages under the Main Page.
When to use a Post
On the other hand, things like blogs, news articles, event announcements, and other time-sensitive content work best as posts. For instance, if you want the readers who subscribe to your updates via RSS to see your content as a new item, then posts are the way to go.
Posts can also be used for content with numerous individual entries that need to be categorized and tagged in order to be arranged around a common theme. For example, you might Post a music review that you want to categorize by genre. Every genre should have its own category, which you should then assign to each of your reviews (Posts).
WordPress Pages vs. Posts: What’s Better For SEO?
In general, one isn’t really better than the other. Search engines view it as all content, and both types are subject to the same indexing algorithm.
The decision between pages and posts is influenced by a number of other factors, though, which ultimately affect your site’s organic ranking. Remember these things as you divide your content between the two types:
- Structure appeals to search engines Sitemaps should be used, and your pages need to be properly organized in terms of menus and hierarchy.
- Taxonomy is also popular with search engines This aids in the organization of content according to semantic groups and topics. In order to rank for the keywords you want, taxonomy should be carefully chosen and distributed among pages and posts.
- User experience is also important If Google is pleased with your website, you will rank higher. Engagement and conversion metrics are used to gauge user satisfaction, such as pages per visit, time on site, bounce rate, and so on.
Technically speaking, there might be a difference, but you shouldn’t worry about it if you’re just starting out. You’ll want to first focus your efforts into organizing your website for visitors.
WordPress Pages vs. Posts: Putting It All Together
Now that you know all about the distinctions between WordPress Posts and Pages, it’s time to consider your website and the content you’re publishing.
For each piece of content you intend to publish, you should use the most appropriate content type. And, keeping your visitors in mind as you do this will help a lot with your website goals too.
After all, the purpose of your website is to benefit your users. You wouldn’t want them to click out of your site because they can’t find what they’re looking for without much difficulty. No need to worry though, as long as you follow our guide, you’ll be on the right track!