WordPress pages and articles: what's the difference?

Last updated on May 27, 2024

As you continue to learn WordPress, you will inevitably feel confused about WordPress posts and pages at some time. There are many online tutorials on how to perform various tasks in WordPress, but they often skip basic questions like this.

Understanding the main differences between pages and posts, and understanding the meaning of choosing one option instead of the other, is the basic knowledge of using WordPress.

In this article, we will introduce the overall differences between posts and pages in WordPress. Next, we'll take a closer look at each category to help you better understand why the WordPress team created pages and posts.

We'll delve into some of the most common questions about pages and posts. (For example, when should one of them be used? How will WordPress posts and pages affect SEO? How are they related in CMS?) Finally, we will briefly describe how they differ from categories in WordPress.

WordPress page and post: What's the difference?

Before we study the difference between posts and pages in WordPress, let's briefly understand the definition of each term:

WordPress Posts

WordPress Posts constitute the Blog part. WordPress posts contain content written in the publishing order, and can be arranged and classified. Posts can also be "fixed" in the blog, which means that they will be displayed first regardless of the release date. Here are some key things to know:

• These are usually news or information updates about a topic or talking points.
• Posts are arranged in reverse chronological order, and can be marked, classified, or even archived on your website.
• WordPress posts form the RSS content of your WordPress blog. Therefore, when someone subscribes to your RSS feed, your post will become the content delivered to them.
• Posts can be regarded as the news part of your website. They are dynamic and constantly changing for your end users to see.

WordPress Page

WordPress pages are similar to posts in that they all have a title and body, but they are different. WordPress pages usually contain more general content than posts. Unlike posts, the page does not come with a date. They are usually located in the static part of the WordPress website. For example, the part of the WordPress website that contains FAQs is probably the page. Pages can also be used to store posts in them like templates. Here are some key things to know:

• They are usually reserved for static content or information.
• For example, the About Me, Team page, or Contact page.
• Pages are not listed by date and cannot be classified or tagged like WordPress posts,
• Pages can have a hierarchy, which means that you can nest a page under other pages by setting one page as the "parent page" of another page to create a group of pages.
• Because of its static nature, the page is not included in the RSS feed, and there is no published date or time.

WordPress page description: 5 things you need to know

1. The page contains "static" or "evergreen" content

The most significant difference between a page and a post in WordPress is that in most cases (but not all), a page contains Static content. Common examples include FAQs, Contact Us pages, and pages containing terms and conditions and privacy policy. Technically, WordPress will store the creation and modification date of the page, but it will not display on the page. This is different from the highlighting on the post.

The page is essentially a part of your website and will remain unchanged. They should be "evergreen" or be relevant throughout the life cycle of your website.

2. Pages can be organized by hierarchy

Unlike blog posts, pages have a hierarchical structure. In other words, a page may have a "parent" page above it, or a "child" page below it. To set a page as a parent page or child page, you only need to set the properties of the page accordingly.

3. The page has its own settings

Predictably, all your WordPress website pages can be found on the "Page" menu on the dashboard. When you click "Create New Page", there are some other key matters to note.

First, some settings are not included by default. For example, if you want to add this feature to your page, you need to manually enable comments.

4. Pages can have different templates

Different from blog posts, the page provides different applications Of the page template Function. The template is generated from the WordPress theme you use. Templates allow you to change the format and layout of the page to meet your design needs.

5. The page is not displayed in the RSS feed by default

For people who use RSS feeds, even if you publish a page at a certain point after the website goes online, The page will not appear in the RSS feed of WordPress by default 。

WordPress article description: 5 things you need to know

Most of the content on the WordPress website is presented in the form of posts. Therefore, you will notice that "Post" is the first main menu option on the dashboard.

1. Posts are "dynamic" or time-based

Blog posts are usually intended to be news or information updates on a certain topic, which is different from the "evergreen" content on the page.

2. Posts are arranged by release date

When you create a post and add it to the WordPress website, it will appear first. This is because posts are arranged in reverse chronological order. WordPress posts pay more attention to dates and provide "news" channels for your website or blog. By default, when you post a post, the timestamp is automatically inserted with the author's name.

3. Enable comments by default

By default, WordPress allows comments on your blog posts. However, you can turn off comments in Settings>Discussion in the WordPress management dashboard.

4. Posts are organized in the file

When you launch the WordPress website for the first time, your latest blog posts will form the home page of the website. If you want them to be displayed on different pages, you need to create a new static page for them to display.

Blog posts are usually organized into Blog pages that need to be created. This is also called an archive page. To change the display location of all posts, go to Settings>Reading, and select the home page and post page (or archive) page you want.

5. Posts can be organized by category and label

One of the most common problems when dealing with WordPress posts is that they will be lost easily over time. Because posts are arranged in reverse chronological order by default, WordPress websites that often add posts may accidentally lose their tracks as posts age.

This is where categories and labels come into play.

What are WordPress post categories and tags?

WordPress provides two main mechanisms for organizing posts. First, you can use WordPress tags for keywords related to content in your posts. Webmasters often use "tag cloud", that is, widgets containing cloud tag arrays. The more frequently tags are used on website posts, the greater the display of tag text in the cloud.

You can choose to use categories instead of post tags or in combination with tags. When using labels, you can enter text and press Enter to enter each label. Categories are predefined and are usually just one word in WordPress. Generally, labels are more specific and categories are more general; However, they operate similarly.

Should I use WordPress posts or pages?

Whether you should create the latest works for your WordPress website in the form of posts or pages is entirely up to you. However, classification is really important, whether for SEO or organizational purposes.

Here are some guidelines for when to post and when to create a page.

When should I use WordPress posts?

If your published content matches half or more of them, then WordPress posts may be more suitable than WordPress pages:

• The content contains time sensitive information.
• The timestamp of a post is very important (because it will appear in the results of most search engines).
• You regularly write content for readers who expect new content. (It's much easier to remind regular readers to pay attention to posts than to remind pages.).
• It is not general content, such as privacy policy or terms of service documents (these should be pages).

When should I use a WordPress page?

Now that we have studied some factors that need to be considered when making new WordPress content into posts, let's see what signs indicate that it is more suitable for making pages. Similarly, if your content meets half or more of the key points, it is likely that it should be made into a page.

• The content is propaganda. In general, posts are more educational, and pages may play a more advertising role.
• The timestamp is not suitable for the content being published.
• This is the page where you want an unforgettable link (the post link is usually longer).
• You want this page to appear under the search results of the main website when the user searches this page.

WordPress SEO: WordPress pages and posts

When you are ready to publish content on the WordPress website, aesthetics and organization are not the only factors to consider. Many webmasters are surprised to find that the choice between page and post SEO (SEO) has a great impact.

First of all, following the tips for WordPress posts and pages listed above is a good start for achieving SEO goals. Strictly from the SEO perspective, if you try to build a link library to your website when users search your brand, then the page is the most useful. This ensures that the correct URL is highlighted and noticed, and that your website will have a more professional image.

Generally speaking, WordPress posts are more suitable for SEO than WordPress pages. Why? The metadata stored in posts may be more powerful, allowing search engines to reference it when customizing results. With accurate time stamps, authors, meta descriptions, potential tags, and potential categories, posts are arranged more neatly than pages.

Another factor to consider is the frequency of links to content. Posts will automatically link to other posts on your blog, and you may already know that the number of internal links is important for SEO purposes. On the other hand, the page does not automatically link to anything. This is not a problem if you take the time to manually link pages to each other.

In short, although posts are usually more conducive to SEO, everything depends on the environment of your WordPress website. There is no single correct answer, but by following our project rules and recommendations, you will be more likely to obtain excellent SEO results.

Is the ranking of WordPress pages or posts better?

Keep in mind that although posts and pages have different functions that may appeal to ranking algorithms, search engines do not specifically distinguish between posts and pages. Depending on the context, pages may rank higher than posts, and vice versa.

However, when creating a WordPress website, it is very important to make what content into posts and what content into pages. Here are five basic rules to help you rank successfully:

1. WordPress page It is used to save the evergreen content of your website. WordPress Posts It is used to provide more date oriented or "news" content.
2. Posts are aimed at ordinary readers and are regarded as more "one-off" content. Pages are used to store static content, Web applications, and specific parts of websites that are frequently visited.
3. Use the Share button wisely. WordPress administrators often put them on every page and post them on their website. Unfortunately, this weakens their effectiveness. Focusing these buttons only on the posts to be shared will increase their likelihood of being shared, and their ranking will also increase.
4. For WordPress page It is very important to include keywords 20-30 times as naturally as possible. If you are writing WordPress Posts , you should use the keyword research tool to find the list of various keywords, so as to string them together to obtain the best ranking opportunity.
5. Remember, WordPress developers never intended the difference between a WordPress page and a post to determine the page's ranking on the search engine. These different types of content help create a logical and complex website structure.

Can you add a post to the page in WordPress?

Yes, posts can definitely be added to WordPress pages. If you have a group of short posts that together form the content in the form of pages, this is the ideal choice. In the "real world", a common example is that music artists release a post when releasing each album; Then they create an album catalog page that automatically fills in each tagged album.

There are several ways to accomplish this task. Some webmasters like to perform this operation manually, which usually leads to unsatisfactory layout and unexpected consequences. Many plug-ins can do this for your WordPress website for free.

WordPress pages, articles, and categories

I hope the difference between the page and the post in WordPress is very obvious at this time. The page is more static, straightforward and "evergreen", aiming at permanent existence. Posts are more short and informal. It can also be seen as a form of contacting potential new visitors or sharers.

The difference between WordPress pages and posts is obvious, but how does the WordPress category affect this equation? This is a technical problem that WordPress webmasters often ignore.

Pages and posts in WordPress may look similar. However, the logical organization of each content is different. Pages are organized hierarchically, just like folders that contain other folders. A page can have a parent page, a child page, or both.

Unlike the way pages are organized, categories and tags are used to organize posts. Because posts are more decentralized in nature, they can be placed in general buckets or categories. In order to describe the content of the post more specifically and let visitors search more accurately, you may want to add tags. This will make it easy to manually enter text into the field for later lookup.

How much effort should I spend distinguishing between posts and pages?

Now that you are familiar with the difference between posts and pages, you may wonder whether it is important to remember these details. In general, you should know how these details are used logically. Search engines use machine learning, which will lead to the inherent ranking preference of websites that follow the established organizational tradition.

In addition, please note that pages, posts and categories are not the only items you need to track in your WordPress work! If there is no core WordPress security plug-in , you may not have a website at all. The key is to view all this information correctly and prioritize it appropriately.

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