What’s the difference between a Page and a Post in WordPress?
Depending on the theme you use, some of the things in the table below might behave a little differently than what I show here (for instance, not all themes list the pages in the nav bar). But as a rule, this is how it works.
Still confused?
Ask your question in the comments below. I’ll update the table with appropriate info as it comes up!
(Note: In this post, Pages and Posts are capitalized to distinguish between them. If “pages” is not capitalized, I’m talking about pages in the general “web page” sense. )
| POST | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Blogs, Articles, News | About, Contact, Services, Policies |
| Type of Content | Dynamic (most recent displays at top of page) |
Static Only changes if you edit the Page |
| How is it found? | Posts are displayed on the dynamic content page (i.e., Blog), category pages and tag pages | A link in the nav bar is created when a Page is created in most themes (can be customized) |
| Categories | At least one required | Not used |
| Tags | Optional | Not used |
| RSS feed (What is RSS?) |
Included | Not included |
| Time Stamps | Used | Not used |
| Displayed in widgets | Manipulated in various ways i.e., Recent Posts, Popular Posts, Random Posts, etc. |
List of Pages only |
| Layout Templates | This is something people are working on for Posts, but it’s still uncommon | Many themes provide templates for different Page layouts (i.e., full width, archives, 404) |
| Hierarchy | Post categories can have sub-categories, but Posts themselves cannot have sub-posts | Pages can have sub- or “child” Pages |
| Comments | Optional Allowing comments on blog posts is optional, but very, very common |
Optional Pages can allow commenting, but it’s much less common than for posts |
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This visual makes it very easy to understand the information being presented.
Did you take a screenshot of a spreadsheet or use a program?
Will´s last [type] ..newsletter iPad and iPhone Support- New Member Ambasador
Neither! This table is the result of a wonderful WordPress plugin called Table-Reloaded. It allows you to create multiple tables and plug them in where needed on posts or pages. Really useful!
Nice breakdown! Also good lead on the table plugin (love the table and will definitely use this). I’ve been thinking of putting my “important” content in pages that are navigable by menu dropdown and then use posts for more time-sensitive information. But now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t make EVERYTHING a post (some of which you could access via dropdown menu). Is there any reason why I SHOULDN’T put some tentpole content in pages? I feel like there is some hidden “negative” of pages that I’m not quite wrapping my head around….
Input is appreciated – thanks!
Alexis, usually the the way Pages are used is for info that isn’t going to change very often – About pages, Contact info, FAQs or Rules, that sort of thing. The downside to Pages is that because they don’t utilize Categories or Tags, they aren’t as searchable. If one only has a few pages of static information, then Pages are fine – they are all clearly visible in the nav bar and easy to find.
However, if you have tons and tons of static info, then you may want to go with Posts instead, so that you can use Categories and Tags to make them more findable.
If you have lots of info about various topics (aka “categories”), then you would want to use Posts, and assign them to those categories. Then when a reader visits, they can just select the category they want and peruse all of the available articles. The only downside to that is that older articles can get lost as they cycle away. The way to fix that is to use plugins for “Most Popular” or “Featured” posts in your sidebar. That way you can keep some of those older articles in front of new eyes.
Hope that helps!
Great clarity – am moving my pages back to posts now! Thanks for the advice