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If you want an easy way to manage your content online, then you really should consider building your website with WordPress.

WordPress provides website owners with two content publishing types: WordPress Posts and WordPress Pages.

In this article you are going to discover the most important differences between WordPress Posts and WordPress Pages and which type you should use when publishing content to your site.

First, we’ll explain the differences, and then we’ll show you when to use Pages and Posts on your web site.

WordPress WordPress Pages And Posts

WordPress lets you publish content online using either a Post or a Page.

Although your blog readers and site visitors may not care whether you choose to publish content online using Posts or Pages, it’s important that you understand the differences between these two types, so you can know when to use one or the other whenever you have new information to share online.

Let’s have a look, then, at these differences, starting with WordPress Posts.

We explain all of the features associated with WordPress Posts and Pages mentioned in this tutorial in detail in separate tutorials.

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Posts

What do you think about when you hear the word “blogging“? Most people associate blogs with content related to publishing opinions, sharing latest news, and so on.

When writing content for a blog, you would normally use a post. We refer to these as “blog posts.”

Posts can be used to publish all of the above content online, but there is another reason for using WordPress blog posts, and that is covered in detail in our WordPress Traffic Blueprint article series.

To learn more about this series, go here: Website Traffic Blueprint

By default, Posts are entries listed by date and typically displayed in reverse chronological order on your site home page, so that your most recently-published entries show above the older entries …

(Blog posts normally display in reverse chronological order, with the latest entry at the top)

How WordPress Posts Display

Posts can be displayed as entry summaries on the home page or the blog section of your website …

(Blog posts displayed as entry summaries on a blog page)

An also in their entirety on a theme’s single blog page …

(Single post page)

To learn how to create a blog page in WordPress, see this tutorial: How To Create A Blog In Your WP Site

To learn how to create a new WordPress Post, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A New WordPress Post

Sticky WordPress Posts

“Sticky” WordPress Posts display before your other blog posts …

(WordPress Posts can be featured on your blog)

Note: We cover how to make a WordPress post “sticky” in another tutorial.

Where WordPress Posts Display On Your Website

Posts can be referenced in various sections of your WordPress site like Archive Pages, Tags, Recent Posts, as well as in a number of widgets …

(Posts display throughout different sections of your site)

Posts also display in your RSS feed section, which makes your content easier to syndicate …

(Posts automatically appear in your WordPress RSS feed)

A post can display a comments section below the main content area, allowing blog readers to leave comments and questions …

(WordPress Commenting Fields)

You can organize posts using Post Categories…

(WordPress Category Archives)

Posts can also be grouped using Post Tags …

(WordPress Tags)

Note: We explain WordPress Categories, Tags, RSS Feeds, etc. in more detail in separate articles and tutorials.

Now that we’ve looked at some of the unique characteristics of Posts, let’s take a look at the similarities between WordPress Pages and Posts.

Similarities Between Posts Vs Pages

Here are some of the main similarities between posts and pages:

• Pages and posts both share the same features and methods for adding page/post titles using title fields and creating and editing content using the WordPress Content Editor.
• WP pages and posts use theme templates to keep the look of your website or blog consistent.
• WP posts and pages let you use keyword-rich URLs
• Posts and pages are viewed as indexable content by search engines.
• Depending on the plugins and theme you have installed on your website, WordPress pages and posts both give you control over SEO settings like Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords.
• Depending on the plugins and theme you have installed, content from or links to posts and pages can display in your menu and widget areas.

Although WP posts and pages can be very similar in many respects, pages have a number of distinct characteristics that separate them from posts.

WP Pages

Pages typically are added outside of the blog chronology and are mostly used to present content that is not as time-sensitive as Posts, such as:

• Company Information
• Contact Information
• Product Pages
• Schedules Or Fixed Events
• Earning Disclaimers
• Terms Of Use
• User Testimonials
• etc …

WordPress Pages are not listed by date, and do not use categories and tags.

You can, however, use Pages to help you organize and manage your site content hierarchically.

Parent & Child Pages

For example, you can organize your primary subjects into “Parent” pages (where each of your main content areas gets its own page), and then add subpages for each of your main topics into “child” pages …

(In WordPress, main pages and subpages are also referred to as “parent” pages and “child” pages)

You can add as many subpages as you want to keep your content organized into “topic hierarchies”, as shown in the diagram below …

(Organize Your Pages Using Parent & Child Pages)

Pages can be displayed in the sidebar of your website using the Pages Widget …

(Display A List Of Your Pages Using A Pages Widget)

In the screenshot above, a “Pages Widget” is used to display links to five parent pages and three “nested” pages.

As well as displaying pages through sidebar widgets, many themes also display pages in menus inside the header and footer sections of your site …

Templates For WP Pages

Pages can also use different page templates. Page templates can include template files, template tags and other PHP code that allow unique, complex or sophisticated elements to be added.

This is useful for creating different page styles, such as:

• Sales Pages
• Landing Pages
• Video Pages
• Membership Pages
• etc.

For example, below are just some of the various types of sales page templates made available to users of a popular theme for marketers called OptimizePress …

(Sample page templates from OptimizePress)

In its simplest form, “pages” should be used for “non-blogging” content and “posts” for telling people about your business. In fact, if you were to remove all blog posts from your website or blog, you would have something that resembles a traditional website (i.e. a website that comprises of the standard web pages found in most business websites.)

What Pages Are Not

Another way to understand the important differences between WordPress posts and pages is to look at what WordPress pages are not:

• Pages are not posts. Pages are not processed by the WordPress Loop, which is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts and to cycle post data (like time, category, etc.) through the main page of your blog. Note, however, that you can change this through the use of various plugins or customizations.
• Pages cannot be associated with post categories and cannot be assigned tags. This means that pages can only be organized according to a hierarchy where you specify and assign parent pages and child pages, not by referencing tags or categories.
• Pages are not static files. Unlike traditional websites that are built from a collection of static pages saved as individual files within your server, pages are created, managed and stored in your CMS (same goes for Posts).
• Pages are not included in your site’s RSS feed. Earlier, we explained that posts display in your RSS feed. Pages do not. Note: there are plugins available that will display pages in your site’s RSS feed.
• Pages (or a specific post) can be set as the “home” page. In separate tutorials we explain how to specify a page to be the main page of your website, and show you how to create a separate page to display your latest blog entries (where a list of your latest blog posts will display in a blog page).

Because posts and post content can be referenced from many different sections of your WordPress site (e.g. archives, searches, tags, categories, RSS feeds, custom menus, etc.) than content published using pages, many SEO experts recommend publishing content designed to attract more exposure from search engines using posts instead of pages.

What Type Of Content Can Be Added To Posts And Pages?

WordPress lets you easily add and edit the following types of content into Posts and Pages:

Text

Add plain, formatted and/or hyperlinked text using different fonts and styles to posts and pages …

(Add text to WordPress)

WordPress lets you add text-based content into pages and posts using either the Visual Content Editor, or an HTML Editor (or both).

Depending on how you choose to configure your settings and plugins, you can also add “meta” text to posts and pages (e.g. titles, keywords and descriptions that let you specify how you want your posts or pages to appear in search results), create custom excerpts, etc.

Media

You can add or embed media content into pages and posts, such as videos, audio files, Flash presentations, images, photos, graphic elements, banners, etc …

(Add media to WordPress)

Add Scripts

With WordPress you can insert scripts into your posts and pages using code or applications like Javascript, shortcodes and numerous plugins.

Many applications allow you to control your content remotely. This is useful for managing things like site-wide banner ads, subscription forms and time-sensitive content (e.g. special pricing), or adding information such as tax rates, feeds, etc …

(Add content to WordPress via externally-managed scripts and applications)

Content can also be added to posts and pages by inserting code directly into your file templates. Please note, however, that in order to be able to modify site templates, you will need to have at least a basic understanding of code languages like HTML and PHP.

As you can see, WordPress posts and pages have a number of significant differences, and knowing about these differences can help you decide when to use one or the other type to publish your content.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit other posts we have published on this site.

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Disclaimer: This site is not associated with WordPress or any of the WordPress products written about on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. The product images used in this review have been sourced from the plugin’s own website.

Originally posted 2015-11-30 15:34:17.