Whenever you decide to start a blog or generally publish content on WordPress, you will be faced with the question of whether you should publish it as a WordPress page or a WordPress post.
This question is prominent not only in beginners’ and seasoned publishers’ minds. That is because, over time, the lines between WordPress pages and WordPress posts have blurred.
We will compare WordPress posts vs pages to help you understand what exactly they are and what are differences between them.
What are WordPress pages?
WordPress pages are static one of type content that you need to publish on your website. Primary examples include an about us page, a contact page, a privacy policy, etc. Even though WordPress internally stores the publishing date of the pages but usually, this information is not visible to the reader because they are timeless.
Additionally, WordPress pages are something that you do not update frequently or at all.
What are WordPress posts?
WordPress posts contain blog content, news content, and anything else you want to share with your readers. These are usually dynamic pages that you need to update over time.
The dominant mode of sharing content on your WordPress website is in the form of WordPress posts. Usually, the posts also mention the publication date to the reader unless you specifically hide the same.
Both WordPress posts and pages can be accessed through the site once you log in to your WordPress website.
WordPress posts vs pages
Now that you know what WordPress pages and posts are, it is time to look at the differences between them.
1. Time sensitivity:
WordPress pages are usually expected to be timeless. For example, publishing an about us page will seldom change for months or years together. Even corporate websites make such updates infrequently. The timeless content you need to publish on your website can be published on WordPress pages.
Posts are much more dynamic. You should update them from time to time. Not only that, if you want to share dynamic content with your readers, it is better to use WordPress posts.
Even search engines prefer to rank WordPress posts updated regularly.
Thus, time sensitivity is the primary difference between WordPress posts and WordPress pages.
2. Shareable:
Since WordPress pages are often static and contain timeless information, they are not that suitable for sharing. Because of the same, even when you install a social sharing plug-in on your website, it, by default, won’t embed the share buttons on WordPress pages. Of course, if you want to make the pages shareable, you can insert the social media sharing buttons on the pages. However, the general rule is that pages are not shareable because of static and timeless content.
On the other hand, posts have widgets like the one we mentioned in the screenshot above. They allow you to share the content on any social network and keep track of the number of shares that the post has received.
Usually, when you view a WordPress content link in your Facebook feed, it is in the form of a WordPress post because users like to share the latest well-updated content on social media.
Thus, if there is a piece of content that you would prefer the readers to share on their social media accounts, it is better to format it as a WordPress post and update it from time to time.
3. Organization mechanism:
The organization mechanism of WordPress posts and pages is entirely different.
You can organize WordPress pages as a parent page and a sub-page (child page). In the hierarchy, the parent page will always be higher. Most WordPress themes organize the parent and child pages so that when you move your cursor to the parent page on the upper navigation bar, you can view the child pages in the form of a drop-down menu.
To organize the WordPress post, there are quite a few options. Firstly, you can organize them by grouping them with similar attacks. That way, whenever a user clicks a particular tag, they will view all the associated posts. In the backend, you can also filter the post using such tags.
You can create subcategories and select the same while publishing a WordPress post. Additionally, you can also group the different WordPress posts into categories. The screenshot above clearly highlights that every time you publish a WordPress post, you will have the option to select or add a new category and tags.
The multiple classification options for WordPress posts certainly make it easy for you to organize such posts, even if there are thousands of them on your website.
4. Publisher information:
Truth be told, publishing author information, date, and time for both WordPress posts and pages is possible.
However, since WordPress pages often contain information like about us, and contact us, seldom does one need the author’s information with them. That is why most WordPress themes do not publish such information on a WordPress page.
The exact opposite is true for WordPress posts. By default, a WordPress post consists of an author name, category, tags, published date and time, and even an author profile in most cases. Of course, you can also hide this information, but it is expected in a WordPress post. Even search engines index this information to create dynamic search engine results.
5. Association:
As highlighted above, WordPress pages do not have any of the information. That is because such content is often associated with the website rather than the author. For example, even if you write an about us page for a website, it is assumed that the about us page is for the entire website unless you’re writing an author profile. Thus, ownership is associated with the website.
Whenever publishing a WordPress post in a personal capacity, it is assumed that it reflects the thoughts and opinions of the author rather than the entire website. Thus, the association is usually with the author regarding opinion and content published.
Now you know the difference between a WordPress page and a post, it is time to understand which one you should choose for publishing a specific piece of content.
How to choose whether you should publish a post or a page?
Two considerations can decide whether you should publish a WordPress post or page. We will cover those below.
1. Type of content:
The type of content is the primary consideration. Publishing a WordPress post is certainly a good idea if you’re sharing news or personal opinion.
For example, if you’re publishing your review of a book, it should be published as a WordPress post.
On the other hand, to syndicate all the book reviews you have published on your website, you can create a page by the name of Book Reviews and link all your WordPress book reviews post on that page. This page would only be updated when you publish a new book review; therefore, it is not as dynamic.
A book review can be updated when you get a note from the author or when you notice something new in the book, or when the book hits the bestseller list. That is why; a book review should be a WordPress post.
2. Importance:
The amount of importance you want to provide to the content also determines whether you should publish it as a WordPress post or page.
For example, you want the readers to know about the website, which is why the about us information is published as a page so that it is always in the navigation bar. You need to contact us for information to be prominent as well, which is why it is published as a page linked through the navigation of the website.
On the other hand, you need equal importance to be given to content you publish regularly, which is why you need to publish it as a post. Of course, you can also sticky those posts on the homepage if you want to give them more prominence.
When you consider these two criteria, it becomes easier for you to decide whether you want to publish a WordPress post or a WordPress page.
FAQ:
What is the purpose of pages in WordPress?
The purpose of a WordPress page is to share static content associated with the website and organized through hierarchy and needs higher prominence.
Can I convert a post to a page in WordPress?
By default, WordPress doesn’t allow you to change a post into a page. Rather than modifying the code, a much better idea would be to copy-paste the contents of a post to a page. Once you do so, you can delete or redirect the old post to the page.
Are pages or posts better for SEO?
Both pages and posts can be ranked, but since posts are updated more frequently, they have an advantage.
How many pages can a WordPress site have?
WordPress doesn’t have a limit on either pages or posts which you can add to a WordPress website.
Conclusion:
If you are confused between WordPress posts vs pages, simply follow our guide above, and you will know which content you need to publish. Rather than publishing content in the wrong format on your website, it is a much better idea to go through the differences and the criteria for choosing between a page and a post, and you shouldn’t have a problem publishing on your WordPress website.
We hope our guide “WordPress pages vs posts: all you need to know” was helpful, for any more questions feel free to comment below and we’ll reply as soon as possible.