They may seem alike, but there are some key differences between posts and pages.
In many ways, posts and pages are similar. However, there are a few key differences that you will need to bear in mind when you are creating content.
Posts
Most of the content you create on your WordPress site will be in the form of posts. They are a defining factor of the blogging format – if you are using a traditional blog layout, they will be listed in reverse chronological order on your home page. Additionally, visitors to your site can leave comments on your posts.
You are able to assign posts to categories, and you can also “tag” them with relevant keywords. They will display in category lists, archives, and RSS feeds.
You can manipulate the display of posts in many ways – for instance, you can install widgets (find out more) that displays the most popular or recent posts (I have not included a link to a recent posts widget because it is already available in a standard WordPress install).
Pages
“One-off” things such as About pages and Privacy Policies are usually published as pages. They will typically be listed in your navigation bar, although you can also display them in a widget.
You will probably only have a few pages. You will have lots of posts.
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Thanks Tom for showing us the difference between post and pages… They are really similar and most times hard to differentiate them for beginners to understand and not get confused… Will refer to this post any time a newbie ask me this question again… Thanks
I wrote a post on an earlier WordPress MultiSite set up (back then it was still MultiUser) explaining to users the difference and importance of recognising the difference – and only the other day (February 3, 2012), I used the same post on a new Multi Site WordPress blogging platform (with a few alterations)…
You have captured a big pointer I have missed explaining to my users… …FEEDS!
For a newbie user, info like this is very important… it is second nature to the rest of us.
I even knew a blogger that would edit the same post each time he felt it needed updating… It is important to know posts are like newspaper articles… that is – once written… they should remain in history… and if you feel you should update, then you should write a new post referencing what you have posted in the past.
This is indeed a hard concept for new users – cheers for posting the tip :)
Absolutely right. An alternative to writing a new post (especially if you are just making minor changes) is to cross out the old content and write in the new amendment, with the appropriate HTML markup.
Think of posts being associated with a specific date and time; they are time/date sensitive. Where a page is not associated/published with a “publish date” in mind.
Pages are indexed on the back-end differently, too, and using more than a few of them can significantly deteriorate the performance of your site or entire server as you navigate thru the dashboard or as dynamic menus are generated which are based on Pages. This is another reason to use Posts wherever possible, and reserve Pages for non-content (contact & about).
Thanks Tom for showing us the difference between post and pages… They are really similar and most times hard to differentiate them for beginners to understand and not get confused… Will refer to this post any time a newbie ask me this question again… Thanks
No problem Kelvin!
I wrote a post on an earlier WordPress MultiSite set up (back then it was still MultiUser) explaining to users the difference and importance of recognising the difference – and only the other day (February 3, 2012), I used the same post on a new Multi Site WordPress blogging platform (with a few alterations)…
You have captured a big pointer I have missed explaining to my users… …FEEDS!
For a newbie user, info like this is very important… it is second nature to the rest of us.
I even knew a blogger that would edit the same post each time he felt it needed updating… It is important to know posts are like newspaper articles… that is – once written… they should remain in history… and if you feel you should update, then you should write a new post referencing what you have posted in the past.
This is indeed a hard concept for new users – cheers for posting the tip :)
Absolutely right. An alternative to writing a new post (especially if you are just making minor changes) is to cross out the old content and write in the new amendment, with the appropriate HTML markup.
Think of posts being associated with a specific date and time; they are time/date sensitive. Where a page is not associated/published with a “publish date” in mind.
Good point Steve – thanks!
Great post for people looking to learn about wordpress! Thanks!
No problem Bhavik :-)
Pages are indexed on the back-end differently, too, and using more than a few of them can significantly deteriorate the performance of your site or entire server as you navigate thru the dashboard or as dynamic menus are generated which are based on Pages. This is another reason to use Posts wherever possible, and reserve Pages for non-content (contact & about).
Good advice Shawn – thanks :-)