Page or post in WordPress: which to use for what

The short answer: use a page for what does not change with time and is part of the site (About, Services, Contact) and a post for what has a date and keeps adding up (news, tips, updates). The difference is not only looks: WordPress treats them differently, and choosing wrongly costs tidying later.

The differences

Page Post
Has a date No. Yes, and appears most recent first.
Goes in the blog and the feeds No. Yes.
Has categories and tags No. Yes.
Can have “child” pages Yes (Services > Websites). No: organised by categories.
Comments Usually off. Usually on.
Examples Home, About, Contact, Prices, Privacy policy. “Five tips for...”, “October news”, a client’s case.

How to decide

1 Ask yourself: “A year from now, will this still be true and part of the site?” If so, it is a page.
2 Ask yourself: “Is this news or a tip that will join others?” If so, it is a post.
3 Create it in the right place: Pages > Add New, or Posts > Add New: Creating and editing pages and Writing a post.
4 Put the pages in the menu and the posts in the blog: Menus in WordPress.
5 Link the two: a post should point to the service page it talks about: Internal links.
Do not use posts for what should be a page. A “Contact” as a post disappears under the news and ends up with a 2025 date. And do not use pages for news: you lose the list, the categories and the order. WordPress does not convert one into the other by itself; it is done by hand, or with a plugin.
For a small business, 5 to 8 pages and a blog with a few good posts are enough.

Already have content of the wrong type and want help? Open a ticket with the address and what you want to change.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Creating and editing pages in WordPress

Writing a blog post in WordPress

Internal links: how to link your own pages so nothing stays hidden

WordPress permalinks and the 404 that follows

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