WordPress has two types of pages to share your content on. It can be confusing for new bloggers to know when to use a Page and when to use a Post. Post vs Page will make your choice easy.

This post will show you how to make that decision

1. The differences
2. Examples
3. Changing from a post to a page and visa-versa.

In my post How to Change a Page URL |Protect SEO|Traffic  One reason I needed to make changes was that when I started blogging I sometimes added content to Pages and sometimes to Posts. In the Admin of a site both these types of pages look very much alike, and it is confusing.

In the comments of this post, Nikki recently asked – ” I need a bit of clarification to understand. What’s the difference between Pages and Post Pages?“

This is a very good question, and Nikki just wanted confirmation that she was doing it correctly, assigning her content to either a Post or a Page.

Post vs Page WP |When to Use Each

1. The differences Post vs Page

Post – carries content that you want read and shared

Page – carries content that is not generally shared, but they can be shared

Post – goes into your RSS feed

Page – Pages do not go into the RSS feed

Post – joins a blog page index that records your content posts, in reverse chronological order. The newest is placed first.

Page – Pages do not go to this index of shared content

Post – are dated with the published date

Page – are not dated with the published date

Post – can be placed into categories

Page – uses a hierarchical system. 

Post – Many bloggers use e.g. Shareaholic. Shareaholic can advertize your posts to encourage readers to enjoy your other pages.

Page – Plugins like Shareaholic do not advertize Pages

2. Examples – when to use each

Post –

• All of your content that you want on a reverse chronological index, will come from a Post.
• All content to be shared under a category will be put on a Post.
• Everything that you want in your RSS feed will be published on a Post.

Page –

• Your About page is best on a Page – it is static and not dated.
• The landing page for an e-book or other product would be on a Page.
• A thank you page should be on a Page.
• A Download page would be on a Page.
• Your Contact form might be on a Page, or code into a widget.
• A shopping cart would be on a Page.
• My Blogger’s Pit Stop linky has a Helps page, it is on a Page and can only be viewed via a link.
• A linky party banner page usually is on a Page
• Any content not to be openly shared, put it on a Page. You may have a link from a Post leading to a Page, but the Page itself is not shared on the menu.

3. Changing from a Post to a Page or visa-versa

It is important not to transfer the content from one to the other and delete the one you don’t want.

If you do, the result is that you lose search engine ranking.

You will lose visitors who try to reach the deleted page.

Your visitors will become frustrated with your site judging it as difficult to navigate.

Use a 301 redirect as described in Change a Page URL

That way anyone who tries to go to the old page will seamlessly be redirected to the new page. Even if you are retiring a page and not renewing it, do a 301 redirect to any of your other helpful pages.

There are several Plugins that say they can do the change for you; many seem old and not updated. One recently updated plugin is Post Type Switcher.

I use this to change a Page to a Post.  I am impressed. It is much easier than doing a 301 redirect. When the change was made it put the ‘new post’ under the date that it was originally published as a Page. The URL stays the same.

Reviving an old Page and making it as a ‘NEW’ Post

If you are reviving the content of an old page don’t use the plugin because you don’t want a stale date on it. To turn an old Page into a ‘NEW’ Post, use the 301 redirect method. This way the ‘new post’ goes in as a new post with the new date on it making it look fresh.

I trust you have found this information helpful – Post vs Page WP |When to Use Each

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