What is a Post in WordPress?
A post is one of WordPress’s built-in content types (post types), used for blog entries, news, and other dated articles. WordPress lists posts in reverse chronological order on your blog page, organizes them with categories and tags, and includes them in your site’s RSS feed. Static content, like an About page, belongs in a page instead.
More About Posts
Posts are the content type at the core of the WordPress CMS. WordPress started life as a blogging platform, and it shows: you get a full-blown post editor with drafts and revisions, plus post statuses that carry an article from draft to pending review to scheduled or published.
The Posts tab in your WordPress dashboard lists every post on your site. That's where you edit and update older entries or start a new one.
You'll usually write posts in the Block Editor, though many plugins add alternative editors and page builders if you'd rather work differently.
Posts vs. pages
Posts and pages are the two main content types built into WordPress, and they do different jobs.
- Posts are dated. WordPress stamps each one with an author and publish date, lists them newest first on your blog feed, organizes them with categories and tags, and includes them in your RSS feed.
- Pages are static. They sit outside the blog feed, don't use categories or tags, and can nest into parent and child hierarchies, like yoursite.com/about/team/.
The decision rule: use a post for anything time-based, like news, tutorials, and announcements. Use a page for evergreen content, like your About, Contact, or Services pages.
Where published posts appear
A new post appears at the top of your posts page as soon as it publishes. WordPress also files it into archives automatically, with category, tag, date, and author pages all listing it, and adds it to your site's RSS feed, which is how feed readers learn you've published something new.
Whether that blog feed is your homepage is a setting, not a rule. By default, WordPress shows your latest posts on the front page. Assign a static front page under Settings > Reading and your posts move to whichever page you pick instead.
Other post types in WordPress
In WordPress's internal taxonomy, a post is one post type among several built-ins: posts, pages, attachments, and revisions all live in the same wp_posts database table, separated by a type label. Plugins can also register custom post types for content that doesn't fit either mold. Everything is technically a "post" under the hood, but in the dashboard and in everyday use, a post means a blog entry.
Planning something evergreen instead? Create a page. If it's dated content, write a post, and see our complete guide to WordPress posts for the full walkthrough of writing, formatting, and publishing one.
Frequently Asked Questions
- In the editor's settings sidebar, click the publish date (set to "Immediately" by default), pick a future date and time, then click Schedule. WordPress publishes the post automatically at that moment. Our guide to scheduling posts in WordPress covers plugin options too.
- Yes. The free Post Type Switcher plugin adds a drop-down to the editor that reassigns the type in place, or you can copy the content into a new post. Compare the old and new URLs afterward; if the address changed, set up a 301 redirect from the old one.
- WordPress sets no fixed post-count cap. In practice, database size, hosting resources, and plugins determine how big an archive stays fast. Under Settings > Reading, "Blog pages show at most" controls how many posts appear per blog page, not how many your site can hold.
- A sticky post stays pinned to the top of your blog feed instead of sliding down as newer posts publish. Use it for an announcement every visitor should see, then unstick it when the news gets stale.
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