Parent Page WordPress: What is it & How to Use it Correctly

When starting out a new website, one of the last things most creators think about is their page structure. In WordPress, you can create a page hierarchy that is commonly referred to as the parent page and child page.

Creating a page hierarchy makes it easy for authors to keep track of pages, while also making it easier for visitors to find related content. Of course, there are situations when creating subpages is not ideal.

Thus, before you implement such a system on your website, you need to understand what it entails and when to use one.

Now, a page is different from a post in WordPress. Although they behave similarly, posts are meant for regularly producing content while pages are best used for static information, such as an “About Us” page or a contact form.

What Is A Parent Page In WordPress?

A parent page is a top-level page that is at the top of the hierarchy. Or in other words, it is the original page that child pages are derived from. Without the parent page, you cannot have a child page.

The parent page passes on its URL slug to all child pages, which makes it easy to identify them from one another.

For example, If I had a website that had PlayStation as the parent page, all child pages would have “/PlayStation” in their URL. Visitors need to pass through the parent page in order to access the child pages.

One exception to this would be the homepage. These pages cannot be set as the parent page under any circumstances in WordPress.

What Is A Child Page In WordPress?

A child page is a page that lives under a parent page in the hierarchy. It inherits the parent page’s slug and can only be accessed through the parent page unless the URL is manually entered.

If you had a child page called PS5, and a parent page called Playstation, the URL slug would be “/PlayStation/PS5” which makes it easy to locate the parent page.

There is no limit on the number of child pages that can come from a single parent. It is also possible for a child page to have a child page, which is commonly referred to as a grandchild page.

When Should You Have A Parent And A Child Page?

Understanding what a parent and child page is in WordPress is one thing, but understanding when to use one is another store entirely.

To be perfectly honest, choosing how and when to use them depends entirely on the kind of website you run.

For example, consider your typical business website, let’s say, home improvement. You may have a parent page called Services, with multiple child pages for each service you offer. This could be roofing, painting, repairs, and so on.

This is a pretty good use of the parent page because visitors will be aware you offer other services and would have to pass through the main service page, thus seeing everything else you offer.

Of course, there are times this isn’t a great option. For instance, if you run a blog, well, you are much more likely to take advantage of taxonomies like categories and tags for your posts versus creating multiple pages.

As you can already see, this can be a bit complicated, thus, there’s no right answer when it comes to when to use them.

How to Create A Parent Page In WordPress

Setting a page as the Parent Page is incredibly easy in WordPress. The only requirement is that the page must be published so it is selectable in the WordPress Page Attributes section of Gutenberg.

As long as that is done, it takes less than a minute to do.

With another published page in place on your website, go to the page you wish to make a child page or create a new page. Once there, expand the Page Attributes option in the editor settings.

Click on the Parent Page drop-down box and select the page you want to make as the parent. This means the current page you are on will become a child page.

Note: While you can select the homepage, it is highly recommended not to.

And that’s it. Save the changes and you’ll have your first parent page. You’ll be able to denote a subpage in the WordPress page viewer by the “-” in front of the title like so:

And with that, you now know how to make a Parent and Child page in WordPress. Whenever you do this, it is a good idea to create a new sitemap and submit it to Google. This is because your link structure has changed.

If you want to get the best SEO results, always reupload a new sitemap when you are adding a parent page in WordPress.

How Does A Parent Page Impact SEO In WordPress

One of the main advantages of using a parent page is the SEO benefits it can bring to your website, at least if you use them right. You see, it’s also possible to misuse these pages and hurt your SEO by creating duplicate content.

Let’s take a look at what to do to get the best SEO results and what to avoid.

The Content Must Be Relevant

One thing is consistent across all websites, they need to create content that is relevant to the keywords they are ranking for. And this is perhaps the most challenging part for parent and child pages, as many developers get it wrong.

A child page must consist of unique content that is relevant to the parent page. For instance, a parent page about Marvel and a child page about Ironman make perfect sense.

Whereas, a parent page about Game of Thrones and a child page about One Piece don’t.

Simply put, if the parent and child page does not consist of relevant material, they won’t rank well. In fact, they can actually hurt your rankings, but this is true for any kind of content you produce.

Avoid Duplicate Content

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make when it comes to parent and child pages is that in an attempt to make them relevant to one another, they end up becoming duplicate content.

The main cause of this is typically when a child’s page is not unique enough to stand on its own. For instance, imagine a scenario with a parent page about Pizza and a child page about Pepperoni Pizza.

That’s really similar. How different can these pages realistically be from one another?

While talented writers can make unique content like that stand out, the truth is most websites will fall into a trap and create what search engines call duplicate content, which hurts your search rankings.

Get More Clicks

One of the main reasons for a parent page and child page to exist in WordPress is to improve your navigation. Or in other words, make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.

Of course, this also makes it easier for search engines to understand the relationship between such pages, which is a benefit in itself.

This can help drive traffic between your pages, which is beneficial to your website’s SEO. The more clicks a page gets, the better it performs. Thus, sending visitors from your parent page to your child page can be a huge boon for SEO.

That said, you do want to make sure that the parent page has content to stand on its own. It can actually work against you if visitors are just using the parent page to get to the child page.

Alternatives To Parent Pages

WordPress has a variety of solutions for when you may not want to create a parent page that sometimes works better. Each one works well in specific cases, and you may already be using them on your site.

In fact, if you are not using the first one, you’ve done something very wrong.

Taxonomies

Taxonomies are one of the most important aspects of a well-maintained website. For most websites, this includes your categories and tags, which help visitors identify your post content.

Similar to a parent and child page, a category and post category share a similar relationship. In fact, it’s almost identical.

In many cases where you feel a separate page is not necessary, creating a post hierarchy is a much better option. And to do that, you will be utilizing your taxonomies like categories to properly separate them.

They also offer a similar benefit to parent pages when it comes to SEO. Realistically, you should use taxonomies no matter what you do. It’s just good web design.

Anchor Links

As I said earlier, one of the main benefits of a parent and child page is navigation, however, there are other options. One such is creating anchor links. These allow visitors to quickly navigate to a specific piece of content on a page.

In case you are not familiar with anchor links, these are text links a visitor can click on and have their page automatically scrolled to that location. It’s quite handy and they are present in every table of contents on the internet.

How is this a substitute for a parent page?

Well, instead of creating multiple pages, you could have a single larger page that utilizes anchor text for quick navigation. This helps you avoid duplicate content because it will be on the same page and makes on-page navigation much simpler.

Sidebar Menus

Another approach that can be wildly successful is focusing on your sidebar menu design. The sidebar is a widget area that is visible on every post or page in WordPress unless you change the visibility options.

That means it is an amazing area to post archives, search bars, recent posts, and other useful navigation options to help users quickly find what they are looking for regardless of what post or page they are currently viewing.

That said, it is important to avoid overcrowding your sidebar area. If there are too many items in it, it can be a real hindrance.

One way to avoid this is to make sure the elements you add to it are collapsable and expandable. This gives visitors control over what they see. Thus, if they don’t want to see a long list of archives, they can collapse the menu item.

Create A Parent Page In WordPress Today

As you can see there are many benefits to creating a parent page in WordPress, and it’s very easy to do. There are even several alternatives you can use to improve site navigation while still getting SEO benefits.

Has adding a parent page hierarchy improved your website’s SEO? Did you decide to try any of the alternatives?

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