{"id":41869,"date":"2022-12-22T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=41869"},"modified":"2023-01-09T11:53:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T10:53:28","slug":"what-is-parent-page-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/what-is-parent-page-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Parent Page in WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Websites, and WordPress ones especially, benefit from structure more than they do from spontaneity and doing things without a plan. Structure and order make websites easy to navigate, and <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wordpress-website-navigation\/\">navigation is a big deal<\/a> because the harder it becomes, the less successful your website is. Structure is also important for understanding your website, both by its visitors and <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-search-engines-work\/\">search engines\u2019 crawlers<\/a>. That\u2019s one of the reasons why you\u2019d want, for example, to learn how to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-style-wordpress-navigation-menus\/\">style navigation menus<\/a> on your website, but also to learn about the innate ways in which WordPress organizes content. And that\u2019s where the question of what a parent page WordPress feature is might arise.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]In this article, we\u2019ll explain what parent pages are and why they\u2019re important. We\u2019ll also take this opportunity to brush up on some of the WordPress basics we\u2019ve covered in other articles, too \u2013 you can never have too many refreshers on something as important as the ways WordPress enables you to create and structure content.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Get ready to read:<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#primer-on-pages\">A Primer on Pages<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#what-is-parent-page\">What Is a Parent Page?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#why-create-parent-page\">Why Create a Parent Page?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#how-to-create-parent-page\">How to Create a Parent Page<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;new-top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"primer-on-pages\"><\/a>A Primer on Pages<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/High-Quality-Content-Strategy.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"High-Quality Content Strategy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/High-Quality-Content-Strategy.jpg 970w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/High-Quality-Content-Strategy-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/High-Quality-Content-Strategy-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/High-Quality-Content-Strategy-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Pages are one of the two ways you can publish stuff online using WordPress, the other being posts.<\/strong> The two have <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/difference-between-posts-and-pages-wp\/\">plenty of differences<\/a> and are best understood by the role they play. Posts are created to allow you to publish content you plan to edit later, display in chronological order with dates, times, and bylines, and organize using tags and categories. <strong>They are what blogs are mostly made from.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You can have pages on blogs, too, <strong>but a page tends to be the building block of what you\u2019d usually perceive as and call \u201ca website.\u201d<\/strong> Pages aren\u2019t usually attributed visibly to an author, and the time and date don\u2019t matter to them, so they\u2019re not displayed. The content on them doesn\u2019t need to be as timely or time-sensitive as the content on posts has. <strong>Even though they are dynamic by nature, the content you display on pages tends to be static in the sense that you won\u2019t be changing it that often.<\/strong> It&#8217;s very much a set it and forget it type of thing.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]For the topic at hand, however, the defining trait of pages isn\u2019t the content you use them for, or whether they provide attribution to their authors. It\u2019s how they\u2019re organized. <strong>While posts use, as we mentioned, tags and categories to be grouped in a horizontal, non-hierarchical way, pages use a different organization method.<\/strong> They rely on a system or parent and child pages, or pages and subpages, to create a shallow but effective hierarchy.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"what-is-parent-page\"><\/a>What Is a Parent Page?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/What-Is-a-Parent-Page.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"What Is a Parent Page\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/What-Is-a-Parent-Page.jpg 970w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/What-Is-a-Parent-Page-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/What-Is-a-Parent-Page-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/What-Is-a-Parent-Page-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]When you want to create a hierarchy of pages, say to demonstrate that a single page represents an overview of a topic \u2013 or an intro \u2013 and then that other pages represent content that\u2019s narrower in scope, you turn to the parent-child page dynamic. <strong>In this dynamic, the parent page \u2013 or just the page \u2013 is above the child page \u2013 or a subpage<\/strong>. To visually represent it, a parent page would be like the title of this article with the intro and table of content, while the subheadings would be child pages.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Here&#8217;s what that would look like in practice.<\/strong> Say you\u2019re a dentist, and you\u2019re building a new website for your practice. You\u2019ve opted for <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/managed-wordpress-hosting\/\">managed WordPress hosting<\/a>, installed an awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/theme-tag\/dentist-wordpress-themes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">premium WordPress dentist theme<\/a>, and you\u2019ve started building pages for the website. There\u2019s the front page, the about us page, and the contact us page. Those are the no-brainers. <strong>But when you want to create a services page to list all the things you can do for your patients, you decide it wouldn\u2019t be best to either just list them by name, or describe them fully, on one page.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You can opt to give each service its own page, with its design, images, and optimized copy. <strong>In that case, a good way to structure that part of your website would be to create a general services page and designate it as the parent page.<\/strong> The pages for specific services are assigned a child status and placed under the services page in the page hierarchy.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"why-create-parent-page\"><\/a>Why Create a Parent Page?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-Create-a-Parent-Page.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Why Create a Parent Page\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-Create-a-Parent-Page.jpg 970w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-Create-a-Parent-Page-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-Create-a-Parent-Page-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-Create-a-Parent-Page-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]There are a couple of reasons why you would want to designate a page to be a parent page. <strong>For one, doing so will ensure that the pages are displayed properly whenever they are listed, with child pages nested under the parent page.<\/strong> Listing the pages or making sure that they\u2019re displayed in a way that they can be seen or accessed by your website\u2019s visitors, is something you have to do either by using a plugin or custom code. We\u2019ve created a <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/show-child-pages-of-wordpress-parent-page\/\">guide on displaying child pages<\/a>, so feel free to check it out if you\u2019re looking for a way to show all the child pages for any given parent page.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>The other reason why you would want to create a hierarchy using parent and child pages is that it will be reflected in the child pages\u2019 permalinks.<\/strong> So if your dentistry website\u2019s address were example.com, the services page \u2013 a parent page \u2013 might look something like this:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<em>example.com\/services\/<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If one of the services you offered was, for example, patient education about proper dental hygiene, and you\u2019ve created a specific page for it \u2013 a child page \u2013 its permalink might then look something like this:<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<em>example.com\/service\/dental-hygiene\/<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The permalink structure implies to search engines and people alike that the child page is a subpage of the parent page.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"how-to-create-parent-page\"><\/a>How to Create a Parent Page<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/How-to-Create-a-Parent-Page.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"How to Create a Parent Page\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/How-to-Create-a-Parent-Page.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/How-to-Create-a-Parent-Page-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/How-to-Create-a-Parent-Page-768x389.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/How-to-Create-a-Parent-Page-620x314.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Now that you know what a parent page is and why you\u2019d want to create it, let\u2019s show you how you can do it. <strong>To create a parent page, you need to find a child page and assign it a parent page.<\/strong> You create parent pages by declaring other pages to be their children.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]It\u2019s as simple as navigating to the page you intend to serve as the child, finding the Page Attributes options in the Page menu, and selecting an existing page to serve as the parent page.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Choose-Parent-Page.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Choose Parent Page\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Choose-Parent-Page.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Choose-Parent-Page-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Choose-Parent-Page-768x389.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Choose-Parent-Page-620x314.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You can also set the order number, which can come in handy when displaying multiple child pages in the menu and you want to make sure they\u2019re displayed to your liking. Otherwise, that\u2019s it, you\u2019ve created a parent and a child page!<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You can go a few levels deeper if you want, too. <strong>A child page can be another page\u2019s parent<\/strong>, making the original parent page a grandparent page, which is a term no one uses, or the latest addition to the roster of pages a grandchild page, which sounds more acceptable somehow.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Let\u2019s Wrap It Up!<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Making sure that everything is in its right place is one of the best ways to cater to both website visitors and search engines. Both seem to prefer structure and things that make sense, and the more tools you have to structure your website the better. In that sense, knowing what a WordPress parent page is and how and why you\u2019d want to create one can be invaluable.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you come across the concept of a parent page in WordPress and want to know what it&#8217;s about? We&#8217;ll show you what parent pages are and how to use them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9295,"featured_media":41914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[330,14,13],"class_list":["post-41869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources","tag-basics","tag-core","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}