How To Add Featured Posts In WordPress: 6 Easy Ways

Do you want to highlight your best posts on your WordPress site? Adding featured posts is a great way to grab attention and help visitors find your most important content. Whether it’s a popular blog post, a handy tutorial, or an announcement, featuring posts ensures they don’t get lost as new content is added.

There are various ways to add featured posts in WordPress. You can do it manually using widgets, menus, or the Gutenberg Editor. If you want a faster way, some plugins can automatically display your featured posts in an eye-catching layout. The method you select depends on what works best for your site.

In this tutorial, we discuss 6 different ways to add featured posts in WordPress. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, you’ll find an easy method that suits your needs. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to feature posts effectively and make your content more visible to your target audience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Featured posts help highlight important content and improve user engagement on your WordPress site.
• You can add featured posts using several WordPress tools like widgets, menus, and Gutenberg Editor.
• WordPress plugins offer a more advanced way to showcase featured posts with extra design options and automation.
• Choosing the correct posts to feature is vital – popular, evergreen, and valuable content works best.
• Update featured posts regularly to keep your site fresh and ensure visitors see the latest content.
• Keep a consistent design for featured posts to improve readability and make your site look professional.

Posts vs Featured Posts in WordPress

What is a post in WordPress? A post is a type of content used for blog articles, news updates, or any time-sensitive content. Posts are displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first) on a blog page and can be categorized, tagged, and archived. Unlike pages, posts encourage engagement through comments and are ideal for regularly updated content.

On the other hand, a featured post is a blog post or article that you highlight on your WordPress site to make it more visible. Instead of getting lost in a list of new posts, a featured post stays at the top of your homepage, sidebar, or any special section where visitors can easily find it. You can use featured posts to showcase your best content, important updates, or trending articles.

Here are a few reasons why you should use featured posts in WordPress:

• Grab Attention Quickly: Featured posts stand out, making them easy for visitors to notice. This is great for promoting must-read content.
• Increase Page Views: When people see a featured post first, they are likely to click on it, which helps drive website traffic to your most important articles.
• Boost SEO: If a featured post links to other pages on your site, search engines like Google may rank your site better because of improved internal linking and engagement.
• Showcase Evergreen Content: Some posts can be used over a long period. When you feature them, you ensure they aren’t buried under newer articles.
• Highlight Promotions or News: If you have a sale, a new product, or an update, a featured post is a great way to ensure visitors see it immediately.

Using featured content, you can organize your website and make it user-friendly. In the coming sections, we look at different ways to add featured posts in WordPress so you can start using them effectively.

Ways to Add Featured Posts in WordPress

The best way to add featured posts in WordPress depends on your needs. Do you want to display it in the sidebar, menu, or another site section? Depending on the location, you can choose one of the following methods:

1. Use WordPress List Block: Add a featured post in a page or post.
2. Use WordPress List Widget: To add featured posts in WordPress footer, sidebar, or any widget specific section.
3. Use Custom HTML Block (or Widget): Use this to add featured content list in a page, post, sidebar, footer, and any widget-ready area.
4. Use WordPress Menu: This approach is for adding featured posts in WordPress footer, sidebar, or any widget area on your website.
5. Use Custom Links: Useful for featuring your posts in the WordPress main menu.
6. Use WordPress Plugin: Adds featured posts on a page, post, sidebar, and any widget area on your site.

Once you choose your desired approach, navigate to its step-by-step instructions below.

Use WordPress List Block

Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard. Go to Posts → All Posts or Pages → All Pages depending on where you want to feature your content. For this section example, we use Posts (the process is the same for Pages). Next, hover over your required post and click Edit to open this post in editor.

Go to the section where you want to add your featured content. Click + (Add Block), then type List in the search bar. When List appears, click to insert it into your post.

After adding List, click Drag to drag and move it to the desired location within your post or page. This flexibility allows you to showcase your featured posts in WordPress exactly where you want them.

After placing the block, type the titles of the posts you want to feature and click Enter after each one to create a list. Next, highlight each title and press Ctrl + K (Windows) or Cmd + K (Mac) to add a link to the original blog post. Once you enter the link, click Enter to apply it. This allows visitors to click and access your featured posts in WordPress.

• MAKE FEATURED POST LIST REUSABLE (OPTIONAL)

If you wish to use the featured post list across multiple pages or posts, save it as a reusable block. This saves time by allowing you to insert the WordPress block without manually recreating it. Here’s how you can make your featured posts list reusable:

Click inside the List block, then click Select parent block: List in the toolbar. This will select the parent block.

Now, click the vertical three-dot menu, then select Create pattern.

Give your pattern a NAME and assign it to one or more CATEGORIES to make it easier to find later (we’ll see this shortly). Now, enabling Synced depends on your requirements. For example:

• If you want all instances of a pattern to update automatically, enable Synced. It’s ideal for content that needs to remain consistent, such as call-to-action sections, author bios, or promotional banners.
• If you want flexibility for editing each instance separately, leave Synced disabled. This is useful for layout structures where you want a starting design but need to customize each instance individually.

Then, click Add.

Once you’ve created a pattern, your featured posts list can be inserted anywhere on your site. Simply open your post or page in the editor. Click + in the top-left.

Go to Patterns and navigate to the category you specified when naming the pattern. Click the category to view your newly created pattern. If you have assigned multiple categories, the pattern appears under each. In our example, My Featured Posts is listed twice, under Featured and Featured Posts Block.

Note: If you left CATEGORIES empty while naming the pattern, find your pattern under My patterns.

Once you find it, drag and drop it wherever you want to use it. This ensures consistency and eliminates repetitive setup.

IMPORTANT:

Navigate to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Patterns to edit your existing pattern.

Use List Widget

Navigate to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Widgets. This will open the widget settings where you can manage different sidebar elements. In the WordPress widget editor, click +.

Search for List. Once you find List, drag and drop it into the sidebar. This widget lets you create a simple text-based list of your featured posts.

Now, type the titles of the posts you want to feature. After typing each title, click Enter to create a new list item. This ensures each post appears on a separate line, making the list easy to read.

To make the featured posts clickable, highlight each title and press Ctrl + K (on Windows) and Cmd + K (on Mac). This opens a link box where you can enter the blog post’s URL. Once you add the link, click Enter to save it. Repeat this process for each post title in your list.

After adding and linking all featured posts in WordPress, click Update to apply the changes.

Your featured posts list will now appear in your site’s sidebar, making it easy for visitors to access key content.

You may have noticed that our Recent Posts are not list items, but the Featured Posts are. This can look inconsistent from a website design perspective. To fix this, use Custom HTML as both a widget and a block.

Use Custom HTML Widget/Block

As mentioned earlier, you can use Custom HTML in various locations on your website, including WordPress pages, posts, and sidebars. This section explains adding a featured post in the WordPress sidebar using Custom HTML. The process is similar for other locations – insert the Custom HTML block in your desired area and follow the same steps to add content.

So, let’s start with adding featured posts to sidebar:

Go to Appearance → Widgets. Click +, search for Custom HTML, and drag and drop it to your place within the sidebar.

Once the widget is in place, it’s time to add your featured posts. Below the title, create featured post titles and link them to the actual blog posts as follows:

<a href="https://yourwebsite.com/post-1">Post Title 1</a><br/>
<a href="https://yourwebsite.com/post-2">Post Title 2</a><br/>
<a href="https://yourwebsite.com/post-3">Post Title 3</a><br/>

This code creates a list of clickable links to different blog posts on a website. Each <a href=””> tag represents a link, and when clicked, it takes the user to the specified post. The <br/> tag adds a line break, so each link appears on a new line.

You can also click Preview to see how they display on the front-end. Once you’re satisfied, click Update to save changes.

Here’s how they look in our example:

Note: If you don’t feel comfortable using Custom HTML, you can manually type the post titles and add links to them.

Use WordPress Menu

Instead of using a simple list, you can add a featured post in the WordPress sidebar using menus. This method gives you more control over your content, allowing you to easily update, reorder, and reuse the featured posts list without modifying the widget every time. Follow these steps to set it up:

Go to Appearance → Menus. Click create a new menu to set up a fresh navigation menu. Next, give your menu a descriptive name (such as Featured Posts) to identify it later. Once you’ve entered the name, click Create Menu to proceed.

After creating the menu, click Posts in the menu editor. Select the blog posts you want to feature and click Add to Menu.

Your selected posts will now appear in the right column. You can update each item by clicking the dropdown arrow next to the title and reorder them using the drag-and-drop feature. Once satisfied with the arrangement, click Save Menu to apply the changes.

Now, it’s time to display your featured posts menu in the sidebar. To do that, go to Appearance → Widgets, click + and select Navigation Menu. Drag and drop the widget into the sidebar area.

You will see two fields:

1. Title: Enter a title for your visitors (e.g., Featured Posts).
2. Select Menu: Choose the Featured Posts menu you already created from the dropdown list.

Once everything is set up, click Update to save your changes.

Finally, visit your website and check the sidebar to view the featured posts menu. You can always return to Appearance → Menus to update or rearrange the posts as required.

Use Custom Links

Adding featured posts in the WordPress main menu using custom links allows you to highlight important content while keeping your navigation clean and user-friendly. Below are the steps to add one or more featured posts to your main menu.

Go to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Menus. If you have multiple WordPress menus, choose the one assigned as your Main Menu (Primary Menu) and click Select.

Next, click Custom Links on the left. In the URL field, enter the link to the blog post you want to feature. In the Link Text field, type a name for the featured post (e.g., WordPress Guide). Then, click Add to Menu to insert it into the navigation menu.

Repeat the previous step for additional featured posts. You can create a dropdown menu by dragging the featured post links slightly to the right under a main menu item. Ensure you rearrange the order by dragging menu items up or down. Once all featured posts are added and arranged, click Save Menu.

Now, visit your website to see the updated featured posts in your main menu. Here’s how they appear in our example:

Use a WordPress Plugin

If you want a visually appealing way to display featured content, a great option is to use a WordPress plugin. Several plugins are available, but ensure you choose the right one, as incompatible plugins can lead to problems later.

For this section example, we use the Display Posts plugin, which allows you to add featured posts using shortcodes. To use this plugin, first install and activate it.

The process is the same as you install any plugin on your WordPress website. Just go to Plugins → Add New Plugin. In the search bar, type Display Posts and look for the plugin. Once you find it, click Install, then Activate to enable it on your site.

After activating the plugin, head to the page, post, or widget where you want to display featured posts (in our example, we opened a post in the editor). Click +. Drag and drop Shortcode into the content area.

Insert [display-posts] shortcode into the block. Then, click Save to save the changes.

Once saved (or published if you created a new post), visit your site to see the featured posts. The plugin automatically generates a list of posts based on the shortcode. For example, [display-posts] features recent posts to drive more traffic on the latest content. Best Practices for Featured Posts in WordPress

Now that you understand how featured posts can highlight your most valuable content in WordPress, you must ensure you use them strategically. Use featured posts correctly to improve user engagement, site navigation, and SEO rankings. To make the most of them, select the correct posts, update them regularly, and maintain a consistent design.

Select Posts to Feature

Not every post should be featured. You should choose popular content or posts relevant to your audience. One of the best ways to decide is by looking at your site’s traffic.

If a post is already getting a lot of visitors, featuring it can make it even more successful. Another great option is evergreen content, which stays relevant over time. This could be tutorials, guides, or frequently asked questions that always provide value.

You can also feature new or vital updates, such as product launches, announcements, or breaking news. If you want to direct more attention to a specific article, making it a featured post can help.

No matter what type of content you choose, always ensure it is good quality, well-written, and informative. Featured posts represent the best of your site, so they should be carefully selected.

Regular Updates

Keeping your featured posts too long can make your site feel outdated. Regularly updating featured posts ensures visitors always see fresh and relevant content. A good practice is to check your site analytics and see which posts are performing well. If a featured post no longer attracts visitors, it can be time to replace it with something new.

It’s also helpful to rotate featured posts every few weeks or months. This way, different valuable posts get attention over time. If you’re featuring older content, ensure the information is still accurate.

Updating old content with new insights, images, or statistics can make it more valuable and keep your site looking fresh. Regular updates show visitors (and search engines) that your site is active and well-maintained.

Consistency in Design

How your featured posts look is just as important as the content itself. A consistent and clean design makes your website look professional and easy to navigate. If you use a list, grid, or slider format for featured posts, keep the layout the same across different pages. This helps visitors recognize and engage with crucial content.

Your featured posts in WordPress should also match your website’s theme, colors, and fonts. Avoid using styles that clash with the rest of your site, as this can make the design look messy.

If your featured posts include images, choose high-quality visuals that are sized correctly for the space. Text should also be easy to read, with short and clear headlines. A well-designed featured post section attracts attention and enhances the overall user experience.

If you follow these best practices, featured posts will effectively engage visitors and improve your site’s performance. Choosing the correct posts, updating them regularly, and keeping a consistent design will help keep your content fresh and visually appealing. When done correctly, featured posts can become a powerful tool to guide users to your best content and keep them returning for more.

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