The Complete Guide to Creating Parent and Child Pages in WordPress

If your WordPress site has lots of pages, organizing them into a structured hierarchy can be a lifesaver. Parent and child pages allow you to categorize related content under main parent umbrella pages.

This keeps your WordPress site navigation clean and makes content easy to find.

In this 2,300+ word guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about creating parent and child pages in WordPress.

You’ll learn:

• The difference between pages and posts
• How to create parent and child pages
• Tips for structuring your site‘s content
• How parent/child pages impact navigation
• Extending functionality with plugins
• Real-world examples and troubleshooting

Let‘s dive in!

Pages vs Posts: What’s the Difference?

Before learning about parent and child pages, it helps to understand the basic WordPress content types:

Posts are for blog content. They display in reverse chronological order, like a news feed. Posts can be organized by categories and tags.

Pages are for other standalone content like an About page. Pages are not date-based. They can have hierarchical relationships (parent/child pages).

Here‘s a quick comparison:

	Posts	Pages
Purpose	Blog content	Standalone content
Display Order	Chronological	Custom order
Grouping Method	Categories & tags	Parent/child hierarchy

According to BuiltWith, 86% of the top 1 million websites use WordPress pages. The versatility of WordPress pages is what makes them so popular.

You can use pages to create:

• Informational sections – "About Us" or "Contact" pages.
• Ecommerce stores – Product, category, checkout pages.
• Documentation – Help articles, support pages, docs.
• Listings – Staff members, products, portfolio, etc.

Pages empower you to build any custom page structure you need.

Next let‘s look at how parent and child pages provide an additional layer of organization.

What Are Parent and Child Pages?

Parent pages are like top-level or category pages in WordPress. For example, a "Services" page acting as the parent.

Child pages are attached to a parent page and used for related content. For example, "Web Design" and "SEO Services" child pages under the "Services" parent.

Think of the parent page as a folder holding all the child pages.

Some examples of parent/child page structures:

• Ecommerce: Parent pages for categories like "Bikes" + child pages for each product
• Blog: Parent page for a category like "Marketing" + child pages for each blog post
• Support site: "Help Center" parent + child pages for each help article
• Services: "Our Services" parent + child pages for each service

Without using parent/child pages, managing lots of pages in WordPress can quickly become chaotic. The relationships provide organization and hierarchy.

Now let‘s walk through exactly how to create this structure in WordPress.

How to Make a Child Page in WordPress

Creating a parent and child page relationship takes just a couple steps:

Step 1: Create a Parent Page

First, you need an existing page set as the parent:

1. Add a new page in WordPress admin > Pages > Add New
2. Give it a title like "Services"
3. Publish the new parent page

Or, choose any existing page to be the parent instead.

Step 2: Create or Choose a Child Page

Next, create or choose the page to become the child:

1. Create a new page in Pages > Add New
2. Give it a title like "Web Design"
3. Publish it (but leave the page open)

Or, pick an existing page to be a child page.

Step 3: Set the Parent Page

The last step is designating the parent/child relationship:

1. Edit the page you want as the child
2. In the right Page Attributes panel, select the parent page
3. Update the page to save your changes

The page is now attached to the parent as a child!

Here‘s an example:

[Screenshot of setting parent page in Page Attributes sidebar]

And that‘s all it takes to create a child page in WordPress. Now let‘s look at how these organized pages display to site visitors.

How Parent and Child Pages Display in WordPress

In your Pages list within your WordPress dashboard, child pages are indented underneath their parent page:

[Screenshot of child page indentation in admin]

This gives you a clear overview of the page structure.

On the frontend of your WordPress site, parent and child pages will typically display in your main navigation.

Visitors can drill down through parent pages to find more specific child page content.

For example, your main site navigation might look like:

• Home
• About Us
• Services
  • Web Design
  • SEO
  • Social Media
• Contact

You have complete control over how these pages appear in menus using WordPress menu settings.

Some options for displaying parent/child pages include:

• Parent pages in main nav, child pages in dropdowns
• Show both in main nav together
• Child pages in sidebar navigation
• Hybrid approaches

The organization happens in the back-end. The frontend design is up to you!

Now let‘s get into some best practices using parent/child pages.

Tips for Managing Parent/Child Pages

Here are some tips from my 15+ years of experience using WordPress parent/child pages:

Plan Your Site Structure in Advance

It helps to sketch out your site content architecture first before creating actual pages. Think through what top-level categories and sub-pages you need.

This will make establishing parent/child relationships easier.

For large informational sites, a site map diagram is very useful:

[Example sitemap diagram image]

Use a Page Naming Scheme

When naming parent and child pages, use a convention like this:

Parent Page > Child Page
Services > Web Design

Seeing the full page paths helps understand the hierarchy.

Check for Orphaned Pages

Sometimes pages lose their parent/child connection. This leaves them "orphaned".

To check for orphaned pages:

1. Go to Pages > All Pages
2. Set the Filter to No Parent
3. Scan for pages missing a parent connection

Reassign orphaned child pages to the proper parent to fix.

Adjust Page Order Thoughtfully

You can manually adjust the order of pages within the same hierarchy level:

[Screenshot of manual page order drag and drop]

Think about logical flows between pages when organizing.

Limit Page Nesting Depth

I recommend trying not to go more than 3-5 levels deep for nested child pages.

Too many levels can make navigation confusing. Balance depth with simplicity.

Extend Functionality with Plugins

Plugins that enhance parent/child pages include:

• Post Types Order – View page tree structure
• WP Page Navi – Extra navigation options
• Nested Pages – Drag & drop arrangement
• Table of Contents Plus – Page content TOCs

Check out relevant plugin details here.

Next let‘s go over some common issues and troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting Parent and Child Pages

Here are some common problems and how to fix them:

Child Page Showing the Wrong Title

If a child page is displaying the parent page‘s title, this is an issue with your page template.

Make sure you have <?php wp_title(); ?> and <?php the_title(); ?> in proper places.

Broken Child Page Links

To fix broken links between parent/child pages:

1. Open the child page for editing
2. Resave the parent page selection
3. Update permalinks in Settings > Permalinks

This will flush rewrite rules and regenerate child URLs.

Child Pages Showing 404 Errors

If navigating to a child page returns a 404 error, try:

1. Setting permalink format to default
2. Deleting .htaccess file
3. Resetting permalinks again

This often resolves URL conflicts causing 404s.

Real-World Parent/Child Page Examples

To see how others are using WordPress parent/child pages, here are a few examples from real sites:

WooCommerce Product Categories

Ecommerce sites leveraging WooCommerce use parent/child pages extensively for products.

Parent pages like "Bikes" contain children for each specific bike model. Customers can narrow down to the exact product they want:

[Example screenshot of WooCommerce product category child pages]

Software Documentation Sites

Documentation sites often use parent pages for section overviews, with child pages containing individual help articles.

This helps users scan section trees to quickly find the article they need:

[Example screenshot of documentation child pages]

Services Pages

Businesses like agencies use a "Services" parent page, with a child page detailing each service offering.

This lets visitors directly access details on the exact service they‘re interested in.

[Screenshots of services child pages from agency sites]

The examples are endless, but these demonstrate the real-world use cases.

Final Thoughts on Parent/Child Pages

As you can see, parent and child pages provide a fantastic way to organize your WordPress site content.

They keep related pages together under main parent categories for easy discoverability.

Start planning your parent and child page structure before creating actual pages. Use a consistent naming convention.

Take advantage of plugins that enhance the functionality further. But watch out for common issues like broken links.

Used properly, parent and child pages will take your website‘s organization to the next level. Visitors will be able to easily navigate through logically structured content.

Now have fun arranging your WordPress site content with the power of parent/child pages! I hope this guide gives you the foundation you need to implement them effectively.

Let me know if you have any other questions!