How To Make WordPress Posts Sticky

If you participate in online discussion boards, then you are probably familiar with the concept of featured or “sticky” topics.

With a featured or sticky post, the item does not get replaced by newer entries while older threads display down the screen.

Like forums, WordPress also lets you ’stick’ important posts to the top of your blog page and your newer entries show below the featured item and older posts get pushed further down your page.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to make any post sticky.

Before completing this tutorial, make sure that you’re familiar with basic WordPress features like:

• The difference between Posts and Pages
• How to create WordPress blog posts
• Editing WordPress blog posts
• How to use the WordPress Quick Edit feature
• Setting up a blog post page
• How to specify the number of posts to display on your blog post page

Sticky Posts

In WordPress, posts are shown at the top of your blog post page in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recently published posts first) …

(Latest posts get added to the top of the blog posts summary page and older posts get pushed further down)

Depending on how many blog posts you have set up your site to display on your blog page, latest posts get displayed at the top of the blog posts summary page while older items get pushed down the page.

You can set your posts as Sticky if you want them to appear above all other posts. Sticky posts will appear above all other posts until you uncheck the ‘Sticky’ option on your Post Edit screen.

Here is how to make a post sticky:

In your main menu of your admin area, click on Posts > All Posts …

(WordPress Posts Menu – All Posts)

The Posts screen will appear, displaying all your WordPress posts …

(Table Of Posts)

Here you have two methods to make posts sticky:

Featured Posts Using The Quick Edit Function

Search for the entry you want to edit, hover over the post title to view the options menu and click on Quick Edit …

(Click on ‘Quick Edit’)

The inline editor displays several post editing options. Find Make this post sticky …

(’Make this post sticky’ option – Quick Edit screen)

Select the Make this post sticky checkbox …

(’Make this post sticky’ option – Quick Edit section)

Update your settings …

(Click the ‘Update’ button to save your changes)

How To Make WordPress Posts Sticky Using The Post Editor

If you are adding a new post or editing content in an existing entry, you can make the post sticky by clicking on Publish > Visibility: Public > Edit …

(Publishing section – Visibility > Edit)

Click the checkbox next to ‘Stick this post to the front page’ then click OK, and remember to update your new settings …

(Publish section)

The blog post status will now be displayed as “Sticky” …

(’Sticky’ post status)

Visitors will see the sticky post at the top of the blog page, followed by other recent posts …

(Sticky posts get added to the top of your blog page while other entries get pushed down the page)

Depending on the active WordPress theme you are using, your sticky posts could also stand out from other blog posts.

For example, your sticky post could have a distinct label and highlight color …

(Featured posts can stand out from regular posts)

Here’s the same example with another theme …

(Featured posts can display differently from regular posts)

Your post will now remain sticky for as long as you want.

How To Unstick Your Posts

Unsticking a WordPress post is as simple as reversing the process.

To unstick a post, navigate to your Posts > All Posts and click on the ‘Sticky’ link on the Posts menu to view all entries assigned a sticky status …

(Display sticky posts – Table of Posts)

Click on Quick Edit …

(Click on the ‘Quick Edit’ link)

Deselect ’Make this post sticky’ and click the ‘Update’ button to save your changes …

(Unselect the box to unstick the post inside the inline editor)

Alternatively, if you are editing an existing blog post, you can unstick your post by going to Publish > Visibility: Public > Edit …

(Publishing section – Visibility > Edit)

Unselect the checkbox next to ‘Stick this post to the front page’ then click OK and remember to click Update to save your new changes when finished …

(Publish post section)

Your post will no longer be sticky and will behave like every other regular post.

Congratulations! Now you know how to make your posts sticky.

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