How To Make WordPress Posts Sticky

If you are a member of online discussion boards, then you are probably already familiar with the concept of a ”sticky” or featured topic.

A sticky forum post is where a specific entry remains at the top of the forum board while older threads display further down the thread.

Like online forums, WordPress also lets you display posts at the top of your blog post page and your newer posts show below the featured item and older items get pushed down your page.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to make any post on your site sticky.

You will really benefit from the tutorial below if you already have a good understanding of basic WordPress features like:

• The difference between WordPress Posts and Pages
• Creating a new post in WordPress
• How to edit posts
• How to use WordPress Quick Edit
• How to set up a WordPress blog post page
• How to specify the number of blog posts to display on the blog post page

Making Your Post Sticky

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

(Newer posts get listed at the top of the blog summary page while older entries get pushed down the page)

Depending on how many posts your site’s settings is configured to display on your blog page, as new posts are published, older posts will display further down the blog page.

In WordPress, you can mark your posts as Sticky if you would like your readers to see these before other posts. Sticky posts will display above your regular posts until you deselect the ‘Sticky’ option on the Edit screen for that particular post.

Here’s how to make a WordPress post sticky:

Go to the Dashboard and choose Posts > All Posts …

(WP Posts Menu – All Posts)

The Posts screen will load in your browser, displaying a table containing all the posts on your site …

(Table Of Posts)

Here you have a couple of methods to make your blog posts sticky. Let’s take a look at each method:

Making WordPress Posts Sticky - Quick Edit Method

Locate the entry you want to edit, then hover over the post title to display the options menu and click on the ‘Quick Edit’ link …

(Click on the ‘Quick Edit’ link)

The Quick Edit inline editor expands and displays various post editing options. Find Make this post sticky …

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

Select Make this post sticky …

(Inline editor - Sticky post option)

Update your settings …

(Quick Edit – ’Update’ button)

Featured Posts Using Post Edit Method

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

(Publish post section – Visibility settings)

Select ‘Stick this post to the front page’, click OK, and update your new changes …

(Publish box)

The Table of Posts will change your blog post status to “Sticky” …

(Sticky Post status)

Your sticky post will be featured at the top of your blog post page when new posts are added …

(Sticky posts are added to the top of your blog summary page and other regular posts are pushed further down)

Depending on your WordPress theme, your sticky post can also stand out from other blog posts.

For example, it can have a distinctive label and highlight color …

(Sticky posts can stand out from regular posts)

Here’s the same sticky post using another theme …

(Featured posts can stand out from regular posts)

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

Unsticking Blog Post Items

Unsticking posts in WordPress is really easy.

To unstick a post, go to your Table of Posts and select the ‘Sticky’ link on the Posts menu to view all items marked as sticky …

(Sticky menu – Posts screen)

Click on Quick Edit …

(Click on the ‘Quick Edit’ link)

Uncheck ’Make this post sticky’ and click the ‘Update’ button …

(Uncheck the box to unstick the post inside the Quick Edit function)

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

(Post publish section – Visibility > Edit)

Deselect ‘Stick this post to the front page’ then click OK and remember to update your new settings when finished …

(Post publishing box)

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

Congratulations, now you know how to make your blog posts sticky.

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