This article covers the steps on how to change WordPress Reading settings. The Reading Settings enable you to modify the emails you send, adjust the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, and personalise your WordPress website.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How to Change WordPress Reading Settings
Access WordPress Dashboard
To access these options, navigate to your WordPress Dashboard, click Settings in the menu on the left side of your screen, and then select Reading. Here, you’ll find various customisation options for displaying your content.
Site Settings
- Your Homepage Displays: Select which page you want to serve as your Home Page. By default, this is set to the theme’s default page.
- Default Posts Page: Choose a specific page to display your posts rather than using the theme’s standard index template.
Blog Pages
- Number of Blog Posts: Set how many posts appear on the default posts page. We recommend you limit this to 10 or fewer to improve loading times.
- Display Options: Decide whether or not to show related blog posts after each blog entry.
Choose what to include in the related posts section, like
- Highlight related content with a heading.
- Show a thumbnail image if available.
- Display the post’s publish date.
- Show the post’s category or tags.
Related Posts
Here, you can choose the options for the Related Posts section displayed on your WordPress website after single blog posts:
- Show related content after posts, toggle the related posts section on or off.
- To separate the related posts section from the rest of the content, you can show a Related header in the section, using the second checkbox.
- You can display thumbnails, dates, categories, and tags for the posts in Related.
RSS Feed Settings
- Syndication feeds – allows you to set the number of blog posts to be included in your website’s RSS feed.
- For each post feed, include – this allows you to include the Full text or an Excerpt.
Search Engine Visibility: You can request search engines not to index your site or specific pages.
Additional Information
Why Change WordPress Reading Settings?
Modifying the WordPress reading settings can benefit your users and your website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Adjusting these settings can enhance your site’s user experience, keeping visitors engaged and increasing visitor retention; this encourages repeat visits.
Your WordPress site’s reading settings let you control how many posts appear on your page, allowing you to manage how much content your visitors see at once. Too much content can overwhelm visitors, while too little may make your site seem sparse.
By setting the number of posts appearing on your blog page or in your RSS feed, you simplify navigation for your visitors, making it easier for them to find content they are interested in.
The search engine visibility setting is important for your WordPress website’s SEO. Allowing search engines to index your site can improve your search rankings, leading to more organic traffic and return visitors.
RSS Feeds
An RSS feed distributes WordPress site content updates to an audience in a user-friendly XML format. RSS feeds include information about updated posts, such as a title, summary, and a link to your website’s content. You can choose to display either the entire feed or just an overview.
Users can subscribe to your WordPress website content using an RSS reader, which collects RSS feeds from multiple websites. This allows them to access a chronological list of your published content. When you add new content to your site, the feed will automatically update in real time, notifying subscribers of new posts.
Subscribers receive updates directly in their feed, saving time and ensuring they don’t miss new posts. This leads to increased traffic, better user engagement, and a broader audience reach.
Login to Domains.co.za Account
1. Go to the Domains.co.za website Account Login page.
2. Enter your Email and Password.
3. Then click the “Sign In” button.
Access WordPress from your Domains.co.za Dashboard
4. On the right of the Dashboard under the “Manage Account” menu, click “Manage Services” on the drop-down menu and select your Hosting plan, our example uses Web Hosting.
5. Scroll down to the “Quick Manage” section (below “Product Information”) and click on the WordPress icon. If you haven’t yet installed WordPress, it will ask you to first do so.
Access WordPress via cPanel from your Domains.co.za Account
6. On the right of the Dashboard under the “Manage Account” menu, click “Manage Services” on the drop-down menu and select your Hosting plan, our example uses Web Hosting. (refer image above).
7. Click “Manage” next to the website domain you wish to access in cPanel.
8. The Product Information section will display – click the “Login” button next to Control Panel.
9. On the cPanel Dashboard, in the menu on the right, select “WP Toolkit”, or if you haven’t yet installed WordPress “WordPress Management”.
10. There is also a WordPress icon under the “Popular Applications” section on the cPanel Dashboard.
WordPress can be Accessed Online via cPanel
1. Go to your cPanel URL or cPanel Login page.
2. Enter your “Email” and “Account Password” and click “Log In”
3. On the cPanel Dashboard, in the menu on the right, select “WP Toolkit”, or if you haven’t yet installed WordPress “WordPress Management”. There is also a WordPress icon under the “Popular Applications” section on the cPanel Dashboard.
