Could you please polish the difference between Full Post and Summary (Excerpt) in WordPress Archive Pages?

Should you use excerpts or full posts on your archive pages? Using a summary or excerpt can give visitors a quick overview of your content and help them decide if they want to read more. On the other hand, displaying full posts can attract more views without requiring additional action from the user. But which is better?

An excerpt is a short summary of an article that can be displayed on WordPress archive pages, with a link to the full article. Excerpts are useful when you have limited space on your website. By default, WordPress uses the first 55 words of a blog post as an excerpt, but you can also manually add an excerpt.

To add an excerpt to a WordPress post, click the ‘gear’ icon in the content editor to open the settings panel. To add an excerpt to a WordPress page, use the following code: add_post_type_support( ‘page’, ‘excerpt’ ).

Using a summary or excerpt vs full posts on archive pages has its advantages.

Advantages of Using Summary vs Full Post in Archive Pages When optimizing your website for user experience and search engine ranking, choosing between using summaries (excerpts) or full posts in archive pages is crucial. Summaries provide an improved user experience, making it easier for users to find and browse content while keeping the page organized. Here, we examine why using summaries is preferable:

1. Faster Page Load Times

Google now uses site speed as a ranking factor, and excerpts on archive pages help improve page load times. By showing only a short summary of each post on archive pages instead of the entire post, users can quickly browse the site. This also results in a faster load time for the page.

2. Avoids Duplicate Content

Showing full posts in archives can result in being flagged for duplicate content in search engines, which can negatively impact your search engine rankings. Excerpts on archive pages help prevent this by displaying only a short summary of each post.

3. Increases Pageviews and Reduces Bounce Rate

Excerpts can also increase pageviews and reduce the bounce rate by encouraging users to click through to read the full post. If you only display full posts on archive pages, users might leave your site after reading a single post. Summaries make the archive page more engaging and allow readers to easily find more content.

Disadvantages of Using Summary vs Full Post in Archives

When choosing between using summaries or full posts in archive pages, there are some potential drawbacks to consider.

1. Short Excerpts Can Result in Poor User Experience

By default, WordPress generates summaries using the first 55 words of the article, which can lead to sentences being cut off and a suboptimal user experience. While it’s possible to adjust the excerpt length in a WordPress theme, this doesn’t entirely solve the problem.

One solution is to write custom excerpts or engaging introductions that can serve as effective summaries.

2. Hidden Content

Some users may prefer to read articles in full on one page, rather than having to click through to read the complete post. This can be useful for shorter articles without many images and can increase the time users spend on your site.

Overall, it’s generally recommended to use excerpts or summaries in archive pages, as they provide a better user experience and a more organized appearance. While displaying full posts may be suitable for shorter articles, most WordPress themes offer the option to choose between full posts and excerpts.