Table of Contents for WordPress Posts are needed for long posts like guides, complex tutorials and reference articles. It increases readability, accessibility. We wrote in details about the importance of accessibility in any website and gave 30 tips on readability of a blog or website. If you notice WordPress official website, they uses Table of Contents for WordPress tips and guide.
Unlike more link, there is unfortunately there is no shortcut to create Table of Contents for WordPress posts or pages. However, we will show both the manual method to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or pages and some Plugins those can create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts in very easy way.
Manual method to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or Pages
Manual Method to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts means using some HTML code and CSS to style it. You can however, combine HTML and CSS within one HTML code to avoid extra CSS burden. This Manual Mehod to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or Pages is important when a blog do not need all or most posts to have a Table of Contents. Adding a plugin means adding more MySQL load, CSS file.
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I personally like HTML with div style to be free from extra CSS burden. So we need a box first to have a Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or Pages. Here is a sample code which will create a box looking like WordPress.com website.
<div style=”width: 100px; background: 0px 0px #E4F2FD; border: 1px solid #D3E7F8; border-radius: 11px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px 10px 4px 8px; max-width: 200px; padding: 10px 10px 0px;”>
You will Put the code here required for creating Table of Contents for WordPress in next step.
</div>
We will use Page Jumps method. The code is :
<a href=”#unique-name“>Table of Contents for WordPress link name</a>
As there is a link, it must point somewhere! We will link unique name of subheader with name attribute to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or pages. Its easy, for this guide, you can see a working Table of Contents for WordPress Posts ! To create it, I have wrapped the h2 subtitle with :
<h2><a name=”unique-name“>Manual method to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or Pages </a> </h2>
It might take a bit time to create one Table of Contents for WordPress Posts if you are not used with HTML, but you will find its very easy after using once.
Plugins to create Table of Contents for WordPress Posts or Pages
As I have said, Plugins are easiest way to create Table of Contents for WordPress posts or pages. I found 4 very easy and good plugins to create Table of Contents for WordPress posts or pages. These are :
Simple TOC : Its absolutely inserts a TOC like our manual method to create Table of Contents for WordPress posts. Its “semi-automatic” !
WP Table of Contents : A bit advanced plugin.
MD Table of Contents Generator : More advanced plugin to create Table of Contents for WordPress posts with many options.
jQuery Table of Contents : Inserts a jQuery Table of Contents for WordPress posts or pages.
Conclusion on Table of Contents for WordPress Posts
Table of Contents is definitely have more plus points than negatives for longer posts with lot of steps, sub headers etc. Additionally, there is a fair chance to increase your CTR for AdSense units (be very cautious). We can not ignore the fact that by Table of Contents for WordPress posts increases the keywords, so be cautious if a post has less length but more natural reputation of a keyword, it might create a keyword stuffing like situation. For longer posts, it definitely have a SEO advantage by adding more keywords! Other plus points are already said.
