How many posts on the Homepage?
This question has kept me thinking for a while now. If you are using WordPress, the default number of posts that will be shown on the homepage is 10.
I left it at the default value for 1 year, but now I feel I should lower the value to about 5, so that the homepage downloads more faster.
What do you think? How many posts do you show on your blog’s homepage?
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Posted on November 27th, 2006 | Category: Blogging |
CypherHackz
November 27, 2006 at 4:03 pm
i use 5 on my site.
Ben Richards
November 27, 2006 at 4:38 pm
I currently have 5 loaded just for that very same reason.
If i’m embedding a youtube video in a post then the page can take forever to load so i’m looking for an alternative
Manas
November 27, 2006 at 4:51 pm
3 posts on the home page is more than enough ….
Fukurou
November 27, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I put for the same reason
Fukurou
November 27, 2006 at 5:17 pm
I put 5 for the velocity, and no less because i actaulize every day and i want the people can see it.
Enblogopedia
November 27, 2006 at 6:44 pm
actually it depend on your content..!
if your content contain media files then having 5 post will be enough (just like Ben Richards)
but in your case i don’t think it will make a lot of difference since most of your posts are text.
Ashok
November 27, 2006 at 7:04 pm
I use 7 posts as 10 post make the page very long, as I show full story on home page.
Fanatyk
November 27, 2006 at 7:30 pm
I’ve got 5 only with entree. And I think it’s good for readers as well asfor crawlers.
I think sth. about 5 is optimal
Dj Flush
November 27, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I use 6 posts on my home page
Tech Blog
November 27, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I use 5 with 15 for RSS. 5 is enough for me cause I use images in all posts and want to keep the load time down.
Madhur kapoor
November 28, 2006 at 3:26 am
I generally use 8 but i keep the size of the posts quite small .
siong1987
November 28, 2006 at 6:25 am
I used 5. It will load faster if we keep the number to small.
JohnTP
November 28, 2006 at 9:27 am
I will stick with 5 too
Melle
November 28, 2006 at 11:26 am
Like the others, I have 5 posts.
km
November 28, 2006 at 12:44 pm
i stick with 5 post because i want the loading time for index pages low.
Sridhar
November 28, 2006 at 2:32 pm
5 is the way to go. Not too less, not too many.
I’ve had it the same way since few months and it looks good.
Fanatyk
November 28, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Guys do you have all posts content or only beginning for each one?
Frez
November 28, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I use 6. 6 in Chinese (Hokkien dialect) pronounce “lak”…sounds like luck. I hope to have all the luck
Sridhar
November 28, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Fanatyk, I usually display the full length posts. But if a certain post is too lengthy, I put a break.
JohnTP
November 28, 2006 at 8:05 pm
I put less breaks these days unless posts are too lengthy.
carol
November 29, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I think 5 are better.I switch sometimes between 5 and 10.
MarshallMiddle
November 29, 2006 at 7:51 pm
I thought the more the merrier, usually having between 10-15 posts on the homepage. I’ll try lowering the number to 5 to help with loading speed. Thanks for the tip.
sourcer
November 30, 2006 at 5:01 am
I am still using 10. It loads fast enough !
Robert Irizarry
November 30, 2006 at 8:17 am
I’ve been curious about this for some time. I’m currently using 10. For those who changed from around 10 to some lesser number, have you seen any differences in your readers’ behavior? Have you seen for example, changes in page views or ad revenue? Anything else?
JohnTP
November 30, 2006 at 8:31 am
Changing to 5 posts on the homepage has not affected my page views or ad revenue.
Utah SEO Blog
November 30, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I use 10 on my blogs for these reasons:
1) content makes a search engine happy
2) my blog themes are fairly basic so they load quickly
3) I’ve setup wp-cache (http://christeredwards.com/speed-up-wordpress-with-wp-cache-plugin-2/) to speed up load times
Fanatyk
November 30, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Good navigation is more important for page reviews than number of posts.
Ajay D'Souza
November 30, 2006 at 7:01 pm
I use the Custom Query Plugin on my blog to keep the homepage posts to 5. The posts on archive pages etc. is 10.
I’ve noticed a significant speed up because lesser SQL queries.
Robert Irizarry
November 30, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Fanatyk - I agree however I was curious if more or less posts on a page might have some influence on the reader - either encouraging them or discouraging them. Personally, I’ll stick with 10 posts. I don’t have a cache server like Utah SEO Blog mentions above but I agree that content makes a search engine happy and that’s an important consideration for me since I blog on a niche subject - guitar ergonomics.
Fanatyk
November 30, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Friend of mine said that he set 10 posts on “home” ’cause don’t want users to have easy way to see older news.
But realy - I have no ide if it works
Vincent
December 1, 2006 at 5:31 pm
I use 10. Before this I use 20, but since it’s too long - I set it back to 10. I heard someone say that you will do better in SEO with more post on homepage. Not sure if it’s true.
Anshul
December 1, 2006 at 7:24 pm
I guess you shud have more posts and less fancy ads on your site.
Everton
December 3, 2006 at 2:59 am
the number isn’t what’s important - it’s the wordcount. You need to keep the word count under 800 words otherwise search engines will think your page is irrelevant or they’ll just stop scanning the page at around the 800 word.
You should set your number of articles to achieve this. Remember, again that the majority of your traffic is direct to a post not to your homepage so you’d be better off focussing on getting users to read more posts
http://www.connectedinternet.c.....1/04/1022/
Vibhash
December 3, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Currently I’m using 3 blogs per page…coz i publish the full contents, but i’m planing to change it to 5-6 blog on front page…
Enblogopedia
December 3, 2006 at 2:18 pm
well, now i`m using 6 posts on my home page.
since I want my visitors to see the whole sidebar, i concluded that 6 posts with 5-6 lines from each post will make the reader see the whole sidebar..:)
Will
December 3, 2006 at 6:06 pm
I keep the number of posts shown on the home page lower than the default 10 because:
1) It helps to keep the page look balanced (side bar content disappears after a little scrolling).
2) It keeps the side bar content visible! This could include links to other content, sponsored ads or affiliate links so it’s worth keeping them within easy reach.
3) The home page loads faster
4) Regular visitors aren’t faced with posts they’ve already read (assuming the blog is updated regularly).
5) My own personal preference is that I prefer shorter pages with less scrolling as I find it’s easier to navigate.
Robert Irizarry
December 3, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Will - Reasons 1 and 2 make a lot of sense to me. I’ve tried to do the same with the 10 posts I use on my blog. I do wonder about moving content off the main page too quickly though I’ve managed to keep this fairly visible through other means.
Amit Patel
December 5, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Iam currently seeing 9 on this site
so all the latest posts can be seen by the visitors quickly.
and iam using 30 on my site
GoScript
December 14, 2006 at 11:57 pm
I use 10 on my site, but the posts are not actualy big. I think 5 should be sufficient.
Robert Irizarry
December 17, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Thought I’d check back in. After thinking about it further, I decided to experiment with five posts instead of ten. I make use of several techniques to gain exposure for older posts so that isn’t a concern for me. So far, I haven’t seen any negative impact. Meanwhile, the site loads faster which is never a bad thing.