WordPress Settings — Complete Guide to General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Media and Permalinks

In this tutorial, you'll configure every WordPress settings screen — general, writing, reading, discussion, media, permalinks, and privacy.

What You'll Learn

• General Settings: site title, tagline, URL, admin email, timezone, date format
• Writing Settings: default post category, post via email, update services
• Reading Settings: front page display, blog pages, search visibility, RSS feeds
• Discussion Settings: comment moderation, default comment settings, avatars
• Media Settings: image sizes, upload month organization
• Permalink Settings: URL structures, custom structure tags, SEO best practices
• Privacy Settings: privacy policy page

Why It Matters

Settings control how your site behaves, appears to search engines, handles comments, structures URLs, and manages images. A wrong setting can hide your site from Google, break your URLs, or confuse visitors. Developers who skip settings often miss critical configurations.

Real-World Use

A client's site launched with ugly URLs like example.com/?p=123. Every page had a number instead of a meaningful slug. The site also served full-size (4000px) images on blog pages, slowing load time to 8 seconds. Fixing two settings — permalinks to "Post name" and media sizes to "Medium" — solved both problems in under a minute.

General Settings

Located at Settings > General. This screen controls the most basic information about your site.

• Site Title — the name of your website. Appears in the browser tab, search results, and often in the site header.
• Tagline — a short description of your site. Appears below the title in many themes and in search engine results. The default tagline is "Just another WordPress site" — change this immediately.
• WordPress Address (URL) — where WordPress core files live. Usually https://yoursite.com.
• Site Address (URL) — where your site's homepage lives. Often the same as the WordPress Address. When they're different, WordPress is installed in a subdirectory but the homepage points to the root domain.
• Administration Email Address — where WordPress sends notifications (new user registrations, password resets, site health alerts).
• Timezone — set to your local time so scheduled posts publish at the correct time.
• Date Format — choose how dates appear on your site. Example: F j, Y displays as "March 15, 2026".
• Time Format — choose how times appear. Example: g:i a displays as "3:45 pm".
• Week Starts On — choose which day the calendar starts on for date pickers in the admin.

// WordPress stores these settings in the wp_options table.
// Here's how the site title and tagline are stored:
// option_name: 'blogname'       → value: 'My Awesome Site'
// option_name: 'blogdescription' → value: 'A site about WordPress tutorials'

// You can retrieve them in any template:
echo get_option( 'blogname' );        // "My Awesome Site"
echo get_option( 'blogdescription' );  // "A site about WordPress tutorials"

Writing Settings

Located at Settings > Writing. Controls how you create content.

• Default Post Category — when you write a post and forget to assign a category, WordPress assigns this one. Default is "Uncategorized". Change it to something meaningful for your niche.
• Default Post Format — only useful if your theme supports post formats (aside, gallery, link, image, quote, status, video, audio, chat). Most modern themes don't use this.
• Post via Email — publish posts by sending an email to a secret address. You provide a mail server, port, and credentials. This is rarely used but useful for mobile publishing.
• Update Services — when you publish a new post, WordPress can notify XML-RPC ping services (like Ping-o-Matic) to let them know your content has updated. This can improve indexing speed.

// Change the default category programmatically
update_option( 'default_category', 5 ); // 5 = your category ID

// Disable XML-RPC entirely (prevents pingback attacks)
add_filter( 'xmlrpc_enabled', '__return_false' );

Reading Settings

Located at Settings > Reading. This is one of the most important settings screens because it controls what visitors see when they arrive at your site.

• Your homepage displays — two options:
  • Your latest posts — your blog page is the homepage. Best for blogs and news sites.
  • A static page — choose a Page for the homepage and a different Page for the blog. Best for business sites where the homepage is a landing page.
• Blog pages show at most — how many posts appear on a single blog archive page. Default is 10. Lower numbers mean more pages and faster load times per page.
• Syndication feeds show the most recent — how many posts appear in your RSS feed. Default 10.
• For each post in a feed, include — full text or summary. Full text sends the entire post content to feed readers.
• Search engine visibility — check this box to discourage search engines from indexing your site. Use during development. Do not check on live sites unless you want to disappear from Google.

flowchart TD
  A["Visitor arrives at your domain"] --> B{"Reading Settings"}
  B -->|"Latest Posts"| C["Homepage shows blog
posts in reverse order"]
  B -->|"Static Page"| D["Homepage shows a Page
(e.g., 'Home')"]
  D --> E["Blog page shows at
another URL (e.g., /blog)"]
  C --> F["Visitors see newest content first"]
  E --> G["Business site with
separate landing + blog"]
  
  style C fill:#38bdf8,color:#0f172a
  style D fill:#38bdf8,color:#0f172a

Why this matters for SEO: If you run a business site and leave "Your latest posts" as the homepage, your newest blog post becomes the homepage, pushing your value proposition below the fold. A static homepage lets you control the first impression.

Discussion Settings

Located at Settings > Discussion. Controls how comments work on your site.

Default Post Settings

• Allow people to submit comments on new posts — unchecked by default in new installations. Check it to enable comments.
• Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) — pingbacks notify you when someone links to your post. Most sites disable these due to spam.

Other Comment Settings

• Comment author must fill out name and email — recommended. Reduces spam.
• Users must be registered and logged in to comment — only allow comments from registered users.
• Automatically close comments on posts older than X days — prevents spam on old posts. Set to 30-60 days.
• Enable threaded (nested) comments X levels deep — allows replies to replies. 3-5 levels is standard.
• Break comments into pages — useful for posts with thousands of comments.

Email Me Whenever

• Anyone posts a comment — get an email for each new comment.
• A comment is held for moderation — get an email when a comment needs approval.

Before a Comment Appears

• Comment must be manually approved — all comments wait for your approval.
• Comment author must have a previously approved comment — once you approve a user's first comment, future comments are auto-approved.

Comment Moderation

• Hold a comment in the queue if it contains X or more links — spam comments typically contain multiple links. Setting this to 2 catches most spam.
• Disallowed Comment Keys — words, URLs, or IPs that automatically mark a comment as spam.

Avatars

• Avatar Display — show or hide avatars next to comments.
• Maximum Rating — G-rated (suitable for all audiences) is the default.
• Default Avatar — what shows when a commenter has no Gravatar (the avatar service). Options include Mystery Person, Blank, Gravatar Logo, Identicon, Wavatar, MonsterID, Retro.

Media Settings

Located at Settings > Media. Controls how WordPress handles image uploads.

• Thumbnail size — default 150x150 pixels, hard-cropped (images are cropped to exact size).
• Medium size — default 300x300 pixels, not hard-cropped (images scale proportionally).
• Large size — default 1024x1024 pixels, not hard-cropped.
• Uploading Files — "Organize my uploads into month- and year-based folders" is checked by default. Unchecking it puts all uploads in a single /wp-content/uploads/ folder, which can get messy but is sometimes preferred for very simple sites.

// Regenerate thumbnails after changing media sizes
// Install the "Regenerate Thumbnails" plugin or use WP-CLI:
// wp media regenerate --yes

// Add custom image sizes in your theme's functions.php
add_action( 'after_setup_theme', function() {
    add_image_size( 'custom-banner', 1200, 400, true ); // hard crop
    add_image_size( 'custom-square', 600, 600, false ); // proportional
} );

// Use custom sizes in templates
the_post_thumbnail( 'custom-banner' );

Important: Changing media sizes only affects future uploads. Existing images keep their originally generated sizes. Use a "Regenerate Thumbnails" plugin to apply new sizes to all existing images.

Permalink Settings

Located at Settings > Permalinks. This is arguably the most critical settings screen for SEO. Permalinks are permanent URLs to your pages and posts.

Common Structures

Always use the "Post name" option for SEO-friendly URLs unless you have a specific reason not to. It creates clean, readable URLs that include your post title.

Custom Structure Tags

If you need a custom structure, these tags are available:

• %year% — four-digit year (2026)
• %monthnum% — two-digit month (06)
• %day% — two-digit day (27)
• %hour% — hour of the post time (15)
• %minute% — minute (45)
• %second% — second (30)
• %postname% — the post slug (sample-post)
• %post_id% — numeric post ID (123)
• %category% — post category slug (tutorials)
• %author% — author slug (admin)

A recommended custom structure for content-rich sites: /blog/%postname%/

Category and Tag Base

• Category base — prefix for category URLs. Default: /category/tutorials/. Change to /topics/tutorials/ for a cleaner structure.
• Tag base — prefix for tag URLs. Default: /tag/wordpress/. Usually fine as-is.

Saving Permalinks

After changing permalink settings, visit any post on your front end. If you get a 404 error, go back to Settings > Permalinks and click "Save Changes" again. This flushes WordPress's rewrite rules.

Privacy Settings

Located at Settings > Privacy. WordPress has a built-in privacy policy page generator.

• Select a page to use as your Privacy Policy, or create a new one using the built-in template.
• The privacy policy page appears in your login and registration pages.
• You can customize the generated content to match your site's data collection practices.

Learning Path

flowchart LR
  A["What is WordPress?"] --> B["Local Installation"]
  B --> C["Admin Dashboard"]
  C --> D["Settings Guide
← You are here"]:::current
  D --> E["WordPress Hosting"]

  classDef current fill:#38bdf8,color:#0f172a,stroke-width:2px

Common Mistakes

1. Not changing the tagline from "Just another WordPress site." This default text appears in search engine results. Every major SEO guide lists this as the first thing to change. It takes 10 seconds and signals that your site is actively managed.

2. Setting homepage to "Your latest posts" for a business site. A business homepage should be a landing page with services, testimonials, and calls to action — not a reverse-chronological list of blog posts. Use a static page for the homepage and assign a separate page as the blog.

3. Checking "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" and forgetting to uncheck it on launch. This sets a noindex meta tag on every page. Google respects this and removes your site from search results. Always verify this setting before launching.

4. Not saving permalinks after a theme or plugin changes rewrite rules. If you install a plugin that modifies permalinks (like an SEO plugin or a custom post type plugin), your new URLs may return 404 errors. Visit Settings > Permalinks and click Save (no changes needed) — this flushes the rewrite cache.

5. Changing media sizes without regenerating thumbnails. New sizes apply only to new uploads. Old images keep their original sizes. Use a regeneration plugin or WP-CLI to apply new sizes retroactively. Otherwise your blog pages might serve inconsistently sized images.

Practice Questions

1. Why should you use the "Post name" permalink structure instead of "Plain"? Answer: "Post name" creates clean, readable URLs (e.g., /my-post/ instead of /?p=123). This improves SEO because the URL contains keywords, helps users understand the link before clicking, and prevents broken links when post IDs change after Migration.

2. What happens when you check "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" in Reading Settings? Answer: WordPress adds a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag to every page. Search engines see this and exclude your site from their index. Your site won't appear in Google search results.

3. How do you create a homepage that's different from your blog page? Answer: Go to Settings > Reading. Under "Your homepage displays," select "A static page." Choose a page for the homepage (e.g., "Home") and a different page for the blog (e.g., "Blog"). Create these pages beforehand in Pages > Add New.

4. Challenge: Set up a complete WordPress configuration for a fictional business: "GreenLeaf Landscaping." Configure: (a) General settings with proper timezone and date format, (b) Reading settings with a static homepage, (c) Permalinks to "Post name" with a /services/ category base, (d) Media sizes: thumbnail 200x200 hard-cropped, medium 500x500, (e) Discussion settings that require manual approval for first-time commenters. Document every change you make.

FAQ

Mini Project

Build a complete settings configuration for a real or fictional site:

1. Choose a site type (blog, business site, online store, portfolio).
2. Document every setting change you would make for that site type.
3. Create a checklist of settings to verify before launch:
   • General: title, tagline, timezone correct?
   • Reading: static or latest posts? Search visibility unchecked?
   • Permalinks: "Post name" selected? Category base customized?
   • Discussion: comment moderation configured?
   • Media: image sizes appropriate for your theme?
   • Privacy: privacy policy page selected?
4. Implement all settings on your local WordPress installation.
5. Write a 1-page "Launch Settings Checklist" you could give to a client.

This exercise builds the systematic thinking needed to configure WordPress sites correctly every time.

What's Next

Now that you've mastered WordPress settings, let's move your site from local development to the real world:

Continue to Lesson 5: WordPress Hosting — Choose the right hosting: shared, managed, VPS, dedicated, and cloud.

Related lessons:

• WordPress Admin Dashboard — Navigate every menu and screen
• MySQL Database Guide — Understand how WordPress stores data
• What is WordPress? — Foundational concepts