How to Hide Post and Page Titles in WordPress (2023) – An Expert‘s Complete Guide

With over 20 years experience using WordPress, I‘ve helped design and manage hundreds of sites across multiple industries. A common request is for guidance on hiding titles for selective posts and pages, without damaging SEO or accessibility.

This complete guide shares insider tips from my experience on when and how to properly hide WordPress titles using the latest methods for 2023.

Essential Things to Know Before You Hide Titles

While hidden titles may fit your desired layout, you must weigh several factors to avoid problems down the road:

• Search visibility: According to Moz studies, search engines assign over 30% weight to titles for page rankings.

• Mobile Optimization: Title text is crucial for the 60% of search traffic from smartphones. Leaner mobile screens make other description text less visible.

• Accessibility: Blind users often navigate primarily by page titles, via screen readers. Use hidden text to retain accessibility.

• Management Confusion: No title defaults to "<Untitled>" in WordPress, making pages extremely confusing to manage long term.

With insight on these, now let‘s cover proven methods and best practices to hide titles properly.

3 Methods to Hide Titles in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

1. Full Site Editor (for Gutenberg-ready themes)

Benefits:

• Simple editing, visual interface
• Hide for all posts or pages
• Retain metadata for SEO

Limitations:

• WordPress 5.9+, Gutenberg-ready theme required
• Controls only site-wide post or all page titles

Follow This 8 Step Process:

1. Have Gutenberg-ready theme active
2. Go to Appearance → Editor
3. Choose template to edit
   • For posts: Single Post
   • For pages: Single Page
4. Select the title element
5. Open settings menu (3 dot icon)
6. Choose Remove Post/Page Title
7. Save changes
8. Published changes go live

Results: Site-wide title removal for posts or pages.

2. Custom CSS Code

Benefits:

• Works without special themes
• Hide per individual posts/pages
• Retains SEO metadata

Limitations:

• Custom CSS knowledge required
• More steps to hide multiple titles
• Risk of CSS conflicts

Follow This 6 Step Process:

1. Identify Post ID
   • Edit post, check URL for ID
2. Go to Customize → Additional CSS
3. Paste CSS code (replace ID value)
   • Post title: .postid-### .entry-title {display:none;}
   • Page title: .page-id-### .entry-title {display:none;}
4. Publish changes
5. Verify title hidden on front-end
6. Repeat for additional posts/pages

Results: Selected title removal without affecting site-wide templates.

Over 87% of businesses rely on WordPress custom CSS at some point according to 2022 surveys by DesignRush.

3. Hide Title Plugin

Benefits:

• Simple admin toggle to enable
• Support hiding multiple titles
• Many free plugin choices

Limitations:

• Must assess ratings, bugs, conflicts
• Dependent on plugin updates
• Potential performance hits

Follow This 5 Step Process:

1. Identify desired plugin
   • Top options based on ratings:
     • Hide Page and Post Title (98% rated 4-5 stars)
     • Disable Title (4.8 star average)
2. Install and activate
3. Edit post/page from Pages or Posts » All Posts/Pages
4. Check box to Hide the title
5. Update post/page for change

Results: Easy admin toggle for title hiding on chosen pages or posts.

61% of free WordPress plugins have some level of unresolved bugs according to 2022 FOSS reporting.

Best Practices – Final Recommendations

Choosing whether to hide titles should align with your specific WordPress goals. However, in most cases I suggest:

• Use sparingly, only where necessary
• Enable accessibility features
• Install an SEO plugin to optimize other elements
• Monitor effects on traffic and SEO before hiding more titles

For any additional guidance in 2023 on properly hiding WordPress titles, comment below!