Managing Site Settings

WordPress Site Settings control site-level configuration, including basic site information, homepage behavior, media defaults, comments, privacy, and permalink structure.

What Site Settings are used for

Use WordPress Site Settings when you need to manage global site configuration.

These settings are intended for site administrators only. Many of these options affect the entire site, and some can affect visibility, URLs, search indexing, and how content is displayed. In most cases, these settings are configured during site setup and should not be changed unless there is a specific reason.

Settings may control:

The site title, tagline, URL, timezone, and date formats
Which page is used as the homepage
Which page is used for posts or blog content
How many posts appear on archive pages
Whether search engines are discouraged from indexing the site
Default media image sizes
Comment behavior, if comments are enabled
The site’s Privacy Policy page
The permalink structure used for site URLs

Because these settings affect the site globally, they should be reviewed and changed carefully.

How to access settings

From the WordPress dashboard, go to Settings.

The Settings menu includes several pages:

General
Writing
Reading
Discussion
Media
Privacy
Permalinks

Depending on your user role, you may not have access to all Settings pages. These areas are typically limited to administrators.

General settings

The General settings page controls basic site information and localization settings. WordPress describes this screen as the place for basic configuration, including the site title, site location, registration options, and how dates and times are calculated and displayed.

Site Title: Use this field for the official site name. It may appear in the browser title, search results, feeds, and other areas depending on how the site is configured.

Site Icon: The small image associated with the site, also known as a favicon. It appears in places like browser tabs, bookmark bars, and WordPress mobile apps. Use the official brand icon or mark for the site. The image should be square and at least 512px × 512px. Because the Site Icon appears at very small sizes, choose a simple image that remains recognizable when scaled down.

Tagline: A short phrase that describes the site. Some sites display the tagline publicly, while others may not use it at all. If your site design does not display the tagline, it may still be used by some feeds, metadata, or integrations.

WordPress Address (URL): The location where the WordPress application files live. This should not be changed unless directed by a developer or administrator. Changing it incorrectly can make the site difficult or impossible to access.

Site Address (URL): The public URL visitors use to access the site. This is usually the same as the WordPress Address. Do not change this setting unless you are intentionally moving the site or have been instructed to do so.

Administration email address: Used for site administration and maintenance notifications. WordPress notes that this email is used for administrative messages and is different from an individual admin user’s account email. Use an email address monitored by the appropriate site owner or support team.

Membership: Controls whether anyone can register for an account on the site. For most sites, this should remain disabled unless the site intentionally supports public registration, memberships, community features, or user-generated content.

New user default role: Controls which role is assigned when new users register. WordPress lists standard role options such as Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber. Use caution with this setting. If public registration is enabled, the default role should usually be the least-privileged role appropriate for the site. Never set this to Administrator for public registration.

Site language: Controls the language used in the WordPress dashboard and some site-facing WordPress-generated text. Change this only when the site’s primary language or administrative language needs to change.

Timezone: Controls how WordPress calculates and displays dates and times. This affects scheduled posts, timestamps, and other date-based behavior. Set this to the timezone most appropriate for the organization or primary audience.

Date format: Controls how dates may appear on the site, depending on theme and template usage. Use the format that best matches the site’s audience and content standards.

Time format: Controls how times may appear on the site. Use a format that matches the organization’s style and audience expectations.

Week starts on: Controls the first day of the week for WordPress calendars. This usually does not need to be changed unless the site relies on calendar-based displays.

Writing settings

The Writing settings page controls default writing behavior for posts and optional publishing features. WordPress describes this screen as controlling the interface for writing posts and pages, along with optional features like posting by email and update services.

For most sites, these settings are not actively used and should be left alone.

Reading settings

The Reading settings page controls how key front-end content is displayed, including the homepage, posts page, archive counts, feeds, and search engine visibility. WordPress notes that this screen includes important options for choosing whether the homepage displays latest posts or a static page.

Homepage display

This setting controls what appears on the front page of the site. Most managed sites use a static page, where:

Homepage is set to the site’s main homepage
Posts page is set to the page used for blog or news posts, if the site has one

The Homepage and Posts page should not be the same page. WordPress specifically notes that these are separate selections.

Blog pages show at most

This setting controls how many posts appear per page on blog, news, or archive-style listings when supported by the site. If the site uses archive pages, this setting may affect how many posts appear before pagination is needed.

Syndication feed settings

These settings control how many posts appear in feeds and whether feed content includes full text or excerpts. Most editors and administrators do not need to adjust these unless the site has a specific feed strategy.

Search engine visibility

The Search Engine Visibility setting asks search engines not to index the site when enabled. WordPress notes that checking this option adds noindex behavior and asks search engines not to index the site, though it does not block normal visitors.

For a live public site, this setting should usually be disabled so search engines can index the site. A checked setting can prevent a live site from appearing properly in search results.

Be careful with this setting:

Unchecked: Search engines can index the site
Checked: WordPress discourages search engines from indexing the site

Discussion settings

The Discussion settings page controls comment behavior, pingbacks, trackbacks, moderation, comment notifications, and avatars. WordPress describes this screen as the place where administrators manage comment-related options.

These settings should only be managed for sites that have commenting enabled.

If the site does not use comments, these settings can typically be ignored. Do not change Discussion settings unless the site intentionally supports comments, moderation workflows, or user discussion.

Media settings

The Media settings page controls default image size settings for uploaded media. WordPress notes that this screen manages settings related to images and media used in posts and pages.

When an image is uploaded to the Media Library, WordPress automatically creates multiple sized versions of that image. These generated sizes help the site display appropriately sized images in different contexts.

Image sizes

The Media settings page includes default dimensions for: Thumbnail size, Medium size, Large size

These values control the maximum dimensions available when inserting images into content. WordPress documents thumbnail, medium, and large image size settings on this screen.

In most cases, these settings are configured during development and should not be changed casually. Changing them does not automatically resize images that were already uploaded.

SVG uploads

Some sites allow SVG uploads by user role. SVGs can be useful for icons, logos, and vector artwork, but they should be handled carefully because they behave differently than standard image formats. Only enable SVG upload access for trusted roles and workflows.

Privacy settings

The Privacy settings page helps assign or create the site’s Privacy Policy page. Administrators can create a new page or specify an existing page as the site’s Privacy Policy page.

It is recommended that every site have a Privacy Policy page. Once the page exists, use this screen to identify it as the site’s official Privacy Policy page.

Your site may display a Privacy Policy link in certain places, such as login and registration pages. It is the site owner’s responsibility to provide accurate, current privacy policy content.

Permalink settings

The Permalinks settings page controls the URL structure used for posts, pages, archives, categories, tags, and other content. WordPress describes permalinks as the permanent URLs used to link to individual pages, posts, and archives.

Permalinks are usually configured during site development and should not be changed on a live site without planning.

Changing permalink structure can have serious impacts, including:

Broken links
Search engine indexing issues
Redirect problems
Lost traffic from existing URLs
Unexpected changes to archive or post URLs

Flushing permalinks

There may be situations where permalinks need to be refreshed, such as after a new post type is added. To flush permalinks simply visit the Permalinks screen which will triggers a rewrite rules flush, and saving is not required just to flush rewrite rules.

Tips for administrators

Treat Settings as site-wide controls

These settings affect more than one page. Make changes only when you understand the impact.

Be especially careful with URLs and permalinks

Changing site URLs or permalink structure can break access, links, and search visibility. Coordinate with a developer or site administrator before making these changes.

Check Search Engine Visibility before launch

Before a public site launches, confirm that Discourage search engines from indexing this site is not enabled.

Leave unused settings alone

Writing and Discussion settings are often irrelevant for many sites. If the site does not use those workflows, it is usually best not to change them.

Document intentional changes

If you change a site-level setting, make a note of what changed and why. This helps future administrators understand the decision.