Full Post Vs Summary

Full Post Vs Summary : Which One Is Better For Your Blog?

Most of the WordPress users are showing the excerpt on their website. Whether you see the archive page or the blog page, you would see the excerpt of the post.

But the point is what’s beneficial from the SEO point of view? Full post vs summary, what would you prefer and why?

In this article, you will learn all the benefits of using the summary of the blog posts on all the pages of the blog. Do you know how to display excerpt in WordPress theme in place of content?

Why Should You Use Summary Over Full Post?

There are many things which are connected to this simple concept. You know that you should always keep the size of your website minimum.

So, the less you show, the less would be the page size. I am going to point out some benefits of using the summary instead of the full post.

#1. Less Page Loading Time.

As I have mentioned earlier, it’s important to keep the speed of your website as fast you can. The page loading time should be minimum.

To accomplish this, you should try to reduce the size of the page. When you use the summary instead of the full post, the size would automatically decrease.

It’s considered as one of the best ways to reduce the page loading time of a website. The less content you show on any page would lead to the less page loading time.

#2. Better User Experience.

No one would want to see the full post on the home page, blog page, archive page, category page or any other page.

I mean how would you feel if you land on any website and find out that the full posts are showing and you can’t reach to any other post because the first post has taken over half of the page?

The same thing is applicable on your blog. Just try to keep the design of your website clean. That’s why most of the WordPress themes have an excerpt inbuilt feature.

If your theme doesn’t have it, just add an excerpt manually from the WordPress post editor.

#3. Reduces The Bounce Rate.

If you are aware of the concept of bounce rate then you would know that you should try to reduce it. When you have an eye on full post vs summary, always choose the summary.

It would help you to increase the number of page views and minimize bounce rate. It would help you to keep your readers engage in the content.

Suppose you show the full post then your readers won’t see any other content, just one post.

And if you replace it with the summary then your readers would see many posts easily which would make it easier for them to read.

#4. No Chance of Duplicate Content.

From a study, if you show the full post and not the summary then there would be the chance that the search engine would find the duplicate content.

Suppose you publish a post and it appears on the blog page or the home page but at the same time, it would be appearing on the archive page.

Every WordPress theme has an inbuilt archive page which consists the post according to some order. It may be weekly, monthly or yearly.

Though the search engine is smart enough to understand the concept but still, why would you take any chance? So, it’s necessary to choose the summary from full post vs summary.

#5. Better Site-handling.

No one wants to have an unorganized website. And showing the summary would make your website perfect. You would be able to handle it properly.

Suppose, you want to add anything to your website which is related to each blog post, wouldn’t be hard for you to check it if you show the full post?

Well, the fix this, you should use the summary so that you can see many blog post on the single page easily. Try to add the social sharing buttons below each post on the home page.

Can you check it with the full post content? I don’t think so. So just use the summary and you would be happy to see the results.

Are You Still Stuck With Full Post Vs Summary Concept?

Though it’s the matter of choice but still, the best thing to do is what makes your website healthy. You should always try to improve your website’s health.

Full post vs summary? For beginners, it’s quite hard to decide because a few people are there who are using the full post.

It’s because their posts are short with no images. It would act like an excerpt. But if you are writing the SEO- friendly content then use the summary.

by Ravi Chahar

A WordPress Professional and the LinkedIn Influencer. A coder by passion and a blogger by choice. WordPress theme development is his forte. He is your WordPress guy who will teach you how to solve WordPress errors, WordPress security issues, design issues and what not.


Get Free Updates Into Your Inbox

Learn Everything Just Like I Did

SUBSCRIBE



10 comments

  1. Hey Ravi,

    Having a summary is good to wet people’s appetite. It’s like a hook to get them to go further into the site, increasing the number of pages viewed. Where as full post keeps them from clicking through. And if you want to have in engagement with people you have to give them a reason to go to the next page. Otherwise, they’ll read the whole thing and move on. It’s unlikely they’ll click and wait for page load just to leave a comment.

    ~Lea

    1. Hi Lea,

      Most of the people make the mistake to show the full blog post on their blog page. As you have mentioned, the readers need a hook to pull them towards your blog.

      Showing the summary can do that for you. People get excited when they get the content in a package and then the next page.

      Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

      Have a great day.

      ~Ravi

  2. Hey Ravi,

    Average Size of page is also a significant factor to boost page loading time. Today, almost less people show interest in whole long length post basically they decide with introduction whether it will for them or not. Summary is absolutely good option for us to express our view in effective manner in short length. Eventually, thanks for showing best factor regarding this topic and these factor should be came in action so that we can meet with positive result.

    With best wishes,

    Amar kumar

    1. Hi Amar,

      It’s all about the page loading time of your website. You should consider it as one of the most important factors.

      The summary can help you to reduce it.

      Thanks for the contribution.

      ~Ravi

  3. Hi Ravi, I didn’t realize all the reasons behind this one but I just thought it looked better. I really was surprised how it avoided the duplicate content issue. I started to use it to speed up my WordPress site a few years back.

    I haven’t done the social share buttons behind each summary, that gives me something to consider though, thank you Ravi!

    1. Hey Lisa,

      After each small thing, there is something big. The use of summary can be really helpful. You know when you show the full post then it gets included in the archive page of the website which can be considered as the duplicate post.

      So it’s better to choose the summary.

      Thanks for stopping by.

      ~Ravi

  4. Hello @Ravi Bro,

    This is just Awesome Post: For Full Post vs Summary: Excerpt are much better and professional than Full post. Because it gives Readers choice to choose the Best topics of which they are interested instead of forcing them to read full Article and then move On the next. Great Valuable Article Keep Sharing and Good Work,

    Have a Lovely Night,

    Regard:

    CEO: BlogRankSeo

    1. Hey Tabish,

      You are absolutely right.

      You should never force the readers for anything. The excerpt is always the best option. It will improve your readers’ engagement.

      Providing the choice can be effective for your blog.

      Thanks for taking the time to comment.

      ~Ravi

  5. Hi Ravi,

    Awesome post! I land on blog homepage that have the full post on the front page. You have to scroll down the page forever and a day. Having excerpts are much better imo. Also, for feeds, I prefer the excerpts as if I enticed my reader enough, they will click-through to read the rest of the content. I’m passing this along so others will know the better way of doing this.

    Thanks!

    B

  6. Hi Admin Ravi,

    Awesome post! I land on blog homepage that have the full post on the front page. You have to scroll down the page forever and a day. Having excerpts are much better imo. Also, for feeds, I prefer the excerpts as if I enticed my reader enough, they will click-through to read the rest of the content. I’m passing this along so others will know the better way of doing this.

    Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *