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WPBeginner» Blog» Plugins» How to Add Subtitle for Posts and Pages in WordPress

How to Add Subtitle for Posts and Pages in WordPress

Last updated on June 9th, 2014 by Editorial Staff
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How to Add Subtitle for Posts and Pages in WordPress

Have you ever felt that you need a subtitle for your posts and pages? Recently in one of our projects, ThemeLab, we needed to add subtitles to some of our pages. We felt that others might need it as well, so in this article we will show you how to add a secondary alternative title or subtitle in WordPress posts and pages.

Live demo of what it looks like on ThemeLab site:

ThemeLab Subtitle

Video Tutorial

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If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Secondary Title plugin. Upon activation, you will automatically see an additional title field below your main title on your post edit screen.

Alternate title box for the secondary title in WordPress post editor

Don’t worry if you only want to use it on pages or another custom post type. The plugin comes with its own configuration options which allow you to fine tune how the secondary titles are displayed in the admin area and in your WordPress themes.

If you want to change those options, then you need to click on Settings » Secondary Title menu in the WordPress admin menu.

Secondary Title Settings

On the settings screen, you can choose post types, categories, and/or specific post IDs where you want to display the secondary title. You can also choose the position of the input box on the post editor screen. This will allow you to display the secondary title box above or below the main post title box.

By default the plugin will automatically display secondary titles however you can stop this by choosing No next to Automatic Insert option.

You can manually display secondary titles in your theme by using <?php get_secondary_title(); ?> template tag in your theme files. This will give you maximum control over style.

The default format displays secondary title next to the post title separated by a colon, like this:

The Post Title: The Secondary Title

You can change this by specifying your own format in the Title Format option on the plugin’s settings screen.

Choose the display format for secondary title

This is what it looked like on the default Twenty Thirteen theme.

A WordPress post with secondary title

We hope this article helped you add alternate secondary title or subtitle to posts and pages in WordPress. We also have a tutorial on how to hide title for selective WordPress posts and pages should you need to do that.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more WordPress video tutorials. You can also join us on Twitter and Google+.

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12 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Dionne says:
    Aug 21, 2016 at 6:19 am

    Hi guys,

    How can I style just the secondary title?

    Please reply…

    Reply
    • Kavinthan says:
      Feb 17, 2017 at 10:57 pm

      You can insert inline CSS in Title format input.
      If you using the manual method, you can add custom style or class like

      Reply
  2. Sahriar Sykat says:
    Nov 13, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    Any way to do it manually? I can use a custom metabox for this but I want it like this plugin, next to title. Not bottom of editor with other metaboxes

    Reply
  3. Ellis Sutehall says:
    May 14, 2014 at 5:16 am

    It appears that the subtitle is inserted into the tag where the main title exists.

    This means that styling it can only be done with span tags and inline styles. This causes problems with things like sidebars that list recent posts.

    For example, I wanted the subtitle smaller and underneath the main title but font-size: 20px meant that it displayed this size in the sidebar too.

    Anyone else experienced this or know of a work around?

    Reply
  4. WPBeginner Staff says:
    May 2, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    No, currently you don’t need to join WPBeginner you can simply use coupon code provided for the hosting to avail the discounts.

    Reply
  5. Miss Amia says:
    May 1, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    Do you have to pay to join “Wpbegginer” ? I see your referrers to hosting says, “wpbegginer users get such & such off”

    Reply
  6. WPBeginner Staff says:
    Apr 30, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    Depending how you format the secondary title, it will certainly have a little impact on the SEO of the page. Yes you can leave the secondary title blank.

    Reply
  7. Declan Wilson says:
    Apr 30, 2014 at 12:15 pm

    Does the secondary title have any impact on SEO?

    Also, I second @disqus_M7pLX0hgAp:disqus’s question.

    Reply
  8. Kelly says:
    Apr 29, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Secondary Title is a great plugin! And your article was especially helpful re: for secondary title appearing below the primary title. Thanks very much.

    Reply
  9. Carolann says:
    Apr 29, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Oh wow I just installed this plugin….can’t wait to start using it. It looks awesome. Thanks so much for the heads-up….love this site!!!!

    Reply
  10. Amy Russell says:
    Apr 29, 2014 at 11:21 am

    If we have this plugin activated, but don’t need a secondary title can we just leave the secondary title line blank? Will it look different than just the basic title & post without the plugin?

    Reply
  11. miriam says:
    Apr 29, 2014 at 9:32 am

    thank you for this article. exactly what I needed. do you know whether the subtitle shows on facebook?

    Reply

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