How to Add Page to a Navigation Menu in WordPress: 2 Effective Methods

The WordPress navigation menu is an essential part of a website’s design. Besides helping visitors find the page they’re looking for, your website’s navigation menu helps build user journeys for branding purposes.

It can also improve the overall look and feel of your WordPress website if designed properly.

To create a seamless user experience, you might need to add a couple of pages as new menu items. Keep reading as we will explore two methods for customizing menus in WordPress. In the end, you’ll be able to add pages to WordPress menus easily.

There are two ways to add pages to navigation menus ‒ using the built-in navigation menu feature or the new WordPress Site Editor. As the final result will be the same, check out the following sections and pick the method you prefer to customize your site’s menu.

WordPress lets you control how your menu appears from the admin dashboard. Here’s how to create a new page and embed it as a new menu item.

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard, head to the Pages section, and click Add New.
2. Type in the page title and content you want to showcase in the menu and hit Publish.

3. Navigate to Appearance → Menus from the admin dashboard. Add a name to the Menu Name section and check the Top Menu box. Hit the Create Menu button. Repeat this step until you have created all of the necessary pages.

4. In the Add menu items → Pages section, check the box next to the pages to include in the new menu and click the Add to Menu button.

5. Drag and drop the menu options to reorder them. Place a menu item on the right below the designated parent menu to create a sub-menu. Once done, click on the Save Menu button.

Now that the new menu is up and running, you can customize it by adding WordPress menu icons to enhance the readability and overall look of menu items.

WordPress also accepts custom links, categories, and posts as menu options. For instance, expand the Custom Links dropdown menu under the Add menu items section and add the chosen URL and link text as a menu item. It’s useful for redirecting visitors to an external web page.

WordPress offers a full website editing experience through the new Site Editor, available in version 5.9 or higher. As the tool is currently available in the beta version, some themes don’t support it. For this method to work, make sure to choose the theme that supports this feature.

We’re going to use the default Twenty Twenty-Two theme for this tutorial. Here’s how to add a menu page to a WordPress menu using the Site Editor.

1. Go to Appearance → Editor from your admin dashboard.

2. Click the page header to activate it, then hit the (+) button on the bottom right corner. Search for the navigation block and add it to the section.

3. Click on the menu bar to open the settings. Select a menu item and use the left and right arrows to reorder it.

4. While still on the menu bar, click the (+) button and pick a page to embed as a menu item. Select the Open in new tab slider if you want to open the new page in a different tab.

5. Don’t forget to hit the Save button once you’ve finished.

If your current theme doesn’t support Site Editor, you can add custom code to the theme’s functions.php file using the WordPress Theme File Editor. Refer to the WordPress Codex for navigation menu functions.

Alternatively, install a WordPress menu plugin to get more customization options and eliminate the need to code. Some of the best plugins for the job are Max Mega Menu and QuadMenu.

Conclusion

As a navigation menu is a crucial element of a website design, optimizing it helps ensure optimal user experience.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to customize menus using the WordPress dashboard and the Site Editor. Pick the easiest method and start building your ideal navigation menu. Once done, make sure to double-check whether it displays all the necessary menu items.

Should you have any questions, leave a comment below. Good luck!