Edit the default homepage

The default homepage is the homepage design that comes with your site’s theme. In this guide, you will learn how to confirm your site is using the default homepage and customize its design.

This guide requires a theme that supports the Site Editor. Check for Appearance → Editor in your site’s dashboard. If you see Customize instead, you’re using a classic theme. Consider switching to a block theme.

Before editing the homepage template, confirm that your site is using the theme’s default homepage instead of a custom homepage:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Pages and make sure your site has at least one published page.
3. Navigate to Settings → Reading.
4. Next to Your homepage displays, select Your latest posts (this is the default homepage, not necessarily a feed of the latest blog posts).
   • If you select A static page instead of Your latest posts, then your site is using a custom homepage.
5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.

To find and edit the default homepage:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Editor.
3. Click anywhere on your site on the right side to open the editor and close the left sidebar:

You are now viewing the homepage template, which may be labeled as Home, Index, Blog Home, or Front Page at the top of the screen:

Before you start adding your content, it helps to become familiar with the homepage layout. Understanding how it is designed will help you replace the default content with your own, as well as add or remove content from your homepage.

Open List View to explore the homepage layout. Click the List View icon (three stacked horizontal lines) in the top toolbar of the Site Editor:

In the List View, you will find all the elements (known in the WordPress editor as blocks) of your homepage. A typical default homepage template will contain the following elements:

• Header: The header contains elements like a site title, logo, and menu. The header is a template part that appears across the entire site. Any edits you make to this header will apply to all pages on your site where the header template part is inserted.
• Content: Everything between the header and the footer is the main content of your homepage. You will likely see text and images, organized into Groups, Columns, and more. If your theme displays blog posts on the homepage, you will likely find a Query Loop block here too.
• Footer: The footer contains elements like a site title, contact information, and a WordPress footer credit. The footer is a template part that appears on every page. Any edits you make to this footer will apply everywhere on your site where the footer template part is inserted.

While every WordPress theme is different, this is the standard structure of a default homepage template that you can expect to see on most themes. You may see other elements in this template, which you can edit as you wish.

You can also add your own blocks and block patterns to the homepage.

The default homepage gives you a professional, well-designed layout to start from. To personalize the default design, you can replace the text and images with your own content and add or remove any elements on the page.

To replace the homepage’s default content with your own:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Editor.
3. Click the preview of your homepage on the right to open the editor.
4. Click the content you want to replace.
   • For example, if you want to change text, click the text you want to change and enter your new text.
   • Or, if you want to change an image, click the image and choose the Replace option from the toolbar that appears.

Some elements bring in content from other parts of your website (like blog posts or products). Use the List View icon to identify the type of block the content uses and search our list of blocks to learn more about how it works. You can also click a block, view the block’s settings on the right, and click the block guide link to learn more.

• To change the fonts and color palette, use the Styles options.
• To delete any content, see Remove a block.
• To add any content, see Add content using blocks.
• To move any content, see Select and move blocks.
• To modify the navigation menu, see Menus.

As you modify your homepage, click the Save button in the top-right corner to save your changes:

The AI assistant can help you write and redesign your homepage content. Here are some things you can ask it to do:

• “Write a headline and tagline for my homepage hero section.”
• “Suggest copy for my homepage’s About section.”
• “Rewrite my homepage introduction to be more welcoming to first-time visitors.”
• “Write a call-to-action for my homepage that encourages visitors to get in touch.”

AI agents can update your homepage content and layout directly on your site. Here are some things you can ask an agent to do:

• “Update my homepage headline to ‘Welcome to [site name].'”
• “Add a three-column features section to my homepage.”
• “Add a call-to-action button to my homepage hero section.”
• “Remove the blog posts feed from my homepage.”

• Create a custom homepage: If you want to use a static page as your homepage instead of the default template.
• Edit a template: For general guidance on editing any template, including saving and restoring revisions.
• Reset a template: If you want to undo all your changes and restore the original homepage design.
• Edit the Index and All Archives Templates: Customize how blog posts appear on archive and index pages.
• Edit the Pages template: Customize the layout of standard pages on your site.
• Templates: For an overview of how templates work and the common types of templates on your site.