How to Create a Table of Contents in WordPress

How to create a table of contents in WordPress?

Did you ever want to add a table of contents just like Wikipedia has on its website?

If yes, I’m going to show you a way that you use to put a similar table of contents box on your blog or website. But before we move further, you must know the advantages of using a table of contents plugin on your website.

If you write long blog posts and want to provide your audience with a structured way to navigate through the pages and posts, the table of contents becomes a very handy tool.

Let’s have a look at some of the key benefits:

• It makes it easier for users to jump to the section they want to read.
• It also helps you to improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as Google automatically adds a jump-to-section link when your website appears in Google search results.
• It also helps Google to generate structured links in search engine results.

A table of content can be created manually by writing custom HTML and CSS. But it can be a very time-consuming process as you will have to write separate code for a table of contents, for every web page or blog post that you have. Moreover, it can be much more difficult for WordPress beginners.

In this article, I will cover easy-to-follow steps that will help you create a table of contents in WordPress for all your web pages within a minute, no matter if you have thousands of pages on your website.

Before we move further, let’s have a look at some of the best Table of Contents plugins available for WordPress.

5 Best Table of Contents Plugins

1. Easy Table of Contents

Easy Table of Contents is by far the best plugin for creating tables of contents in WordPress. It is easy to use and offers a variety of customization options. You can choose to have the table of contents appear automatically, or you can manually insert it into your posts and pages.

Easy Table of Contents also allows you to change the style and location of the table of contents, as well as the heading levels that are included.

Here are some of the features of Easy Table of Contents:

• Automatic table of contents generation
• Customizable style and location
• Support for multiple heading levels
• Compatible with the Gutenberg Block Editor
• SEO-Friendly

Easy Table of Contents will automatically generate a table of contents based on the headings in your post or page.

Moreover, you can choose which heading levels are included in the table of contents by selecting them from the “Heading Levels” dropdown menu.

2. Top Table of Contents

TOP Table of Contents is a WordPress plugin that allows you to easily add a table of contents to your posts and pages. Just like many other plugins, it automatically generates a table of contents based on the headings in your content.

You can customize the style and location of the table of contents to match your needs.

Here are some of the features of TOP Table of Contents:

• Automatic table of contents generation
• Customizable style and location
• Compatible with the Gutenberg
• Support for multiple heading levels
• SEO-friendly code

TOP Table of Contents offers a variety of customization options. You can change the style of the table of contents by selecting a different theme.

Here are some of the benefits of using TOP Table of Contents:

• Improved Readability: A table of contents can help your visitors quickly find the information they are looking for in your posts and pages.
• Increased SEO: A table of contents can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Increased Engagement: A table of contents can help your visitors stay engaged with your content by making it easy for them to find what they are looking for.

3. Lucky WP Table of Contents

Lucky WP Table of Contents is a powerful and versatile WordPress plugin that I personally use for my websites.

It allows you to create and manage tables of contents for your posts and pages. It is easy to use and offers a wide range of features, including:

• Automatic table of contents generation
• Customizable style and location
• Support for multiple heading levels
• SEO-friendly code
• Compatible with the Gutenberg block editor

With Lucky WP Table of Contents, you can easily create tables of contents that are both visually appealing and functional.

You can customize the style of the table of contents to match your website’s design, and you can also choose where on the page the table of contents should appear. Lucky WP Table of Contents also offers a variety of other features, such as the ability to:

• Collapse the table of contents by default
• Disable the table of contents on specific pages

Lucky WP Table of Contents is a great plugin for anyone who wants to improve the readability and SEO of their WordPress website.

4. Heroic Table of Contents

The heroic Table of Contents plugin automatically detects headings in your content and creates a table of contents with links to each heading. You can also customize the look and feel of the table of contents to match your website’s style.

Here are some of the features of the Heroic Table of Contents:

• Automatic table of contents generation: Heroic Table of Contents automatically generates a table of contents based on the headings in your content. This means you don’t have to manually create a table of contents, which can save you a lot of time.
• Customizable style and location: You can customize the style and location of the table of contents to match your needs. You can choose the color, font, and size of the table of contents, as well as where on the page it appears.
• Support for multiple heading levels: Heroic Table of Contents supports multiple heading levels, so you can create a table of contents that includes all of the headings in your content.
• SEO-friendly code: Heroic Table of Contents uses SEO-friendly code, which means that your table of contents will not affect your website’s search engine ranking.
• Compatible with the Gutenberg block editor: Heroic Table of Contents is compatible with the Gutenberg block editor, so you can easily add a table of contents to your posts and pages using the block editor.

5. Rich Table of Contents

Rich Table of Contents (RTOC) is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create and manage tables of contents for your web pages. It is easy to use and offers a wide range of features, including:

• Automatic table of contents generation
• Customizable style and location
• Support for multiple heading levels
• SEO-friendly code
• Compatible with the Gutenberg block editor
• Free and premium versions are available

With RTOC, you can easily create tables of contents that are both visually appealing and functional.

You can customize the style of the table of contents to match your website’s design. You can also choose where on the page the table of contents should appear. RTOC also offers a variety of other features, such as the ability to:

• Hide the table of contents from users who are not logged in
• Collapse the table of contents by default
• Disable the table of contents on specific pages

RTOC is a great plugin for anyone who wants to improve the readability and SEO of their WordPress website. It is easy to use and offers a wide range of features that can help you create tables of contents that are both visually appealing and functional.

If you are looking for a way to improve the readability, SEO, and engagement of your WordPress posts and pages, RTOC is a great plugin to consider.

In this article, we’re going to install and use the “Easy Table of Contents” plugin.

It automatically generates a Table of Contents on each page or blog post from section headings, resembling very much the great collapsible Wikipedia-style contents boxes.

How to Create a Table of Contents in WordPress

1. Installing Easy Table of Contents Plugin

From your WordPress Dashboard, visit the Plugins –> Add New. Inside the search box search for “Easy Table of Contents”.

Click Install Now and Activate the plugin.

As soon as you activate the plugin, a table of contents for every page on your website gets generated. Which looks somewhat like this:

Congrats!

We are done creating a Table of Contents for every blog post, and web page within a minute.

But if you want to customize the layout and adjust some functions, navigate to the Settings link from the plugin menu: Settings –> ToC+.

1. General Settings

Under the main options:

Enable Support

Under enable support setting, you have the option to enable Table of Contents for various post types.

• Posts
• Pages
• Custom CSS
• Changesets
• oEmbed Responses
• User Requests
• Blocks
• Coupons
• Vendors
• Submissions
• Feedback
• Testimonials
• TablePress Tables
• Affiliate Links
• Order
• Product

You can select the post types to enable support for the table of contents.

Auto Insert: With the auto-insert feature, you can select post types to automatically insert a table of contents into your page.

You can auto-insert a table of content with post types like products, shops coupons, table press pages, etc. I just use it for blog posts.

Position: Here you can adjust the position of your table of contents. You can choose from four options:

• Before first heading (default)
• After first heading
• Top
• Bottom

I personally use and recommend the default option.

Show when: As we read earlier that if you have long posts with too many headings, the table of contents becomes very handy to navigate directly on that particular post heading. But if you have very fewer headings in your post, you would want to restrict the table of contents to display on the page. So under this section, you can choose when to show a table of contents. I personally show a table of contents when 4 or more headings are present.

Display Header Label: You can tick the box to display header text above the table of contents.

Heading Label: Here you can adjust the heading text option. You have the option to display the title on top of the table of contents, choose heading text, and allow the user to toggle the visibility of the table of contents, etc.

Toggle View: It allows the user to toggle the visibility of the table of contents.

Initial View: With an initial view option, you can initially hide or unhide the table of contents.

Show Hierarchy: Checking this button will allow showing a hierarchical view.

Counter: You can select from the dropdown menu to enable numbered list items. The options include:

• Decimal (default)
• Numeric
• Roman
• None

Enable Smooth Scroll Effect: Once you click on a link inside the table of contents, it jumps to the anchor link. But if you enable the smooth scroll effect, you are scrolled down to the anchored link smoothly.

2. Appearance

Here you can adjust the width of the table of the content box, look and feel font size, and you have some other customization options.

Custom Theme

You also have the option to customize the color theme of the table of contents. You can change the background, border, title, link, link hover, and link visited colors.

3. Advanced

Under advanced settings, you can adjust anchor links with lowercase and use (-) or (_).

You have another advanced option available too where you can adjust anchor links settings including or excluding CSS files and choose heading levels.

Specify headings to be excluded from appearing in the table of contents. Separate multiple headings with a pipe |. Use an asterisk * as a wildcard to match other text.

In case you need any kind of help, you can navigate to the third tab “help”. It will direct you to its website. Where you can find some more help regarding this plugin.

There are several other advanced options like smooth scroll offset, mobile smooth scroll offset, limit path, default anchor prefix, and widget affix selector. to adjust and configure the Table of Contents.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, mastering how to create a Table of Contents in WordPress empowers you to enhance your content’s organization and user experience. Navigating through this tutorial, you’ve gained valuable insights into a powerful feature that improves accessibility and engagement for your readers.

As you implement Table of Contents functionality, you’re taking a proactive step toward delivering content that is both informative, user-friendly, and search engine friendly. The convenience it brings not only simplifies navigation but also showcases your commitment to user satisfaction.

I hope this comprehensive guide on how to create a Table of Contents in WordPress proves valuable to your website endeavors.

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below. Your feedback not only enriches the tutorial but also contributes to a community of learners dedicated to refining their WordPress skills.

Thank you for choosing this guide, and best wishes as you enhance your website’s content presentation.