What Is a Menu in WordPress?

WordPress treats menus as reusable pieces of content: you build a menu once and can show it in more than one place. How you edit and place a menu depends on whether your theme is classic or block-based, which is why the editing screen isn't in the same spot on every site.

What a WordPress menu can contain

A menu can hold links to pages, posts, categories, and custom links to any URL, including one on another site. You can also nest items to build multi-level submenus, the drop-downs that keep secondary links tucked beneath a parent item. On the classic Menus screen, check the Screen Options tab: some item types, like tags, are hidden until you switch them on.

Creating a menu in classic and block themes

How you create a menu depends on your theme. On classic and hybrid themes, go to Appearance → Menus, click Create a new menu, name it, add items from the panes on the left, and save. On block themes, that screen doesn't exist. Per WordPress.org's documentation, WordPress 5.9 was the last version to include the Menus screen for every site by default; since 6.0, block themes manage navigation with the Navigation block, edited in the Site Editor under Appearance → Editor. For the step-by-step version, follow our guide, How to Set Up Your WordPress Menus (In 3 Steps).

Menu locations and multiple menus

Where a menu appears depends on your theme type. Classic themes register menu locations, and you assign a saved menu to one of them under Menu Settings → Display location at the bottom of the menu editor. The menu in your site's header usually sits in the primary menu location, which is why most navigation menus appear at the top of the screen. Block themes work differently: there are no registered locations to assign. Instead, a Navigation block sits inside a template part, such as the header or footer, and each block lets you pick a saved menu or create a new one in place. Either way, one site can run several menus at once, with extra menus in sidebars and footers.

What belongs in a menu

Less than you'd think. Reserve top-level slots for the few pages every visitor needs: what you offer, what it costs, and how to reach you. Secondary links, like a privacy policy or an archive, belong in a footer menu instead. Overcrowded, deeply nested menus are where navigation usually goes wrong, especially on mobile, where every submenu level is another tap. When you're ready to fine-tune labels, order, and mobile layout, our 16 navigation menu design tips cover the design side.